Matt Dionne | Sports and Health Editor
Featured image: Kolankowski decided to take his year off from playing with the Argonauts to come back and finish his degree at York. | Courtesy of York Lions
Excalibur’s athlete of the month for January is current York student and former member of the Lions football team Chris Kolankowski. Kolankowski recently signed with the Toronto Argonauts and will be invited to attend their training camp later this year. Originally drafted by the Argos last year, Kolankowski was released just before the season and elected to return to York to complete his degree and play his final year of eligibility with the Lions. He will join former Lion and offensive line teammate Jamal Campbell, who was also drafted by the Argos last year and spent this past season in a backup role with the Boatmen.
Excalibur: How do you think this past year with York has prepared you for the CFL?
Kolankowski: I think the last season helped me prepare [well], because it allowed me to refine techniques I had learned in training camp with the Argos, as after coming back the Ontario University Athletics [or OUA] seemed to slow down quite a bit. The longer offseason in the OUA compared to the CFL also gives me more time to bulk up and put some good weight on to prepare for the bigger and faster linemen I will be going up against.
E: Do the Argos and the Lions have a similar system?
K: At first glance, yes, but with the Argos there is much more complexity to help deal with the various defences in the CFL.
E: The Argos currently have a lot of offensive linemen on the roster and a pair on the practice squad. What do you think you’ll have to do to make the team?
K: I think I will just have to perform and leave no doubt that I belong in the CFL. I will have to take advantage of every opportunity I get in camp to prove myself as an offensive lineman.
E: Did you ever consider signing with a team other than Toronto?
K: After I was released, I was pretty set on returning to York for my last season of eligibility. Being in the honours law and society program requires me to take full-year seminar classes, so completing my degree would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible if I was playing in another city, or even for Toronto.
E: What does playing in the CFL mean to you?
K: It’s everything I’ve worked for playing football growing up. It reassures me that the sacrifices I made to get this far were worth it; from transforming my body from being 220 pounds when I came to York as a rookie to being a 300-pound lineman heading to my second CFL training camp, but also the social sacrifices such as not going to the bars with friends on weekends or on pub days, knowing that it would benefit my training to instead stay in and get another meal in.
E: What are you most looking forward to, going into training camp?
K: Definitely the competition and intensity. Playing beside elite offensive linemen against former NFL defensive linemen, those from NCAA Division One schools and the best form the CIS was the most fun I’ve had playing football. The competition level in practice is very high and that kind of atmosphere is what I love about this game.
