Strathmore Air Cadets take third place
Shannon LeClair – Times Reporter
The Royal Canadian Air Cadets Squads, RCACS, competed this past weekend to see who would take first place in the Southern Alberta Zones.
The event takes place once a year and this year there were 240 cadets from Calgary and area. Each team is made up of 15 cadets and one commander. The cadets range from age 12 to 18.
Saturday was the sports part of the zones competition, which was played on a rotational basis, with eight teams participating.
The cadets played both basketball and volleyball. The basketball game was played in two 15-minute halves and volleyball was a straight 35-minute game.
Sunday was a little more competitive with five teams competing in the compulsory drill portion, where a set of commands is called and the cadets follow.
Strathmore RCACS 903 were one of the five teams taking part in Sunday’s drill.
“The last two years we won first place so we’re trying to keep that,” said commanding officer Cpt. T. Cormier, for 903 Strathmore.
After the compulsory drill, three teams head into the precision drill portion. The cadets from the three teams did a three to four minute routine, which they did from memory and with no commands.
Before entering the arena cadets are first marked on their appearance and uniforms. They are then scored on their performance.
“It’s going good, things are working out really well,” said Cpt. Boyd Rideout.
The top score for sports went to 781 RCACS Calgary, and top sportsmanship went to 52 RCACS Calgary. For the compulsory drill 604 and 781 RCACS in Calgary won first and second place with Strathmore 903 placing third.
Calgary teams also took first and second in the precision drill with Strathmore placing third again.
Flight Sgt. Philip Wahl, 903 RCACS, was the cadet with the best uniform overall.