Michiko Araki
Ese Mrabure-Ajufo walks off the field, laughing with his teammates. It’s halfway through the season, and the first year defensive end has been through quite a ride.
For Ese, success in the sport came a lot later than most other players. He was always an athlete, but never considered playing football until he was in grade ten. Surprisingly, he didn’t like the sport at first and decided to focus his efforts on other sports, like track and basketball. It wasn’t until his senior year of high school that he gave football another shot. Fast forward to today, and the Wilfrid Laurier product is now a professional athlete.
Ese first started his journey with the Lions back in May after getting the call of a lifetime. He can still remember exactly how he felt when he found out he had been selected 5th overall in the CFL draft.
“My first thought? I can sum it up in one word: ‘wow’,” he recalls. “It was really exciting. I didn’t expect to be going so early, but obviously you always set the bar high, so when you fall, it’s not too low. So I set my bar very high – I was blessed to be picked in the first round.”
Now halfway through the season, Ese has learned a lot about what it takes to be a professional athlete.
“You don’t really have coaches holding your hand, walking you through everything,” he says. “Going into college, my high school coaches tell you ‘we’re not gonna be there to hold your hand’ and when you’re in college, your coaches tell you the same. It’s a change of course, you just have to be on top things and be an adult, basically.”
For Ese and everyone on the team, the season is a long grind, and one that’s full of discipline and focus. A 20 game season is definitely not an easy thing to adjust to coming out of university.
“It’s hard. I’m used to a 8 game season and then playoffs type of thing, so it’s been a marathon for sure,” explains Ese. “But it’s been an enjoyable marathon. I talk to my other friends who got drafted like Chris Ackie and Ronnie Pfeffer – I stay connected with those guys. Those guys are from my class and we’ve been friends since first year of university so they’ve all helped me tremendously, same with my parents.”
Like many other players, Ese also has a daily routine.
“Wake up, brush my teeth, wash my face. Say my prayers,” he says, as he tries to retrace his steps. “Sync my iPad. Head over to the facility, you know, we have meetings, practice, and right after practice, depending on the day, I’ll go in for a workout for about an hour, ice, jump in the sauna, eat, go home, shower, play some video games, look through the playbook, then go to bed. Right now, it’s pretty vanilla, but I’m used to it and I like it.”
Behind the glitz and glamour of being a professional athlete, there are countless sacrifices and hours of work being put in behind the scenes that most people will never see. To get to this level, you have to dedicate yourself to your craft, and that continues long after you make it as a pro.
“It’s more than just glamour,” says Ese about the misconceptions of being a pro. “All my friends back home are like ‘oh you’re so lucky, people get to see you, people will idolize you’, and all that. That’s just the pretty stuff on the outside. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into it – the practices we go through, the countless snaps, the countless weights we’re picking up, lifting. There’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears being put into it. To a certain extent, people know, but you never know until you really experience it.”
Now that he’s made it to the highest level of football in his career, Ese feels perserverance is the key to achieving success on the field – something he wants other aspiring professional players to remember.
“Keep pushing. Even when you feel like you want to give up or you’re supposed give up or everybody’s against you, keep pushing.”
With those words, Ese is finding the joy in everyday with the Lions this season.