It’s Friday morning, and the last day available to the players who have been invited to play in tomorrow’s East West bowl, to hone any skills and talents with the help of the talented collective of coaches and staff on each teams side from across the country. With a vested interest by the players to win the game, and the coaches drive to ensure that they can showcase the abilities of every player on the field, tomorrow promises to be an exciting conclusion to the week long training faced by each player.
The two head coaches, McMaster’s Stefan Ptaszek and Laval’s Glen Constantin, decided to sit down and talk brass tacks with Canadafootballchat.com about how their week has been, what the East West bowl means to them, and which players should be the ones to watch during the game.
CFC: So let’s begin. How has the week been for you?
Stefan Ptaszak: It’s been fun. It’s a real privilege to work with some of these CFL and CIS coaches. These athletes are talented, but also humble and hardworking young men. It has been a great week.
Glen Constantin: It’s been pretty good. It’s a reunion and gathering with all of the coaches. You get to work with some premier football players and premier football minds. It’s a humbling experience to work with all of these coaches.
CFC: What does the East West Bowl mean for you?
SP: I think that it’s, on the calendar in this country, the best collection of coaching and playing talent. It’s a wonderful opportunity to develop not just grass roots football and coaching, but now that the CFL is so intertwined and invested in the this event, it is very unique and I’m proud of it.
GC: To me it’s a celebration of university football. It’s an opportunity where the best kids and the best coaches work together to a common goal, which is to showcase these kids for the CFL. Its all anybody’s dream is to get there. It’s a big deal at our school the kids get to go they are very thankful to get their opportunity to go.
CFC: How has it been working with kids that normally don’t play together, and have varying levels of skill?
GC: It’s funny how things level off during the week. You show certain drills to some kids, and some have done it, and for some it’s new. The level of talent here means they can pick it up [easily], and I think they’ll be better football players when they get home.
SP: The CIS has done a wonderful job growing and developing Canadian football talent. We all do the same things; we just call it different stuff, so reconciling that terminology and getting everyone on the same page is something coach Poapoa and coach Marshall have done a wonderful job as my coordinators and I can’t wait to see the kids compete.
CFC: Are there any players that have stood out for you?
SP: I think the two Quarterbacks, Kennedy [Windsor] and Williams [Manitoba] have looked very sharp, and I think some of those Defensive tackles, Gaydosh [Calgary] and Charles [Regina], are these mammoth kids that have controlled the middle. Every position has an outstanding athlete and its been a privilege just to be around them.
GC: I think the Running Back from the University of Montreal is outstanding [Rotrand Sené], he’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. He’ll be a big player for us on offence. I think we have a good receiving core as a whole. Fortunately we have 3 of our kids here, 3 of our receivers tested the best here [Yannick Morin-Plante, Guillaume Rioux, and Jean-Aleandre Bernier]. They’re very athletic and hopefully they can showcase that here.
CFC: What’re you doing to ensure your team wins?
SP: We are going through our regular protocols to prepare for a football game. We’ve put in five hard days, and five hard practices. Coaches are going to be competitive and want to give these kids a chance to be successful. You can’t turn it off. As much as were trying to make this a fun competitive all-star game, there are [just] too many competitive Type A personalities that are going to want to win this football game.
CFC: What will you be doing this year, similar to last year, to make sure that you win?
GC: Play good defense with good field positions, since the offence hasn’t been together for so long. So if you have good field positions I think its harder for them to sustain drives. I don’t think you’ll get beat by 9 or 10 play drives because the secret is that the timing isn’t necessarily where it needs to be
CFC: Any final comments for our readers?
SP: It’s been a fun week, and definitely they should come out and see this football game. It’s the best talent, the best Canadian talent that you will see.
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