What’s that smell? Football season is in the air. This marks the final weekend without CFL football until December and Lions players, from rookies to veterans, are getting pumped for the next three weeks in Kamloops. We caught up with Travis Lulay, Shawn Gore , Rolly Lumbala and Ryan Phillips at the BC Lions training facility, where they shared memories of their first training camp:
“2009. We were in Abbotsford and I remember bunking five feet away from the other QB, Zac Champion. We had a shared bathroom and two guys in the other room, Jason Arakgi and Tad Crawford. Two Canadians that gave me the first taste of the personalities I was going to run into in the CFL. We had cubicle lockers inside a partition in the gym so when we first went to Kamloops the next year it was pretty awesome to see how nice and new the facilities were. 2009 was a stressful time also because I was fighting for my life, trying to make the team so I didn’t really care to make friends, I was trying to make the team first.”- Travis Lulay
“2008 in Abbotsford. The rain was terrible and made it tough to get into a rhythm at first but was also a great learning experience. I had to play fullback, running back and special teams which helped add some more value to the team. The other running back, Stefan Logan, was pushing me as well and that’s where our bond started. We pushed each other and it helped us both out.”- Rolly Lumbala
“I actually lucked out because I joined the Lions mid-season in 2010 (after being cut from Green Bay Packers) so my first camp with the guys I was already a veteran so I knew a lot of them and about how things went. There was a lot less of that anxiety because I already knew the playbook and I was somewhat prepared.”- Shawn Gore
“It was 2005 in Chilliwack. First thing I noticed was how small a town it was with only one Walmart and one Safeway. It reminds me of how spoiled we are now with everything at an arm’s reach. In Chilliwack we stayed in a hotel which was not right at the practice field, so it was a lot of back and forth. At the same time it was a great way to bond with new teammates and establish chemistry.”- Ryan Phillips