The Strathmore arena was buzzing with excitement last weekend as the annual Redneck Rumble hosted by the Strathmore Venom was filling the seats and bringing teams all across the province to compete in an astounding 44 games in a 3-day period.

Tournament Director Andrea Blackley says beyond the size of the tournament and lacrosse itself, she also loves how involved the community gets for this annual tournament. With live DJs pumping up the crowds, raffles, vendors, fastest shot event, and even a special appearance from Calgary Roughnecks' mascot Honey Badger, there was something for everyone. Blackley was happy to see so many community members supporting the teams and enjoying 

"We have a great community and they really come out for the kids, and there's a lot of lacrosse families that dedicated a lot of their time for this weekend and there's a lot of even grandparents that came out and extended families also, so it was really wonderful." 

Beyond the success of the community involvement, the Venom also enjoyed plenty of on-field success, as the Venom's U17 team earned a silver medal while the U11 D2 B2 won a bronze medal.

"I'm really proud of all of the teams that competed, it was really great," said Tournament Director Andrea Blackley.

While the Redneck Rumble is the biggest tournament in Strathmore, there is plenty of excitement still to come, as Blackley said some of the divisions of the Strathmore teams have been invited to go to the Canada Day Tournament in Calgary, and they also have the provincial tournaments to prepare for later in the season.

Blackley also gave a huge shoutout to all the volunteers and everyone behind the scenes that contributed to help make the tournament run as well as it did.

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