Week 12 Edm @ Mtl Growing up in Montreal has been nothing but a pleasure! I had the privilege of playing all my years of football there. It was truly an honour! My childhood dream was to be an Alouettes. Throughout University, I was fortunate enough to train with several exceptional football athletes. Although I was not at the professional level, they knew my ambition, made me feel welcome, and encouraged me to work hard. They constantly gave me tips on how to become a better player. You can’t even put a price on the off-field knowledge I accumulated just being around them. The knowledge from Canadian players already in the league was of great value and it was truly an honour training with them. I’d like to thank Marc-Elie and PERFMAX “Shut up n Run” for letting me tag along in the elite training group.
Leading up to the draft was another stressful point in time. It was a time of great uncertainty, with less than 10% of CIS players actually making a team, everything was really up in the air. Also, with the Grey Cup in Montreal, the dream was to be drafted by Montreal and win my first championship for my home town. As the draft got closer I started feeling weird… something was telling me that I wasn’t going to be in Montreal for much longer. Though it would have been a nice childhood dream, god had something different in place for me.
Having been moved to the practice roster in week 6, I was not looking forward to this week at all. Several people had already bought tickets for the game, and I knew I was going to be a no show. I can't tell you how badly I wanted to be a part of this game. My father was prepared to make the trip home from Dubai for my first game in Montreal. It really hurt telling him to cancel the plans, and that I would have to wait another year. Meanwhile, in practice I was still working on finding the proper tempo, I stayed at 22%. Keeping in mind that L.W told me I had to be a little more sweeter. I really started to focus on technique. I noticed that I could do so without emitting too much effort. Starting to feel at home in the Safety position, I trusted what I saw now. Everything slowed down a touch more, no longer was I behind the play but right with it. One area of concern was that the special teams coach had taken notice of my light tempo and called me out during meetings. It was also probably one of the few times I’ve felt bad after watching myself in film. I wasn’t happy! But at least I knew both extremes now, too hard and too light. Though it didn’t feel good, it taught me a fundamental aspect of the game and progress was made.
Game day arrived and not wanting any distractions, I watched this one alone. During the game I received several calls asking me where I was. All I could say is “They left me at home.” I don’t know who made the trip to Montreal but it sure wasn’t the Eskimos! Esks lose 40-4
Leading up to the draft was another stressful point in time. It was a time of great uncertainty, with less than 10% of CIS players actually making a team, everything was really up in the air. Also, with the Grey Cup in Montreal, the dream was to be drafted by Montreal and win my first championship for my home town. As the draft got closer I started feeling weird… something was telling me that I wasn’t going to be in Montreal for much longer. Though it would have been a nice childhood dream, god had something different in place for me.
Having been moved to the practice roster in week 6, I was not looking forward to this week at all. Several people had already bought tickets for the game, and I knew I was going to be a no show. I can't tell you how badly I wanted to be a part of this game. My father was prepared to make the trip home from Dubai for my first game in Montreal. It really hurt telling him to cancel the plans, and that I would have to wait another year. Meanwhile, in practice I was still working on finding the proper tempo, I stayed at 22%. Keeping in mind that L.W told me I had to be a little more sweeter. I really started to focus on technique. I noticed that I could do so without emitting too much effort. Starting to feel at home in the Safety position, I trusted what I saw now. Everything slowed down a touch more, no longer was I behind the play but right with it. One area of concern was that the special teams coach had taken notice of my light tempo and called me out during meetings. It was also probably one of the few times I’ve felt bad after watching myself in film. I wasn’t happy! But at least I knew both extremes now, too hard and too light. Though it didn’t feel good, it taught me a fundamental aspect of the game and progress was made.
Game day arrived and not wanting any distractions, I watched this one alone. During the game I received several calls asking me where I was. All I could say is “They left me at home.” I don’t know who made the trip to Montreal but it sure wasn’t the Eskimos! Esks lose 40-4
Pondering the loss, I was quite upset with the way the team performed. If you play football for long enough you’re bound to be in a couple of these games, on either side. Although I had wanted to be at that game so bad, I did not want to take part in the loss. In hind-sight I was kind of happy I did not make the trip to Montreal.
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