Working at an off-season job is hardly unusual for Canadian Football League players.
Risking your life in an off-season job certainly is.
But that’s what Toronto Argonauts defensive end and special teams player Raymond Fontaine did over the winter as he took a different route and worked as a roughneck in the Alberta oil fields.
"You have to constantly be aware of the hazards because there are many, many dangerous things out there," says the 28-year-old Ottawa native as he prepares to open camp with the team this morning. "You could sprain an ankle and you could kill yourself."
Most members of the Toronto Argonauts went the traditional route and exchanged football jerseys for suits after last season ended.
Defensive tackle Adriano Belli worked in the family meat business. Offensive lineman Jeff Keeping worked in his family’s sign business.
Running back Jeff Johnson sold real estate while fellow ball carrier Andre Durie continued his jobs working with intellectually challenged people and foster children.
But Fontaine was the only who exchanged his jersey for a fire-retardant suit and steel-toed boots rated for 100-degree temperatures.
The high salaries paid to oil workers – roughnecks are paid about $25 an hour – were certainly part of the lure for Fontaine. But the main attraction was his hope that this winter in the wilds of northern Alberta might lead to a post-football career in the oil business.
"This was much more hands-on than what my degree (agricultural economics) prepared me for, but it gave me a great insight into the business," he says.
That it did. He woke up every morning at 4:45 and toiled 12 to 15 hours a day for Nabors Industries, hauling 180-kilogram pipes and servicing oil wells outside the town of Fox Creek, Alta.
"It was very physically demanding and when you’re working that long you have to have your head in it, too," says Fontaine, who worked 21 days straight before getting seven off. "The best part of working out there was being outdoors and seeing that sunrise and sunset every day."
The Alberta winter did make working outdoors a challenge.
"I’d never been in minus-40 weather, having your safety glasses fog up and frost on your beard," he says. "I thought that only happened to people going up Mount Everest."
While the job had its dangers, Fontaine says he never felt threatened because there was such an emphasis on safety.
Every day began with a review of the company’s safety rules.
And although his previous off-season jobs were in offices, he didn’t feel out of place. Two of his fellow workers were also athletes; a retired pro hockey player and a former martial arts fighter one hour cash loan.
But that didn’t save Fontaine from the usual rookie hazing.
"They’d send me on little missions, to get the pipe stretcher and the bucket of steam," he says with a laugh. "It was good fun and made it like being part of a football team."
And while 15-hour days aren’t conducive to preparing for football, Fontaine says he’s in excellent shape because of the job. He used his off weeks to train, but says trudging through snow and hoisting pipes provided a great workout.
Other Argos spent the winter in less physical pursuits.
Durie has several incentives for pursuing his off-field careers, which involve providing support for clients in all aspects of life from overseeing diet to helping with job applications to taking foster children on outings.
His mother worked with the mentally challenged and his 7-year-old son has an intellectual disability.
"It was kind of like a way to help him from inside the organization," says Durie, who studied sociology at York University before working for Community Living Mississauga and the Children’s Aid Society.
While the added income helps augment the traditionally low CFL salaries – and he continues both jobs part-time through the playing season – Durie says the jobs have other rewards.
"I’ve been through a lot of injuries, but you get a different outlook on life when you work with them," he says. "It’s not the same struggle they’re going through, but you learn a lot from them.
"The strength of some of these people is pretty impressive."
Johnson has worked as a personal trainer throughout most of his nine-year career, mainly because an off-season job is a necessity.
"You have to prepare yourself for life after football because it can end any day," he says. "I count every year as a blessing."
He decided to switch off-season careers after seeing a better future in sales. After getting his licence, he went to work with his stepfather, uncle and cousin at Century 21 Brown in Etobicoke. His timing may have seemed off considering the economy, but Johnson says it’s all working out well.
"I think it was the best time to get in," says the Toronto native. "A lot of people had it land in their laps, but I had to lay the foundation properly and pursue different angles to make the business grow.
"You get out of it what you put into it, just like in football."
Source