“Just excel” with Zeph Fraser
ON origins
Before Zeph Fraser was an elite wide receiver he was in grade three playing defensive line.
“I hated it. I told my parents I wanted to quit,” Fraser said. And he did.
It was not until Fraser saw the movie Friday Night Lights that he felt the glory of football. Fraser was no Boobie Miles, though, and at the start of his career he was “terrible at receiver.”
He continued to play high school football in tandem with the Mississauga Warriors, catching some balls and dropping most. Coaches helped him progress from a buttery-handed receiver to the elite player we see on the gridiron today.
“The coaches [at Mississauga] helped me progress,” Fraser said. “Then I wanted to get really serious. I went over to Champlain College in Quebec.”
At Champlain, Fraser developed under his current offensive coordinator, Jean-Francois Joncas.
ON development
For athletes that take their craft seriously offseason is not vacation — it’s motivation.
Fraser took his offseasons to train with professional football players like Edmonton Eskimos receivers Natey Adjei and Andrew Johnson.
“Everybody had that mentality, that expectation of going pro; that just rubbed off on me,” he said.
On-field training with professionals gave Fraser the expertise, while the two-a-days gave him the athleticism to compete as an elite U Sports athlete.
But, his true motivation came from family.
Fraser’s parents told him, “Pick something and if you really like it then excel in it.”
The words resonated, even with me, when he reiterated: “Just excel.”
ON becoming a Gryphon
Originally, Fraser intended to enter straight into the U of G program. Unfortunately, things did not work out grade-wise, so Fraser matured in the CJFL while attending Sheridan College to raise his grades, averaging 83 yards per game and scoring 11 touchdowns.
Heads turned and Zeph signed with the Laurier Golden Hawks. His stint with Laurier only lasted a year before he transferred to the Gryphons: it simply “wasn’t the right fit there.”
Kevin MacNeill, the Gryphons head coach noted that all of Fraser’s “ups and downs … helped him mature, and he’s a much more focused guy [because of it].”
Fraser now has his eyes set on the Vanier cup, but tells me about making it to the League. I asked him, which one?
“CFL, NFL, anything. That’s the goal. Just gotta keep working,” said Fraser.
[trx_line style=”dashed” top=”inherit” bottom=”inherit” left=”inherit” right=”inherit”]“The comeback” with Libby Brenneman
ON origins
Elizabeth (Libby) Brenneman skipped Timbits soccer and opted for gymnastics and figure skating before her meet cute with the soccer pitch at age eight.
It only took one season for Libby’s coach in the small town of Baden, Ont. to insist that Brenneman go to the city (Kitchener-Waterloo) to play for the competitive U9 team and beyond.
Like most athletes, this did not come without hardships, and for Libby it was a demoralizing coach during Rep A soccer.
“After a game, […] (we lost 3-0), and he pulled me aside, and told me that he would rather have any other keeper, house league keeper, the worst keeper in the league than me that game,” Brenneman said.
Brenneman chose to leave the abuse and encountered nurturing coaches who developed her game.
While she played Rep B soccer the former Gryphons head coach, Randy Ragan, scouted and recruited Libby to play U Sports for U of G.
ON development
At the beginning of her career at Guelph Brenneman was dubbed “raw” by current coach Shayne Campbell, stemming from a weak boot.
“I went from first year not being able to kick a ball barely as a goal kick to getting it close to the other team’s 18 [yard box] now,” Brenneman said.
The power she has now comes from the strength and conditioning training Brenneman undertook after a major back injury in second year.
ON the injury
Brenneman’s major injury was also her first. Pain surged through her back at every dive and save.
The physical pain is not merely pain for an athlete: it’s a reminder of a finality, of confronting life after sport.
“I wasn’t sure about playing, I wasn’t sure about anything,” Brenneman said.
She continued to speak to her parents, about life after sport, about law school (Brenneman’s ambitions off the field), and about continuing to play while risking a possible life-long injury.
She spent three to four months in existential limbo: academics or athletics. She could not choose, so she reconciled.
“My parents call it the comeback. I want to play every single game [in my third year] that’s what my theory was,” Brenneman said. “So I worked with our strength and conditioning coaches. I went to the gym. I ran.”
Now, Brenneman starts her fourth year with a four-game shutout streak, leading her team to the top of the OUA West division.
Photos by Matteo Cimellaro/The Ontarion