How this Hamilton student from school with no football field got a football scholarship

Throughout his 19 years, football has been a constant for Hamilton studentElijah Sinclair.

"I can't remember a time when I wasn't throwing around a football out front with my friends or something," he said.

Sinclair is nowthe first student in hiseast end high school, Bernie Custis Secondary School, to berecruited to a post-secondaryfootball team and get a scholarship.

It's an accomplishment he reacheddespite the fact his school doesn't have a football field, he notes.

Sinclair starts playing with the University of Toronto's team in August.Getting to this pointdidn't come easyhe saidhe's had to work twice as hard as kids in other schools to get recruited.

Sinclair wants to use the opportunity to shine a light on what he says is a class divide between inner-city schools and "more wealthy schools" in the city.

School lackingproper sports infrastructure

Bernie Custisopened in 2019,right across from Tim Hortons Field, where the Hamilton Tiger-Cats play.

The school doesn't have a full yard for students. Instead, there's a grassy area withberms (small hills on otherwise flat terrain)between the school and anadjacentcommunity centre, theBernie Morelli Recreation Centre.

On the day CBC Hamilton visited in late April, theyard waslittered with plastic wraps, bags, glass and other garbage. Sinclair said heand other students have gotten cuts and other injuries from glass and needles on the field.

Ward 3 councillor Nrinder Nann said when she first became councillorin 2018, one of her first questions was about the school's yard.

The original plan was to have a roof-top recreation facility with green space, but it wasn't approved by the provincial Ministry of Education, she said.

"Once students were back in post pandemic, it became stark clear that the amount of amenity space that the school sports team needed weren't sufficient," she said.

Nannsaid the school has 400 allocated hours to useTim HortonsField.Sinclair saidthattranslatesto use of the stadium one or twice a week but it's not enough, hesaid. Sinclair said some of his coaches have sometimes paidout of pocket to rent the fieldto get more time in.

As for the school yard,Nann said she's workingto have the berms removed and is working with the school for a new landscaping design, which could be implemented this year.

She also mentioned thedevelopment of nearbyBrightside Park, which will include "a large field that can accommodate both soccer and football" and is set to start construction by 2025.

"It's a challenge of timing and staging of infrastructure. And that's having an inequitable impacton the students at Bernie Custis school.I totally see that and acknowledge it," she said.

'Deeper than football'

Sinclair's concerns don't only relate to the school's sports infrastructure. Hesaidmany kids around him are already struggling outside of school, and he saysalack of schoolfundingis discouraging kids from engaging with their education.

"This problem runs deeper than football," he said.

"The city and school board needs to show that they care about us and that we matter, that our goals and interests are just as valid and important as those of the youth at Ancaster or Westmount."

ShawnMcKillop, manager of communications at the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, told CBC Hamilton in an email thatBernie Custis is "among our most supported schools."

"Staff continue to work with City of Hamilton staff to optimize the field access. The partnership is highly valued and solutions to concerns are supported by the facilities manager at the city and school staff," he said.

Headed to Torontothis summer

Sinclair said he sawthe gaps between his school and otherswhen putting together highlight reels and writing letters to universities.

"One of the schools we face [infootball games] has a drone that flies above each game, and the players get the footage so they can put it in their highlight reel and me, I just had to sit on my computer for hours learning to edit [my highlight reel]," he said.

Sinclair said he wrote "a couple hundred letters" to university coaches.

He was excited when he received aninviteto the Steel City Bowl, which sees the best players from the local public and Catholic school boards compete.

"I trained super hard preparing for it," he said.

"I did great, and so the University of Toronto, Greg Marshall, their head coach noticed me, and he decided that they wanted to recruit me."

Sinclair starts playing with the universityin August, where he will also take social sciences in preparation for a law career, which he chose to "actually make a change."

His goal is to play in the Canadian Football League and continueto enjoy the sport he loves so much.

"Having the ball in your hands, running with it,feeling the fear of people running behind you, after you everything about it just really speaks to me," he said.