BC Lions’ players T-Dre Player and Rolly Lumbala hit people for a living on the football field.
On Wednesday, however, the message they delivered to Lake City Secondary School high school students broke far from the mould of what a stereotypical football player is.
Player and Lumbala were at LCSS Williams Lake Campus and Columneetza Campus during the day presenting the team’s Be More Than A Bystander initiative — a campaign directed at preventing and ending violence and abuse against women.
“I was fortunate enough to be in a house where that didn’t go down,” Player said, noting statistics say one in three women in Canada will be either physically or sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
“But my mom and my sister were both physically assaulted.”
Lumbala and Player stressed to the students the importance of being a leader and to speak up when they witness any type of abuse against women, whether it be verbal, physical or psychological.
“We’ve got to change the way we view women,” Lumbala said.
Both Lumbala and Player said taking the training for the Be More Than A Bystander program has changed the culture inside the BC Lions locker room.
“It was kind of a joke at first,” Lumbala said.
“But as we learned we do need to continue this conversation and the program has had a tremendous impact on the players.”
Following the presentation Lumbala and Player held a focus group with LCSS’s Grade 12 leadership and social justice class.
Player, who was born in Winnipeg, Man. and is half First Nations, said the program is of particular importance to him due to his cultural background.
“I think race plays a big factor,” he said, noting it’s important as humans to help each other break the cycle of abuse and violence.
“It’s all about having each other’s backs,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate we have this problem, but it’s a problem we have to recognize and it’s a problem we have to address.”
The Be More Than A Bystander program is an initiative between the Ending Violence Association of B.C. and the BC Lions.
In 2012, BC Lions Travis Lulay and Angus Reid also deliver the presentation at LCSS.