Football Culture in Covid

The lowest point in Bill Vastis’s Gryphon Football career is still a vivid memory 26 years later. Guelph was in the midst of a miserable 1994 campaign and the low point came when the team lost to a struggling York program. Vastis, a star defensive end, took it particularly hard. He was adamant that he would quit football and leave the Gryphons.

A chance meeting with a former coach and a decorated professional player altered his planned course. Vastis has told the story many times – he spoke with Dennis McPhee, the current Guelph defensive coordinator then on the staff of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, as well as Terry Greer, a wide receiver who made his mark in both the CFL and NFL. Greer won a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers and happened to be wearing his ring that night. He told the young Vastis that the devastating loss would be one of two things – a nail in the coffin of his football career or the event that motivated him to go on to greater things.

“Terry asked me to wear the ring for the rest of the night and that if it wasn’t enough to convince me to keep playing football, then the sport didn’t need me,” Vastis recalls. “Well, all I wanted was to get my hands on a ring. There was symbolism in ultimately winning a championship (two years later) and getting the ring with Guelph. It’s stayed with me as an executive and as a parent.

“The adversity that came out of that specific moment has carried me through life and all types of challenges – including the one we are all dealing with today.”

Vastis and his 1994 teammates offer an example of resilience that resonates in this unique 2020. Getting knocked down is okay – you just have to get up. The traits that edition of the Gryphons learned, and subsequently applied in their Yates Cup season two year later, provides inspiration. In truth, the entire culture of football can provide a blueprint for navigating the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic. To succeed on the field, a team needs grit, belief, and cooperation, all while supporting each other.

Sound familiar?

Vastis’s partner-in-crime for a few of those Guelph years was Chris Camboia. The duo could have a devastating impact on a game, not to mention the opposing team’s quarterbacks. They would bet chicken wings on who would rack up more sacks. But both of the star ends knew the incredibly important role their D-line teammates Brent Dallimore and Jeremy Oxley played in their success. Dallimore and Oxley were “pillars in the middle of that defence,” according to Camboia.

They all supported each other and it led to success.

“Ox and Dalli were stalwarts, so dependable, so tough,” Camboia says, noting that he had just spoken to his old teammates in recent weeks when they reached out with words of support for his brother, who had a major surgery. “They exemplified the meaning of sacrificing and putting the team first. They just gobbled up double teams and offered such a physical presence, making the job for Bill and I much easier. We were true teammates and you would be hard-pressed to find four guys who were committed and trusted each other like we did.

“We weren’t out to do well and take part,” he adds of the culture embodied by not just the line but the whole team and staff. “We had the mindset of taking over. We didn’t care what jersey you wore or the name on the back – we were confident in our work.

“It was a we-versus-the-world mentality.”

Camboia came by this approach honestly. Like Vastis, he grew up in an ethnic household where hard work was valued. Camboia’s dad Jose came from the Azores and endured hardships, literally spending nights sleeping in barns. He remembers being a kid himself when Jose took Camboia and his three brothers to see what life was like grinding away on the construction site. They are lessons that Camboia shares with his own boys Miguel and Diego, who are in the early stages of their own football careers.

Between the family experience and a life devoted to the gridiron, Camboia developed the resilience needed to survive and thrive.

“We need leaders and difference makers, especially now in this society,” he says. “We need to do what football figured out decades ago – to huddle up with all walks, races, types, and be a family.

“We’re in this together.”

That’s a recurring theme for both Camboia and Vastis, the idea that everyone in the room was (and still is) part of a family. That bond was critical for Vastis, who came to Guelph as an elite, young athlete, who was struggling mentally trying to recover from the death of his mother Sotirea. He considers those battles in the trenches some of the most demanding experiences of his life and they provided preparation for obstacles throughout his post-football life, which included serious health scares.

“I honestly think that had it not been for the fate of me playing on both winning and losing teams, that I wouldn’t be in the position I am today with business and family,” Vastis says of both his successful career in the financial sector and his personal life as a husband and father of three kids. “I’m still learning but the path is fairly clear when you know that you make fewer mistakes as you grow older and still nurture relationships at the same time.”

Camboia is seeing some of these same revelations with members of the Woodstock Wolverines, a developmental football program he founded aside from his career in the real estate industry. A new, state-of-the-art field has allowed the Wolverine players to train throughout much of this year, all while following strict COVID protocols. That has helped them navigate the pandemic, putting in the hours, sharing experiences, and understanding that they are all in it together.

“They get that the secret is there is no secret,” Camboia says. “You have to work like crazy.

“It’s an important time. Every day is precious for these kids, who are just trying to make it and maintain their mental health. Football provides an avenue and teaches lessons that you will never learn behind a desk.”

“The brotherhood, I told them, will outlast what is happening.”

Almost a quarter century after Guelph’s 1996 Yates Cup victory, that sentiment still rings true. Vastis talks about the respect he has for old teammates, especially those who fought on the D-line beside him. They don’t see each other as much as they would like but they are still brothers. Vastis says that we need solid people around us. It’s never been more important.

“The moment this perfect black swan began, I went into the fight-or-flight mode I learned from football,” he explains of the pandemic’s arrival back in March. “That was a combination of relying on your grit and character, as well as knowing who is on your team to back you up.

“You’re looking to do the same for others and pick them up. It’s not just a time to survive but also a time to succeed and grow with others so we can continue forward once the time passes and we move on to some form of normalcy.”

Camboia acknowledges how uncertainty can be demoralizing. He knows that looking forward to something is paramount to our well being.

“Either you control the circumstances or they control you,” says Camboia. “The world will tell you that five and four is the only way to make nine but so do seven and two or eight and one. We’re going to find a way.

“When you have camaraderie, that’s what wins.”

Written By: David DiCenzo