He may have had an unusual high school experience due the pandemic, but a Collingwood football star managed to keep his eye on the ball.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Kyle Jenkins, 17, Collingwood Collegiate Institute (CCI) student and 2022/23 senior football MVP.
Q: For how long have you lived in Collingwood?
A: I was born in the Collingwood hospital. I've been here my whole life.
Q: You’re a student at CCI now. Where did you attend elementary school?
A: I went to Cameron Street Public School.
Q: You’re very busy with sports and athletics. What sports do you participate in?
A: Football and rugby.
I play hockey in the winter.
Q: Did you always know sports was your thing?
A: I've always known that football was my thing.
I think I was, like, four weeks old watching the Grey Cup with my dad.
I didn't start playing football until in between Grade 7 and Grade 8, because it's over in Barrie and I wasn't able to go.
Q: What about the sports speaks to you?
A: I've always enjoyed watching the game. I like the physical aspects.
I like hitting people.
Q: This year, you have been named as the overall MVP of the senior football team at CCI, and were named as one of the top-10 defensive players in Simcoe County. How did you feel when you reached those goals?
A: I didn't know that our school did an MVP for football. When our coach told me that I got it, that was kind of a shock. It was really cool for him to say that and being able to come home and tell my parents and their reactions were really cool.
With the top-10, I believe I was number seven. I wanted to be a bit higher, but I'm still very grateful with seven.
Q: What was your high school experience like during COVID-19?
A: Well, it really sucked. There was no CCI football team, and there was no football team in Barrie. Going into high school coming from a smaller elementary school, it made it harder for me to expand my friend group and to try and find people that had similar interests.
Online Zoom calls for learning was also just not a fun time. I was in Grade 9 when COVID started.
Q: Do you have any worries or concerns about how that's going to serve you moving forward now going into post-secondary?
A: For the first semester of Grade 9, it was before COVID.
This year we've done a few exams, so I've had a bit of exam experience for when I go to university, but I feel like just going up to university in general is a big learning curve.
(I think) the universities will have to change the way they do certain things a little bit.
Q: What are your post-grad plans?
A: The goal is to play football at university, but now I'm just waiting.
My top choice is kinesiology and human kinetics. If the school I applied for didn't have that program, I applied for criminology.
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: If I'm given the opportunity to play like in the CFL, I'm definitely not going to say no.
If I do end up taking kinesiology, I could be a trainer, and then take a course to become X-ray technician after university.
Q: Do you have any hobbies outside of sports?
I have a job. I work at Blue Mountain Rentals.
I hang out with my friends. I go to the gym.
Q: Do you have any advice for younger students that you might want to impart?
A: Live in the moment.
I saw online the other day, that when LeBron (James) broke the NBA point record, every single person was on their phone filming it.
They showed a picture of Michael Jordan winning the NBA championship, and there were two cameras in the whole background of the photo.
I feel like people nowadays are more concerned with capturing the moment on their phone and watching it to relive it, instead of soaking it in.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we speak with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature runs on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
