B.C. Lions' Bryan Burnham, left, and Emmanuel Arceneaux, centre, celebrate Arceneaux's winning touchdown during overtime CFL football action against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday July 10, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
It is a long journey from day one of training camp to the Grey Cup. For veterans and youngsters, camp is a chance to put last season in the rear view mirror and establish a rapport with new teammates. We asked four key Lions veterans what the best part of training camp is from year to year.
“Just getting back into it with the team. These are the guys you go to war with and right off the bat you can feel the competitive nature. For me, it’s the chance to once again go up against guys like Manny Arceneaux in practice, and also crack jokes once in awhile.”- Ryan Phillips
“It’s the blood, sweat and tears that are on the field and the fact we are beginning to shape our identity of who we are going to be. It’s an important time.”- Travis Lulay
“It’s always fun because you see a bunch of guys you haven’t seen for over six months. It’s almost like the first day of school. There’s always excitement because everybody is 0-0 and thinks they can be champs. Camp is the first step toward our goal of bringing the Grey Cup home.”- Rolly Lumbala
“My favourite part of camp is competing and lining up against Ronnie Yell every day so I can get to enjoy practice. He is going to compete. My objective is to embarrass some of the other guys because not everyone thinks they need to work hard every day. Watching camp last year, you would have thought Ronnie and I hated each other, but we had a great competition. You have to have good practice habits.”- Manny Arceneaux