Football camp powered by generous athletes putting in time

By: Doug Brown Posted: 12:37 PM CDT Monday, May. 29, 2017

On the day training camp for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers began — that first step towards building a legacy — it was an interesting time to reflect on some of the players who wore those same jerseys over the past couple of decades, and the legacy they continue to leave in the community.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2017 (3084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With the Eighth Annual Doug Brown Kidsport Football Camp being held the same day, there was going to be little room for error when it came to staffing the event. While there is only one name attached to the camp, which was free for all the kids who received funding from Kidsport in 2016, it never would have survived eight years without the contributions and sacrifices of former teammates who have all come to make Winnipeg home since their playing days, and continue to spend countless hours servicing it.

The camp now has a title sponsor — David and Ruth Asper — to help get more opportunities for kids to participate in sport, and there is a plethora of other volunteers and sponsors, from RBC, Boston Pizza, the Winnipeg Football Club, KB2 clothing and Save On Foods, that help the camp run seamlessly. However, the actual interactions these kids have, for many hours each year, are entirely dependant on the time of the ex-professional players who show up like clockwork every season.

Former Blue Bomber Obby Khan holds the bag during a drill for the young players at the Doug Brown KidSport Winnipeg Football Camp at the University of Winnipeg Sunday. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

Obby Khan, who has literally become the football version of Ace Burpee — when it comes to giving back to the community — had already spent his weekend as a ride captain for the Ride for Dad, an annual motorcycle event that raises funds to fight prostate cancer, and as a food sponsor for the Winnipeg Harvest Fast and Furious Feast, which raised more than $20,000. So how did he spend more than four hours of his Sunday? By working on football fundamentals and skills with more than 60 kids, ranging in ages from five to 18.

Chris Cvetkovic had just wrapped up his Cvet’s Pets’ Ball for the Brave fundraiser three days prior, but he still had time to help out with both the media combine challenge and the Kidsport camp itself. Jon Oosterhuis, Neil McKinley and Shawn Gallant, who spend their days and nights employed as Winnipeg firefighters (Jon and Neil) and as a Winnipeg police officer (Shawn), were in the middle of shift changes on Sunday, but still made the time to get out and run this camp.

Four more players from the early and more recent 2000 seasons — Jason Vega, Jermese Jones, Kelly Butler and Mike Renaud — always answer the bell when called upon for any event that is community-minded, no matter how much of their weekend it may take up. None of those four are from Manitoba, and only one is from Canada, but all have made Winnipeg their full-time homes since retirement.

Without any promise of compensation, or a thought of recognition, all nine of these former local players seem to enjoy the camp and enriching the lives of these young football prospects almost as much as the camp-goers themselves.

In the middle of a professional football career, you rarely spend any time thinking about how the players you are spending hundreds of hours with on the field will continue to work within the same community, both on their own initiatives and in support of yours, long after football has passed them by. While many of these players competed in multiple championship games for this city, and none of them were able to put an end to the Grey Cup drought, on days like Sunday, when they’re chasing around more than 60 kids on a football field for hours on end — in the middle of everything else they have going on — it’s hard not to rationalize that this community still got pretty lucky with a crew of former athletes who played and stayed here.