All-star transformation

CJFL on the summer agenda for Timberwolves star Winchester.

Years of hard work through high school have paid off as Tyler Winchester looks forward to the next step in his football career. 

Tyler Winchester

Positions:
Offensive Line, Defensive Line

Height/Weight:
6’2, 295

Teams:
Vanouver Island Raiders (junior:  BCFC/CJFL)
Bishop McNally Timberwolves (High school)
Calgary Broncos (Midget)
Forest Lawn Goldenhawks (Bantam)
Team Alberta

Commitment:
None

Official Visits:
None

Consideration:
Open

Class:
2013

When Tyler started playing football at the age of 14, his interest wasn’t serious.

“It was more for fun than anything else,” says Tyler of his first year with the bantam Calgary Goldenhawks.

However, Tyler had a change heart at the end of his Grade 9 year when he was invited to try out for Team Calgary in the Alberta Summer Games. Though he didn’t make the cut, Tyler realized at that moment that he wanted to play football at a higher level. He began to take the sport seriously, and ended up making the junior Bishop McNally Timberwolves’  team in his first year of high school.

“I had worked hard over the summer and became a captain for the first time,” Tyler recalls.

That season, he played in his first ever playoff game, and was named Lineman of the Year. He played primarily at guard on offence while ranging all over the defensive line.

“We probably had the best O-line in the league,” he says.

In Grade 11, Tyler moved up to the senior team. All his hard work paid off, and after being offered a tryout for Team Alberta, Tyler earned the opportunity to represent his province at the national level last summer at the 2013 Football Canada Cup in London.  He came home with the silver medal after losing a hard-fought game to Team Quebec in the final game of the tournament.

This past fall marked Tyler’s final high school season with the Timberwolves.

“I was the emotional leader of the team, and we had our first ever undefeated regular season in team history,” says Tyler. “We proved ourselves as one of the top teams in Division 2,”

In a season filled with great memories, Tyler played on both lines and also made Calgary’s All-Star team.

In May, Tyler competed for Team South, who won the Alberta Senior Bowl.

“I enjoyed just hanging out with all the guys on the team,” says Tyler.  “We all have common interests so it made it easy to relate to one another.”

Off the field, Tyler enjoys several other athletic pursuits, including rugby.

“There’s not much that isn’t sports-related,” he says of his interests. “I enjoy pretty much anything to do with sports and weight lifting, like sports medicine.”

That is what Tyler plans to study in university when the time comes. Tyler has aspirations of playing CIS football, but in the meantime, he has found a place with the Vancouver Island Raiders of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL).

“They have a great culture and I believe that their winning ways will help me become a better player,” Tyler says of the Raiders’ program.

Football is set to remain a major focus in Tyler’s life for the next several years. He hopes to make his mark as he moves through Junior football to the CIS and beyond.