The CFL’s Diversity in Football Program presented by Securian Canada is now into its fifth year and in this year’s West Division cohort, you can find both a candidate who is brand new to the football bug as well as one who’s loved the game pretty well his entire life.
Bralon Addison, the star receiver who is very well known to CFL fans after a stellar career, amassing 3,543 yards on 303 career catches, is the veteran of the game who has left his playing days behind. Now, he’s taking his first steps into the coaching world at camp with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
On the other end of the spectrum, meet Marianne de Vera, a Toronto area physiotherapist who admits that until very recently, she wasn’t what you’d call a big football fan at all.
“Am I interested now? Very much so,” she says. “Now that I know how football works, like, I just love the family that comes with it.”
One lifer, one newbie.
Here are their stories, as they take in their respective experiences through the Diversity in Football program.
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After playing his final season in the CFL in 2025, Bralon Addison is starting his transition to coaching (BlueBombers.com)
BRALON ADDISON | COACHING | WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS
It was just over two months ago that Bralon Addison announced his retirement as a player following seven seasons in the CFL, the first four in Hamilton, the last three in Ottawa.
At the age of 32, one would assume he could still be suiting up and producing, the way he did again in 2025, when he had 72 receptions for 1,825 yards in 14 games for the REDBLACKS.
But, instead, he decided to take those next steps in forging a future he felt certain he’d always have.
And those strides are coming as a guest coach at the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ training camp.
“I always knew my end goal would be to be a coach someday,” says Addison, recalling that he used to spend hours designing football schemes when playing video games as a kid. “And what better way than through this internship? Kind of get a head start after I just finished my career.”
Obviously, Addison had known the world of football very well since he was a youngster. But that perspective had almost always come from the vantage point of a player and the new angle he’s getting in his role at Bombers’ camp has him doing and learning things that are brand new.
“I like to say, (I’m) starting over from from zero, and I’m kind of like a baby, learning how to walk, starting to crawl a little bit, learning some little things,” says Addison.
“Just trying to sponge up everything, even just some of the computer stuff, you know? I think a lot of people think that coaching is just all about on field stuff and things like that, but I’m having to make wristbands for the quarterback for the first time in my life.”
Starting off his coaching career by jumping in with the Bombers has given Addison a measure of comfort as he begins the journey. Winnipeg’s new offensive coordinator in 2026 is Tommy Condell, who served in the same role with Ottawa in 2024 and 2025, the final two seasons of Addison’s three with the REDBLACKS.
“The whole staff has been welcoming me so nicely,” Addison says of Winnipeg’s coaches, name-checking many of them, including head coach Mike O’Shea. “I couldn’t be more happy or more thankful to be around such a great group of guys, as a rookie coach.”
Much of Addison’s time, naturally, has seen him involved with Winnipeg’s receivers, pitching in to lend a hand to — and to learn from — the team’s new receivers coach, Lee Hull.
“He’s been great,” says Addison of Hull. “He’s given me the opportunity to actually coach and actually make mistakes and actually learn, and teaching me the small things, the small details. So I’m really grateful for him.”
It’s early days in Addison’s pivot from player to coach and because of that, he’s focused on gobbling up information as opposed to making calculated plans on his next steps in the transition.
“I hate to give you the old cliche answer,” Addison says, “but I’ve literally just been trying to take it one day at a time, and just do the best I can.”
“And see what happens from there.”
MARIANNE DE VERA | PHYSICAL THERAPY | BC LIONS
Marianne de Vera is the BC Lions Diversity in Football Program participant (Nik Kowalski/BCLions.com)
“No complaints about the landscape,” Marianne de Vera says with a laugh.
The physiotherapist with a practice in Brampton, ON is at the BC Lions training camp in Kamloops, working as a member of the team’s athletic therapy crew, through the Diversity in Football program. And while the stunning scenery has widened her eyes, it’s not the only thing.
The new experiences she’s taking in — and the pace at which things move at a pro football camp — have also astonished her.
“It’s honestly been been amazing,” de Vera says. “The team’s been great, and everyone’s just been so nice. It’s been a whirlwind, of course. You kind of get thrown into the thick of things off the bat, but it’s been great for learning.”
Back home, de Vera has put her Bachelor’s in Kinesiology and Master’s in Physiotherapy to work with a lot of athletes, charting progressions for them as they try to return to action after suffering debilitating injuries. Her patients, along the way, have included a few CFL players.
But she has found that there is a world of difference between tending to athletes who are coming to see her as they begin rehab and those who are in action on the field in front of her.
“As a physio, we don’t have as much experience with field work,” she says. “So, being a first responder, actually seeing those injuries happen on field, is not something I get in the clinic. I usually see them a couple days after they’ve already had imaging.”
Asked what she finds most incredible about trading office life for the sideline experience, de Vera replies: “just the sheer volume.”
“Back home, maybe I’m seeing one, two people every hour. Here, it’s like we’re pumping people through, getting them good and tuned up, ready to go.”
The energy of the experience, de Vera says, has awakened a little something in her as far as what path she could take in the future.
“It definitely ignited a fire to kind of get out and do some field work,” she says.
“The clinic part has become very routine, a little bit mundane. I think the adrenaline that you get from being on the field, being that first point of contact, and the way it kind of stimulates your brain is exciting and a lot different.”
After a couple of weeks with the Lions, including rookie camp prior to the start of full training, de Vera says she can certainly recommend the Diversity in Football Program to others.
“If you’re looking to progress your career, to get into some professional development, or even just network and get to know people, see what the ins and outs of what pro sports actually is, then I one hundred per cent recommend doing this program.”
“It hits all of those marks, and it definitely changes your perspective on the heart and the hustle that goes into an organization this big.”
