Last year at this time the Eastglen Blue Devils were struggling to fundraise for a water machine. This year, the team is on their way to the 102nd Grey Cup in Vancouver.
The trip comes courtesy of Nissan Canada’s ‘Back in the Game’ program, a national campaign that supports high school football teams that are struggling financially and that show promise. One other team, from Hamilton, was also selected to make the trip.
“I can’t believe it, I’ve always wanted to be in that atmosphere,” said Oscar Gamillo before hitting the road trip of a lifetime to Vancouver earlier this week.
“It’s huge. The kids feel like a family, they feel supported and they’re excited about going to the Grey Cup,” said Kent Anderson before leaving for Vancouver.
The team gets an all expenses paid trip, including a flight on a private CFL jet, to this year’s game between the Calgary Stampeders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
When the team’s coach, Kent Anderson first got the call from a Nissan representative he says he was skeptical but shared the team’s story about how they’d built it up from six members to 12 and how important the football community was for many of the players.
“I talked about the fact that a lot of our kids we would have to feed them before a game, they just weren’t eating properly, we made sure we had a pre-game meal,” Anderson said.
“They liked the idea of us literally going back in the game, going back to 12-man football.”
Anderson has coached the team for four years and says the trip to this year’s Grey Cup is thrilling.
“The kids were excited, phoning their mums, it’s just been amazing.”
Eastglen High School has a long and proud tradition of football having fielded a team for sixty years.
“It’s been incredible, it’s amazing, we weren’t expecting this and we love playing this game and with all this it’s just that much better,” said Gamillo.
The team is featured in a national documentary and have also received free football equipment and upgrades to their locker rooms.
