Black hat on his head, red backpack on his shoulders and Washington Commanders jersey on his back, Benjamin St-Juste runs all over the field of Curé-Antoine-Labelle high school in Laval.
The professional footballer is completely involved in the activities that take place on the field. Microphone in hand, he applauds successful plays and takes the time to advise the youngsters individually after each sequence.
At the time of the passage of The Press At this fourth edition of the Back to the Origin development camp organized by the Original Foundation, on Saturday noon, it was the young people under 15 who took the field by storm. There were a lot, a lot of them.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The Back to the Origin development camp was intended for young athletes aged 13 to 18.
“Young people see that I love what I do, that there is passion,” St-Juste explains. “They can connect with me, ask me questions. It’s not just a speech and I leave. I come to connect with young people, to teach them as many techniques as possible.”
In total, no fewer than 500 student athletes take part in the camp, which is a real happening; several dozen parents are in the stands, loudspeakers blare music and various marquees allow people to get food or souvenirs.
Moreover, all the young people proudly wear a tank top that was given to them: “From MTL to the NFL”, we can read on the back of it.
“I signed up for the camp to improve myself,” says 16-year-old Montrealer Noah Daquin. “I want to meet coaches, talk to Ben… He’s a good NFL player. I want to improve, have new experiences, meet people, have fun.”
“They are all players who have the same values as me. They like to give back to young people, they see the potential. This is a first visit for them to Montreal.”
The representation
While the under-15s are on the field, the over-15s are spread across eight classrooms inside the school, where different lectures are held. “Mental Preparation and Balance of Mind,” “Nutrition and Sports,” “Financial Literacy and Career Development,” and “NCAA Eligibility” are some of the topics. Each youth is free to attend the lectures of their choice, all of which are offered by a specialist in the relevant field.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Conferences on several themes revolving around football were offered to the young people present.
“I went to the conference of[Antoine Deslauriers, un secondeur]”The speech he gave, the training he did, it motivated me. He talked about missing evenings with the boys to go train, about making sacrifices,” recalls Zakary André, 15, from L’Assomption.
The idea of the camp, explains the director of the Fondation l’Originale, Martin Robert, is to “make sport accessible.” “It’s to make accessible the content, or the knowledge, that you need to become a professional athlete in sport, or just develop yourself as a human. We charge money to pay for our things, but we have 100 free passes that we give to young people, to organizations.”
Benjamin St-Juste has been involved in this initiative for four years. In fact, it started after his NFL draft in 2021. He made a simple post on social media, inviting young people from Montreal who wanted to come join him for a free camp in a park in the city. No fewer than 150 athletes showed up.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Young people who were not attending conferences practiced on the football field at Curé-Antoine-Labelle high school in Laval.
“It just clicked, it made me realize that not only is there motivation and talent, but also a desire on the part of our young Quebec athletes to learn and reach the next level,” he says.
Representation, St-Juste believes, has a “big impact” on young people. “The fact that I come from here, I went to school here, I come from the same province, they are able to say: ‘I want to be like Benjamin St-Juste.’” […] Young people can use me as an example.”
The professional has a “similar” background to the hundreds of young people present in Laval on Saturday. As a teenager, he had difficulty attracting the attention of American recruiters.
“I didn’t have the perfect path,” he notes. “I had difficulty in school like them, I had to focus on the academic side to get to the next level. At the beginning, I had a lack of self-esteem, I didn’t really know if I was going to have the talent to succeed, if it was possible.”
But it was. And today, he wants all young Quebec players to know it.