For many people that have grown up in Saskatchewan, football is a way of life.
They grow up playing it, watching it, probably even dreaming about it.
The same can be said for Chile, where kids grow up playing futbol, watching futbol, probably even dreaming about futbol.
Of course it's two completely different sports with a very similar name. One being the football everyone in Saskatchewan knows and loves, the other futbol being, well, soccer.
But for one Chilean, football, not futbol, has taken centre stage in his sporting life. "I don't even play soccer. I haven't since probably grade five," said Matias Castillo, a native of Santiago, Chile, and the extra point/field goal kicker and reserve defensive back for the YRHS Raiders senior football team this past season. "But football I've been watching for years. When I was back home (Santiago, Chile) I used to watch all the Super Bowls and stuff and I was getting the pay per view channels to watch the Riders play.
"I've actually loved football for a couple of years."
So with the love of pigskin burning deep in his heart it made sense that, when Castillo moved to Yorkton for a year to live with his relatives (his cousin Darius Haberstock also played on the Raiders), he would, at the very least, give football a try; even if he was a bit tentative at first. "I really didn't know if I wanted to play," laughed Castillo, continuing, "At my first practice I saw some big guys (Peter Kozushka, Noah Zerr) but then I just tried it out and found that I really loved playing it."
But it wasn't just the playing aspect of football that Castillo began to really fall in love with.
It was the camaraderie, the friendship and the aura of it all. "The guys on the team, they're great. Just awesome," remarked Castillo when asked about his fellow Raider teammates. "I would say they were my family for this whole season. I met some awesome guys and I'm glad I met them."
Those same guys, his 'familia del futbol' as it would be in his native tongue, were also the guys cheering and celebrating Castillo in his first ever football game, despite Castillo himself not exactly knowing why everyone was smiling and yelling. "In my first game everybody was cheering and stuff and I was wondering why everyone was so happy," remembered the Raider kicker. "What happened was I got a 35-yard field goal and I was really happy about it even though I didn't really know what I was doing.
"But now I understand the game and everything and it's easy."
However it seems as if Castillo is just a little bit too late in finally understanding the ins and outs of such an intricate game. Because the YRHS Raider football season is now over and soon, once the school year is out, Castillo will head back to Chile, never to play football again.
Then again: "I just found out last week that there is actually a football league back home (Federación Deportiva Nacional de Fútbol Americano de Chile, or National Sporting Federation of American Football of Chile)," exclaimed a happy Castillo. "That has inspired me to keep playing football once I get back home and I'm really happy about it.
"I'll show them how to play Raider football."
