Bralon Addison<\/a> announced his retirement as a player following seven seasons in the CFL, the first four in Hamilton, the last three in Ottawa.<\/p>\nAt the age of 32, one would assume he could still be suiting up and producing, the way he did again in 2025, when he had 72 receptions for 1,825 yards in 14 games for the REDBLACKS.<\/p>\n
But, instead, he decided to take those next steps in forging a future he felt certain he\u2019d always have.<\/p>\n
And those strides are coming as a guest coach at the Winnipeg Blue Bombers\u2019 training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always knew my end goal would be to be a coach someday,\u201d says Addison, recalling that he used to spend hours designing football schemes when playing video games as a kid. \u201cAnd what better way than through this internship? Kind of get a head start after I just finished my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obviously, Addison had known the world of football very well since he was a youngster. But that perspective had almost always come from the vantage point of a player and the new angle he\u2019s getting in his role at Bombers\u2019 camp has him doing and learning things that are brand new.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to say, (I\u2019m) starting over from from zero, and I\u2019m kind of like a baby, learning how to walk, starting to crawl a little bit, learning some little things,\u201d says Addison.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to sponge up everything, even just some of the computer stuff, you know? I think a lot of people think that coaching is just all about on field stuff and things like that, but I\u2019m having to make wristbands for the quarterback for the first time in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starting off his coaching career by jumping in with the Bombers has given Addison a measure of comfort as he begins the journey. Winnipeg\u2019s new offensive coordinator in 2026 is Tommy Condell, who served in the same role with Ottawa in 2024 and 2025, the final two seasons of Addison\u2019s three with the REDBLACKS.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole staff has been welcoming me so nicely,\u201d Addison says of Winnipeg\u2019s coaches, name-checking many of them, including head coach Mike O\u2019Shea. \u201cI couldn\u2019t be more happy or more thankful to be around such a great group of guys, as a rookie coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of Addison\u2019s time, naturally, has seen him involved with Winnipeg\u2019s receivers, pitching in to lend a hand to \u2014 and to learn from \u2014 the team\u2019s new receivers coach, Lee Hull.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been great,\u201d says Addison of Hull. \u201cHe\u2019s given me the opportunity to actually coach and actually make mistakes and actually learn, and teaching me the small things, the small details. So I\u2019m really grateful for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s early days in Addison\u2019s pivot from player to coach and because of that, he\u2019s focused on gobbling up information as opposed to making calculated plans on his next steps in the transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to give you the old cliche answer,\u201d Addison says, \u201cbut I\u2019ve literally just been trying to take it one day at a time, and just do the best I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd see what happens from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
MARIANNE DE VERA | PHYSICAL THERAPY | BC LIONS
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Marianne de Vera is the BC Lions Diversity in Football Program participant (Nik Kowalski\/BCLions.com)<\/p>\n
\u201cNo complaints about the landscape,\u201d Marianne de Vera says with a laugh.<\/p>\n
The physiotherapist with a practice in Brampton, ON is at the BC Lions training camp in Kamloops, working as a member of the team\u2019s athletic therapy crew, through the Diversity in Football program. And while the stunning scenery has widened her eyes, it\u2019s not the only thing.<\/p>\n
The new experiences she\u2019s taking in \u2014 and the pace at which things move at a pro football camp \u2014 have also astonished her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s honestly been been amazing,\u201d de Vera says. \u201cThe team\u2019s been great, and everyone\u2019s just been so nice. It\u2019s been a whirlwind, of course. You kind of get thrown into the thick of things off the bat, but it\u2019s been great for learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back home, de Vera has put her Bachelor\u2019s in Kinesiology and Master\u2019s in Physiotherapy to work with a lot of athletes, charting progressions for them as they try to return to action after suffering debilitating injuries. Her patients, along the way, have included a few CFL players.<\/p>\n
But she has found that there is a world of difference between tending to athletes who are coming to see her as they begin rehab and those who are in action on the field in front of her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a physio, we don\u2019t have as much experience with field work,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, being a first responder, actually seeing those injuries happen on field, is not something I get in the clinic. I usually see them a couple days after they\u2019ve already had imaging.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what she finds most incredible about trading office life for the sideline experience, de Vera replies: \u201cjust the sheer volume.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBack home, maybe I\u2019m seeing one, two people every hour. Here, it\u2019s like we\u2019re pumping people through, getting them good and tuned up, ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The energy of the experience, de Vera says, has awakened a little something in her as far as what path she could take in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely ignited a fire to kind of get out and do some field work,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clinic part has become very routine, a little bit mundane. I think the adrenaline that you get from being on the field, being that first point of contact, and the way it kind of stimulates your brain is exciting and a lot different.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a couple of weeks with the Lions, including rookie camp prior to the start of full training, de Vera says she can certainly recommend the Diversity in Football Program to others.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re looking to progress your career, to get into some professional development, or even just network and get to know people, see what the ins and outs of what pro sports actually is, then I one hundred per cent recommend doing this program.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hits all of those marks, and it definitely changes your perspective on the heart and the hustle that goes into an organization this big.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The CFL\u2019s Diversity in Football Program presented by Securian Canada is now into its fifth year and in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-682523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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