Electronic walkabout. No one should have to walk through life alone. We share the good times, the bad times, and the best times. Everyone needs a little direction now and again. And TC and Mad Dog are here to show you the way. A podcast where we talk about the important things in life. Come journey with us. The Electronic Walkabout. Bad Dog. Here we are again, and we have a special guest with us that's going to share his very own perspective on how playing sports. Sports parallels life and in this case, playing football. G Train, give us an introduction for the listeners.

How's everybody doing? My name is Gary Lumeka, also known as the G-Train. I played football for about 12 years, coached for another seven or eight, I believe. I've been active since 2007, and I just recently took some time off of my last season back here in 2024 with the Valley Huskers.

And. And again for the listeners, Valley Huskers are a Canadian junior football team that play in the BC Football Conference. Maddog, how are we doing tonight?

Doing well, Doing well. The Christmas season is just about here, so it elevates the spirit a little bit, I think.

Elevates the spirit. So I'll tell you something right now. So I was in Ottawa all week, and I was in the hotel. And what's in the hotel is I'm sitting there waiting for my partner come down in the elevator, his Christmas carols every morning, Christmas carols. And I'm thinking myself, am I ready for this? Am I ready for this? And people always ask, are you ready for Christmas? I said, my wife is the one that got everything ready, not me.

You're just along for the ride.

I'm just along for the ride. Well, come Christmas time, that's going to be quite the ride, especially with the grandkids. Right. So, G-Train, you ready for Christmas?

We've been ready since November 12th.

Okay. Right.

So when did you put your tree up? Was that a curiosity?

My fiance actually put the tree up. I just happened to decorate it halfway and she finished it off the resuse.

We'Re told, I'm sure.

Of course, my rule in my house, preferably, I would go December 1, the 31st, January 1, tree comes down and she's looking at me like we're putting the tree up sooner. And I say, okay, but after November 11th, after November 11th, November 12th, that's all. Yeah, yeah.

And of course, before we get into the topic tonight, thought for the day, the dream just fuels the journey. Just think about that for a second. Okay. Because they all they all say it's about the journey and what you learn along the way. But how do you, how do you get into that journey?

It's the dream. Definitely. You should, you should let that one marinate for a little bit. That's. Yeah, it's.

A lot of people have to think about these things, but whatever it means to you is, is more important. So. So now on topic, G train sports and football, like, what's it done for you in your life?

It's done a whole world of things. It's changed my perspective on life itself actually. Like, I think honest to God, football saved me from a whole life of uncertain uncertainty. And it's given me, you know, responsibilities, it's giving me disciplines, it's give me a family so large I can't even count without looking at my Facebook, my Facebook friend list.

A family you can't even count.

Oh, by far. Like, it's. It's a whole list of brothers and coaches, you know, like, football, for me anyway, has been that one sport where, you know, everybody comes together. Any sport on the planet can say that. But like, I truly believe football is that one game that brings the world together. I mean, I found my fiance through football.

That's how you and I met.

That's. Yeah, that's how you and I met through football. It's no question about it. What, what do you think football specifically does for you as far as your development as a person? Does it, does it kind of influence whether you're going to be successful in life? And when you talk about that whole family, brothers, what does that teach you as well? Right, so.

Oh, well, I think, like, for me, football has been that thing where I could just let all my fears go and go do something and be a part of a group or community that's larger than myself. So football for me has been definitely a life changing experience where having a family, a group of brothers, is. We were able to perform tasks without putting ourselves first. Unlike some of the other sports in basketball, soccer, hockey, you have one or two guys who become studs. They change a team. Whereas football, you need all 11, or in Canada, all 12 to perform each task successfully. And not, not one other sport out there that I know of really can actually say, without the ball in my hands, I don't need my team. Whereas football, you need everybody. So when you get a lot of guys who decide, you know what, I'm going to fight the guy in front of me just so you can be successful, that's brotherhood if I ever heard of it. Right.

But I, I noticed it when the, the boys were younger, when they were playing around the peewee JB level, when if one of them would make a mistake, you'd hear their on, let's go next time. All right, let's go all positive about it. But it wasn't, nobody got belittled. It was like a pick it up, let's go, let's. We're still a team, we're, to your point, still a brotherhood. And I, I think that that implanted in them from year to year to year to year, that it was a band of brothers, so to speak. There was some fine, kick ass ladies in there too. Don't get me.

Oh, God.

Yeah, but, yeah, no, it just, you know, it strengthens because you know, you're, you're individually playing and you have your role, but, you know, it makes up the greater part of a team. So, yeah, it was pretty cool to see the development of young men as they go through the ranks in the years.

Yeah, it's kind of like planting those seeds that you hope truly come to life once they get older and enter the workforce, begin to have relationships, become parents themselves and start to give back to the community themselves too. And I've already mentioned, we've talked about Josh, who's already started doing that with the local high school. And, and that's just, you know, that's just a great thing to see and it's really a testament of what we've done with these kids too. Right. So.

And it doesn't change no matter what level you're at. Like, when Tyler got onto the Golden Bears team, he was the kid getting into a man's team. But instantly they all kind of took them under his wing. And you know, it was, it was, there wasn't a big process where he had to do something to fit in. It was almost, no, you're wearing green and gold, you're part of the team. Let's go. So that was pretty cool to see.

And exactly like they, they just, you know, sort of accepted him in such a way where he just needs to do his job. And as long as he keeps doing his job, they're going to love him for that. But also at the same time, you know, they're going to help him reach that successful spot, whether it's the next level in the pros or just further in his life and career. Like, his brothers are going to be there side by side with him to, you know, cheer him on as they would do on the sidelines at every game.

I can't Remember, I think it was either in the hotel or on the plane. I was watching and it was an expose. And they were interviewing the head coach of. Or the captain of the Chicago Blackhawks. And of course, we all know that we have a young Canadian boy that got drafted. Number one, Connor Bedard. And everybody's looking and saying, okay, well, how come he's not scoring goals? How come he's not scoring goals? But this cap and had nothing but kudos for this kid that goes to the rink every day and works his butt off. So that kid is going to be something to see in the future. Right. The same old, same old. Right.

So to have that support in your development from your team and, and that's. That's more powerful than you can speak to now.

Speaking about at one point, we have to realize that we can't play sports forever. Yes. I'm looking at you jiching. Yes. But let's, let's go beyond that. What, what has that done for your confidence? Just moving forward, let's say, in, in. In your business world.

Right. So it definitely. So now because of football, I strongly believe, like, the lessons I learned, you know, responsibility and discipline have I've been able to instill in my workplace to the point where I've moved up through the ranks very quickly. You know, it gave me confidence to approach a customer and start a sales pitch where I would start a recruiting pitch. You know, I'm now running a warehouse with a crew of couple people where as a coach, you know, I'm managing a group of running backs the same way I'm managing my warehous. I need you to do that. I need you to do this. And I explained to them why I need it that way. And then, you know, the responsibilities as, you know, keeping the business afloat, whereas I'm keeping my offense or my team afloat, you know, and just good nature, good compliments, and just good vibes all the way around to the point where hopefully one day they trust me to run the branch myself.

It's the same thing. It's just a different team with less padding.

I love the way you just said that. Exactly that, Les. Padding. Sometimes there's some challenges, and when you think about football, it's not all puppy dogs and rainbows. There's going to be some times where you're not going to win that game, and especially if it's a championship game. I remember a few years back where we were in a championship game and we lost it and we were in that changing room afterwards. And if you felt so bad for that team, their world just got crushed. That, that that game was their life. And you just don't know what to say. So the same thing happens in the real world when you, when you deal with that kind of adversity so well.

I mean, along with that, like, you still get like sort of the, the next play mentality. And it's hard to say that after, you know, losing a championship game that's the last of your season, but that might be the last of your season, that might not be the end of your career, which if you translate that into the business world, you might have a bad day and you lose that sale or you lose that customer. It's not the end of your business. It's just a little hurdle that you hop over and you move on to the next, to the next day, the next play, the next person. You know, you just keep going.

I, you know, thanks for that, but I saw the wheels turning from your mad dog. Like you sometimes jumped in your.

The one thing that, that and it was dealing with loss with, with the game. And you know, for as much as a big, raw, manly sport at football is those guys will wear their hearts on their sleeves all the time. And I remember a couple of specific games, you know, towards the end of the season, and, you know, you come out with a loss and every single kid is crying in front of each other. It's almost like they're feeding off each other. It's like you can see them start to get upset. They see their buddies crying. That. But you know what? That's not a bad thing. It's still an emotion that's got to be let go. And if, if all these big brutes can do that, you know, as one big unit, that, that's a life skill that is not bad to. You have to deal with.

So just so I get this straight, and if I'm listening to correctly what we're talking about, it helps you to manage your emotions too, right?

And you're not afraid because then you're seeing other big, strong people, you know, that you assume that are maybe not emotional, right? Because guys get pressed with that a lot, but when they let it go, that, that's a release. It's. You're, you're, you're being vulnerable. You're. You're putting it out there and you're not being judged for it.

And let's be clear, it's healthy.

It's very, absolutely, extremely healthy. But it's also like when you do that, it goes back to My sort of like family and brothers earlier, as you do that with your unit, you know, you guys spend like three, four months together. So you get to know each other, you get to learn each other. And I mean, I don't know about you guys, but the last time I cried in front of a stranger in public versus, you know, crying in front of my football team after, you know, a heartbreaking loss is a whole different place where it's like, I depend on you, I kind of need you right now. And, you know, they're there for you.

Yeah, I think that the way that these seasons have grown, you know, football went from a three to four month thing to year round. Oh, between, between, you know, off season training and then whether it's community versus high school. So these guys are in it year round together and that's a bond. You just can't, you can't fake that.

Definitely not.

It's funny, when I was thinking about this topic, one of the things that I had this picture in my mind is, is the clubhouse, the change room. It's not just a clubhouse or a change room. It's. It's almost like a school in itself, a school of life. Because there's so many conversations that those players, there's so many conversations that the coaches have with the players because it's just not about football.

No, definitely. It's like life lessons. It's, you know, the school of life. It's a home. Like, I've been in that locker room since 2012 till this year. So watching it change from, you know, guy to guy, coach to coach, player to player, like, it's definitely a place where everybody who wants to be there is more than welcome. You just show up. Unfortunately, you do have to pad up and join us. But, you know, maybe not that, but like we've had a guy, his name was Austin. He came in as a receiver when, if not this past year, the year previous. He was a great kid. And unfortunately he said, I can't play anymore, but I still want to help out. We love that dude, having him around. You know, he helped us with equipment, you know, video, audio, all that fun stuff. And he was just a great kid to have around. But we talked about life, we talked about, you know, what he wants to do for his future. And he was just a generally great kid to have.

You think about it though, you have an opportunity and you don't even think about that initially because it's football. Football. We want to develop this football. But. And I, and I know Bob Reese, the head coach it's not just about football for him. It's that player development, making that leader for tomorrow kind of thing. And, and everybody knows. And, and, and I've talked to Bob about it. It's not easy. You're living it right now where you have to basically say it's time for me to move on to the next I'll say chapter of my life. And you got to leave sports behind, but you never really leave too.

It's behind. Nope. Oh, no. I plan on being the belligerent fan at the Husk games. You know, like being the former coach and now the fan in the stands. I get to say the things to the ref that the coaches are hella to say.

But in the same breath, you know, if, if down the road you have a family, you know what, you know what you're going to be in. No matter what sport your child chooses to play, that's just going to be the, the kind of the next sport, chapter after chapter where you're, you'll, you know the impact that sports has. You're going to encourage your child to play. We might be a little biased and scoot them towards football, but, you know, whatever.

Oh, by by far. But I also plan on just being the biggest fan that I can in whatever sport. So if that means I have to learn how to play hockey or soccer or whatever, I'll be, I'll be putting in that field time with them for sure.

Nice.

And you're okay with teaching you or putting your kids to be in soccer?

I mean, no, not really. I'd rather, I'd rather they play football, but biggest thing is I'd rather see them happy. Like, you know, the same way I see my teammates happy when they go off and do something successful. So.

And you know, I think when it comes to your kids, that's, you know, I told Tyler if he ever came to me one day and just said, dad, I'm done. Okay, good. You know, that was, it was your dream. You know, we just supported it. But you know, you can't force them. But, but when they, they love it. It is, it is the coolest thing to experience with them.

Yeah. Their successes, they just make you proud all around. For sure. For sure.

Definitely.

One of the things we haven't talked about. You talk about lifetime sports and being healthy and I think just by playing football, aside from it's a tough sport and a physical sport after that, I think it does set you up for that. Hey, I got to look after myself. Not just while I'm playing football. But literally for the rest of my life. Right.

So definitely. And I think that's like the discipline portion that comes that you get out of football, you know, where you're required to show up every day, you're required to practice and pay attention after that. Now you have this weird sense of duty to do something and you're not sure what. So you might as well take those practices you've learned and apply it to your real life. You know, take the disciplines of, I don't want to go to work today, but I kind of have to be there. You know, I don't want to go to the gym today, but I probably should go, seeing as I'm putting it on after I left the game. That's not training me anymore.

Yeah, no kidding. No kidding. And if I were. Just a general question. So if you were kind to, let's say, put a list of things or what kind of life skills do we see being developed as we, as we play football from, let's say, an early age up to, let's say, even, even close to being an adult? Right. What kind of life lessons? Just think about that. Just throwing it there.

It's everything. And I think we've touched on a lot of them, like the, the teamwork aspect, the overcoming adversity aspect, the, you know, relying on your teammates, which follows you through into, you know, your career and whatnot. But they might start off as basic experiences as a young kid in sports, but it's the foundation and it, it just keeps getting added to as you get older to help build you with that arsenal of things to deal with the real world.

An arsenal to, to help you deal with the real world. Any other thoughts on that?

I had the sort of a half thought of like, sell value as well.

Self value.

Sell value. Like so, like throughout my football career, I was never like the starting guy or even the number two in that aspect. I was somewhere on the depth chart, you know, as long as I, you know, brought my bags to work and, you know, did my job. I, I think personally I got a lot of fair looks where some opportunities I made the most of, other opportunities I put the ball on the ground and almost lost it. But definitely the self value aspect is that like, no matter where I was, I was going to be a role player in some way. The coaches did sort of help me acknowledge that in a way where it's like, you and I, you're probably not the best guy on our team, which is obvious, but we do appreciate the fact that we need a scout guy. You're the first person with your helmet on and ready to go. We need someone to just fill a space. Like at one point I almost played on the O line as a running back just because we were running low on numbers and I was the only other guy that knew what he was doing. So that sort of self value, that sort of boosted my confidence in a way where put me anywhere, I'm going to make it happen.

And that's a great attitude to have. I know in the policing world, some of those investigations, it's a team that does it. And I was just as happy to take one role on that team or the next. And whether it was being in the leadership role or really just being at one of the task roles, it didn't matter. Everybody had a role to play. And that's the other thing I was going to add to it. I've seen so many leaders on the football field. Not initially, but you see them develop as they play football over the years and it's really a cool thing to see.

It definitely is. Like, one thing I've said a few times before was you don't need to be named a captain to be a leader on the team. Yeah, you get your five, you get your six captains. Those are the guys who handle the coin toss and those are the guys that the coaches want to say, when I call you, I need answers from you, but you know, you can have other guys like myself. I try to lead as much as I can with the lower depth chart guys. You know, whether I'm down there with them or maybe I'm like two rings above them, I want them to come with me because if we're going to win, we're all going to win.

Yeah. One of the, this is total sidebar, but one of the things that always gets me is when you see a highlight reel of any sports team where there's call it a water boy or some trainer might be that it might be special needs or something and they get them in for a play and you know, when, when, when the play is successful and everybody loses their mind to celebrate this kid, that's the type of thing that gets me. And, and you, you don't see that in too many sports, right? But you see in basketball sometimes. But, but I've seen it quite a few in football. You know, people will take a dive or whatever and get out of the guy's way. But, but that's a, to me, that speaks to the character definitely.

And I think like that's sort of how you stuff like that is sort of how you do build those leaders or build those people who actually, you know, care about other people than themselves.

Well, you know, thanks for that. The, the thoughts tonight. I'm just like, if I, if I was maybe like 40 years younger, I'd might want to pick up a ball and run again.

There's men's league in Alberta.

Yes, yes. Unfortunately though, there's that music again. But I'm not gonna say that this episode's coming to an end because I think, I think that there's a lot of seeds that we planted during this episode. And really what I want people to think about is that first of all, it's never too late in life to get involved in sports. And it teaches you discipline and hard work. It helps you to deal with failure. It motivates us to try harder, it teaches us teamwork. It allows us to accept and manage change. We never talk too much about that one, but just think about that for a second and it does promote a healthy lifestyle. G train. You want to add anything else on to that?

That thought you just brought up, it allows us to manage huge change. Like, that's funny.

I was thinking about you when I.

Came up with that. Right. So that's something I never really thought about because like, you know, for me the big change was always, you know, going from high school to junior and then going from junior into coaching. Like those are the big changes. But like, you know, realistically, the year after year after year, you got whole new teammates again. You might end up with a whole new coach. I've had three in my, in my five years of playing junior. So like, you know, the, the, the, the changes that all happened that I just sort of put outside because I was so focused on, you know, showing up to go to work. I never really thought about it like that.

Anything you want to add, Mad Dog?

I think the only thing I would do is just encourage parents to enroll their kids in team sports. Just as a general statement, I've seen my kids, but just any that I've seen involved in general because you know, if you're, if you're a bad egg, you don't usually last too long. So usually teams are made up of like minded people. So just get your kids involved in.

I like that. That's a, it's probably a really good way to end this episode. And I'm just going to tell everybody to have a holiday. Remember to take advantage of the moment before the moment takes advantage of you. To learn more about eWalkabout, please visit us at ewalkabout, Cat.