Former NFLer Luke Willson, seen above during an episode of Canada’s Ultimate Challenge, is now hoping to reach the 2024 Olympics as a track cyclist. (CBC) Compelled by a baseball experience, former NFLer Luke Willson hopes to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics in track cycling.
Willson, now 33, played first base and hit cleanup — behind No. 3 batter Brett Lawrie, the former Blue Jay — at the 2008 U-18 baseball world championship in Edmonton, helping Canada to a sixth-place finish.
"To be in Edmonton, wearing Canada across your chest and playing against the best 18-and-under kids from planet Earth was a special experience," Willson told CBC Sports. "To be able to be like, OK, we’re at the Olympics, I’ve got Canada across my chest and I’m ripping this bike around the velodrome, I think that’d be something really cool."
Willson, who played seven NFL seasons mostly with the Seattle Seahawks as a tight end, retired in August 2021 due to health issues.
He returned to his parents at home in LaSalle, Ont., where he discovered that they enjoy biking around the community for fun, and thought he’d give it a try.
"It was exhilarating in a weird way," he said. "I’m going for these three-hour rides. I’m seeing all sorts of nature, avoiding things on the road, biking around feeling air, getting a little lighter, not lifting weights. It was kind of a great combo."
Soon enough, Willson’s hobby "snowballed" into passion."I was like, holy smokes, I’m really loving this. Like, I’m gonna […]
Continue reading the original article at: www.cbc.ca