The 2023 Football Canada Cup is underway, and Portage's own Grayson Pratt will be representing his province.

The offensive lineman went through a lengthy process to make the provincial team, surviving through four sets of cuts. He says, on the first day, there were nearly 150 players in attendance.

"In the first weekend, they cut about 50 people. After the next two-week session, they cut about 30 more," Pratt continues. "After another weekend, they cut down the roster to 54. We had three weeks of practice before we had the final team. In the O-line group, the coach cut people in front of the rest of the offensive linemen. So, I was pretty happy that I didn't get snipped there. That would've been a little embarrassing."

Pratt is extremely proud to be among 40 players dawning the Team Manitoba jersey this weekend. While he was nervous during each of the cut-down periods, Pratt says the coaches never made him wait too long.

"The coach told us there would be a three-day period where he would call people. I figured I'd be nervous looking at my phone for three whole days, but I got the calls pretty soon. I never waited more than a day. That was pretty relieving," explains Pratt. "When the coach was calling us one at a time for the final cuts, I went first, so I didn't have time to get nervous."

The Portage Collegiate student was ecstatic when he finally made the team and says he called basically his entire family afterward.

"My uncle was really happy because it was my aunt's funeral that day. So, I figured I would call him and brighten him up a little bit that day. That definitely stuck out more than anything."

Team Manitoba begins their journey for the Football Canada Cup today against Team Quebec. Leading up to the first game, Pratt says he's gone through a range of emotions, feeling a sense of independence while also being a little anxious. However, he's ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

"I don't want to look back on this and think I could've done this or that. I just want to go out there and do the best that I can so I don't have any spots where I think I could've done something better."

Pratt is going into Grade 12 next year and hopes to continue playing football in university and beyond. 

"I think this will be great for my development, especially at the next level," says Pratt. "For this Canada Cup, there's a range of different eyes on everything. You never know what might happen."

While he started out this Team Manitoba experience being a bit of a lone wolf, Pratt is happy to have made a few new friends along the way.

"It's mostly Winnipeg-based, and I live out of town already, so I didn't know many people. But, there are some kids from Thunder Bay that I've connected with because we all didn't know anybody, so we started talking to each other," Pratt continues. "As we've got down to the end of things, we're all a unit now. Especially on the line, we depend on each other. There are five people, and if four do well but one doesn't, it makes all five look bad. So, you have to be comfortable with each other, even in having conversations before practice, so you can be a well-oiled machine on the field."

The Football Canada Cup consists of three games over three days. Day one goes down on Saturday, day two takes place on Wednesday, and the winner will be decided on July 15.

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