Another local athlete has moved on to a bigger and better athletic career.
Adam Swientek has been named to the Manitoba provincial football team and will compete in the Canada Cup in Nova Scotia July 9-16.
Swientek played Eagles high school football for just two years but hours at the gym and being pushed by his coaches excellerated his improvement and got him noticed by other coaches.
After a regular season game against St. John’s from Winnipeg, Swientek was approached by the coach and asked if he was interested in trying out for the Under-18 Manitoba team.
After six months of training camps and try-outs every month in Winnipeg, the 225 athletes have been broken down into a team of 41, Swientek, a defensive strong side corner,  being the only player from Ontario to make the cut.
He will spend the final six days in Winnipeg before the team flies out to the east coast for the tournament.
Swientek says he’s made it this far because of the support he received from his family, his employer and his Eagles coaches.
“My defensive back coach would always call me or talk to me and see how I was doing and how try-outs  were going and one time, he came to a practice in Winnipeg and talked to me and talked to the coaches to see how I was doing… so there was a lot of support behind me from my coaches.”
Swientek adds that he hopes making an appearance at the Canada Cup will put him out there for future prospects as a footbal player in either Junior or college football.
Swientek heads off to Winnipeg on July 2 for the last round of practices before the national tournament.