Touching Down with Anthony Calvillo

Alouettes Legend Holds Second Edition of Leadership Academy for Quarterbacks

SportsSafia Ahmad — Published March 14, 2016

Usually, these quarterbacks are facing off against each other in the Réseau de Sport Etudiant du Quebec. But there they were, throwing the football back and forth under the supervision of former Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo.

Eight quarterbacks and four wide receivers from the RSEQ participated in the second edition of Calvillo’s Leadership Academy for Quarterbacks at the Complexe Sportif Terrebonne this past weekend.

While Calvillo drilled them on the field, testing their agility and speed, as well as their throwing technique, much of the learning occurred behind closed doors. Unlike last years event, which focused mainly on leadership development skills, Calvillo wanted to shift the attention onto game film.

“He went over in detail his preparation for when he won the Grey Cup,” said Miller. “He would wake up at 5 a.m and watch film. Just going into hourly details of his schedule is good to see.”

Calvillo is the perfect example of an athlete and professional with a strong work ethic and discipline. For student athletes who are faced with the daunting task of balancing their studies and athletics, Calvillo embodies the quintessential mentor for these quarterbacks.

“I share with them my priorities: family, work, faith,” said Calvillo. “Once you can put everything in order, it’s okay to say no at times.”

As the player with the most career passing yards in professional football (79,816), Calvillo let his actions speak for themselves on the field. However, the role of teacher requires him to communicate in entirely different way with athletes. They are no longer his teammates; they are now his students, eager to learn and absorb as much as they can from the living legend.

“As a coach, you gotta make sure you have all the answers to the [players’] questions,” said Calvillo. “They’re always gonna ask why are we doing this, why are we doing that. And we have to have a legit answer for them where they understand. That’s been our challenge right now. To build something that makes sense to everybody.”

Calvillo must be doing good job so far with his students. Miller, who’s partaking in the event for the first time, admits to having learned a great deal about how the little details can go a long way. Furthermore, he believes that the accessibility of such an event gives RSEQ teams a distinct advantage over other divisions.

“Obviously having [Anthony Calvillo] teach all the quarterbacks in the RSEQ, that’s huge,” said Miller. “I think everyone this week, just in two days, got a lot better. So I think it was something that was good.”

Stingers offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Connell voiced the same opinion, who noticed differences in players overall behaviour and preparation after the first edition of the event.

“If they come away with one thing, it’s a successful camp,” said Connell.

For many of these star-struck quarterbacks, working with Anthony Calvillo is a privilege and an honour. Ultimately, the always-humble and generous Calvillo wants to share his knowledge and wisdom to a younger generation of quarterbacks. With the opportunity to provide insight into facts that, in hindsight, would have been useful to know when he was in his 20s, Calvillo hopes he can help these young men excel at their positions.

“I’ve always heard coaches say: ‘when we’re evaluating you, we’re evaluating everything. All your completions, how you conduct yourself on and off the field.’ As a player, I’d be like: ‘yeah right, you do that,’” said Calvillo. “But now that I’m on the other side, we actually do. I want them to understand that. Because as a young kid, and even as a professional athlete, I didn’t think they did. But we actually do.”