Tigers take the field with local pro

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/05/2010 (5931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For one afternoon, Donovan Alexander changed his allegiance to a different saint.

The graduate of St. Paul’s High School, who now plays defensive back for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was on the field on May 4 with the St. John’s Tigers, offering guidance to a young football team that doesn’t often come into contact with pro athletes.

Tigers coach Brian Marks remarked that for many of his players the world ends at the Slaw Rebchuk Bridge.

“The more opportunities we have to expose these kids to things outside their own area, the better it is for them,” Marks said.

For his part, Alexander playfully asked the Tigers not to give him too hard a time for being a Crusader.

“I’m sure you’ll all have jokes to tell me after,” said the 25-year-old who played college football at the University of North Dakota.

“It’s a different experience here, being from the other end of town. It’s nice to see the differences between programs.”

Alexander’s connection to St. John’s was forged when he met Ryan Veldkamp, a Grade 7 student at the school who is battling cancer.

Veldkamp’s older brother, Wesley, plays for the Tigers, and Alexander offered to come out to lend a hand at practice.

“I could definitely see myself coaching,” said Alexander, who has worked with players at his alma mater and will be taking part in Milt Stegall’s upcoming football camp.

Kyle Pyrozyk, a Grade 11 defensive back from the North End who Alexander was working with, said it was inspiring to see first-hand a product of the Winnipeg High School Football League who collects a paycheque for playing the game.

“I thought it was pretty cool,” Pyrozyk said. “We don’t get a lot of guys like this coming out.”

One practice certainly isn’t enough to get too deep into the art of playing defensive back, but Alexander was hoping to impart some valuable wisdom to the Tigers about hard work and the importance of practising like you play.

“That’s the biggest thing that helped me in my first year in Saskatchewan,” he said. “How to practise with the same intensity as a game.”

Some of that work ethic was instilled from listening to Stegall and fellow former Blue Bomber Harold Nash when they visited Alexander’s St. Paul’s squad.

“I’ll never forget that day,” Alexander said. “I was just crazy when he called me to be a part of his camp. I wished I could have been on the same field as him.”

From Marks’s perspective, any amount of work with a CFL player is a boon for a team loaded with players who have little or no football experience. The majority of the St. John’s roster this season will consist of players in Grade 10 or younger.

While there may be some growing pains, Marks is expecting big things as his players develop.

“I think we’ll be reasonably competitive this season,” he said, “and two years from now…holy smokes!”

avi.saper@canstarnews.com