The social sabbatical of Duvernay-Tardif

After all these years of leading a hell of a pace, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif has declared 2023 a “sabbatical year”. To “slow down the train”.

He prepared the opening of a fourth bakery, planted 182 hectares of wheat, then harvested 650 tonnes, launched into the manufacture of artisanal butter, in addition to structuring a foundation of 65 people.

Tell me about a guy who knows how to rest.

“The bakery couldn’t come out of the family,” explains the former Super Bowl champion, who has just announced his retirement from football.

When his parents decided to sell Le Pain dans les voiles, “LDT” had “no choice.” It was a 100% emotional decision. All my Christmases, I spent with my family at the bakery in Saint-Hilaire. This is where I met Florence [Dubé-Moreau, sa blonde]. My teammates at McGill always had pastries…”

Which gave rise to some comical scenes, given the relative incompatibility of the professions of baker and offensive guard.

“One point last year I was on the plane with the team [les Jets]we’re heading to Miami to go play, and they call me because there’s a water leak in a fridge and we’re going to lose the croissants,” he says, laughing.

Instead of getting rid of it, he decided to expand the company, to justify hiring managers. He also wanted to change the model to retain the precious bakers, whose nighttime schedules are known.

To make good bread, you need good wheat. He dealt with farmers who grew the required variety. In addition to protecting himself from market fluctuations, he especially wanted to create “a Quebec value chain that goes from the producer to the counter. I want to do the same thing with butter.” He wants to create one in Quebec instead of buying it in Europe, because local butter lacks the elasticity for a good pastry (the elasticity depends on the fat content and the cows’ diet; however, they are gives grain to Quebec).

He brought together milk producers and went to Investissement Québec, and if I judge by the look on his face, it should all be churned shortly.

The project that occupies him the most this year, however, is his foundation, which offers a “sixth period” to fifth and sixth year primary school students. “Mediators” have been visiting around thirty schools in Quebec for three years and running arts and sports programs to promote academic perseverance. You could say that he tries to make school as interesting as possible, having attended an “alternative” school founded by his mother.

Yes, but medicine in all this? The man we called “The Doctor” with the Kansas City Chiefs has interrupted his residency in family medicine until next winter. But he still intends to practice. He didn’t do “all that” to give up. The man is a perseverant, and not just academically.

“All that,” he tells me in a café in the Plateau, it is having convinced the dean of the faculty of medicine at McGill to organize all his hospital training around his professional football career in such a way that there would be no scheduling conflicts “even if I went to the Super Bowl four years in a row.”

Let us point out that when he presented this plan to Dean Robert Primavesi, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif was 21 years old and not even drafted. But he had decided with his best friend, Sasha Ghavami, to try his luck in the NFL, even if he had no statistical chance – almost all the players came from American colleges.

Ghavami and LDT had known each other at Grasset college. Sasha was the sports fanatic who knew every statistic for every sport, and who secretly dreamed of being an agent. Laurent was the giant athlete who arrived with his helmet under his arm to play football without even having been recruited, and wondering if he should not instead turn to badminton.

But after two years at Grasset, and two more with the McGill team, his talent became evident, and he was tipped to be the first player drafted in the Canadian Football League. He decided to aim for the NFL.

“I called several agents, but they told me: ‘You have to choose your priority: medicine or football? Otherwise you won’t be taken seriously.” That’s when I called Sasha to ask her to become my agent. »

Both knew nothing of the mysteries of the richest sport in the United States. But after a few months, nine American recruiters came in a snowstorm to see LDT run the famous “40 yards” in 4.92 s, which is enormous for a big boy.

Between two (student-doctor) guards, the offensive guard crisscrossed the United States to respond to invitations. There was always this doubt: Yes, but do you really want to study medicine? Are you really invested in football? Finally, in Kansas City, he met “coach” Andy Reid. As luck would have it, the coach’s mother was from the first cohort of women at McGill’s medical school. “If you study medicine and you’re here, it’s because you love football. »

After seven years, LDT won the 2020 Super Bowl. As soon as he returned, there was a pandemic. Unable to undertake his residency, he became a beneficiary attendant.

“I saw the difference between treating and caring. I entered the CHSLD wanting to adjust all medications, check pressure, diabetes, etc. Of course it’s important, but the patients didn’t even have hot soup. They took their bath every two weeks. It put into perspective what it means to take care of people. Aren’t we too therapeutic? When a patient hasn’t had a visit in six weeks and you’re their only human interaction of the day when you go to deliver their medication, their pills are the least of their worries. What he needs is human contact. Let us take time in this chaos. »

After 10 weeks, he undertook a two-week quarantine to return to his team. The ticket was purchased, the suitcase ready. Three days before leaving, he called “coach Reid.” He would stay in Quebec.

He returned the following year, was injured, then traded to the New York Jets, where he played last season. But at 32, he finally put an end to what brought him the most intense sensations of his life. These vibrating stadiums. This ball placed at the 2 line. Coach Reid who “calls” the play on the right side, saying to himself: “The Doctor is going to do the job. » And he does it: the ball carrier crosses the line without even being touched… “It’s the best moment of your career. »

The first text he received after announcing his retirement came from a CHSLD attendant. He is proud of the bonds that were created during these dark weeks, when he saw the Chiefs play on a Thursday during his evening shift in a patient’s room.

“Do you regret it? people sometimes asked him.

— Today, terribly! “, he said frankly some days.

“It took me a while to know it was the right decision. »

From these nine years of football at the highest level, from all this notoriety, he wanted to do something.

“I had this privilege. Florence and I, the foundation, we want this to be our legacy. We are giving ourselves 10 years to bring this to fruition.

“We quickly learned that it’s easy to run a good program with young people who don’t need it. Every time you do a program outside of the school setting, you create a selection bias among precarious families who do not have the means to transport their young people, so you miss them. To be sure not to miss those who really need it, I want to reach as many young people as possible. »

Around thirty schools are registered, and in these schools, approximately 50% of students in 5^e and 6^e are registered – so many that there must be draws. For a period of one hour per week, at lunchtime or after school, young people are supported by mediators: often students, or student-athletes, and artists too.

“He who comes for sports is obliged to do arts. And vice versa. They are introduced to contemporary Quebec art practices. It’s not DIY, and young people are very curious about the artistic process. Sports are inclusive: yoga, martial arts, dance. In schools, we have greatly developed the competitive sports model. But for each champion, we create thousands of sports and school dropouts. I’m in a bad position to speak because it served me well, but we’re going in another direction. »

However, he is an example of an athlete who did all kinds of activities before specializing in football, which is increasingly being highlighted by experts.

All of this was put together after consultation with experts with a view to meeting ministerial objectives: What are the needs? Where can we have the most impact? Everything is entirely financed by the foundation (which has a budget of around 2 million), and without participation from the school. “The teachers are already overwhelmed, it’s turnkey. »

Researchers from the University of Montreal are monitoring the project to measure its impact.

“But what does that say about our school, that we need foundations to organize extracurriculars?

– I don’t know. Governments say they want to, but it doesn’t happen. Like primary prevention in health. All the studies show it’s beneficial, but politically, it seems like there are always more immediate, more pressing issues in the media cycle. We have been asking for support from the government for months, we are in line with their objectives and we are basically a childcare service. But that doesn’t happen. »

Thirty schools is a small percentage out of nearly 1,800 public primary schools in Quebec. But this is only the beginning, says the man who has constantly defied the statistics. There is so much social work to be done.