by Greg Layson
A graduate of Villanova Catholic Secondary School has landed a spot on the Toronto Blue Jays, though not on the traditional 26-man roster.
Dylan Langlois, now a third-year Bachelor of Athletic Therapy student at Sheridan College in Brampton, is the only student the Major League Baseball team chose to fill its coveted internship position.
Like anyone seeking to land a spot on a professional sports team, Langlois was nervous when he got “the call.”
The graduate of Villanova High School and University of Windsor was working out in his cousin’s garage when his phone rang.
“It was a Florida area code and I kind of paused for a second. And I was like, ‘this is the call,’” Langlois said of the call from Jays’ Second Assistant Athletic Trainer, Drew MacDonald.
“What’s going to be on the other side of that call? I wasn’t sure. The decision was coming right there and then. And then he told me that I was the one who they chose for the internship. I think at that point, I kind of moved the phone away from my mouth and made a silent scream.”
Langlois said while it’s cliche, he was literally speechless.
“Because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said.
Langlois will work all 81 Jays home games, so he’ll accumulate well more than the 420 hours required to complete the internship. His primary role will be to support the athletic therapists and medical staff, and his duties will be ensuring the treatment room is in order, setting up treatment modalities, and other assignments as required.
He started the weekend before the Jays April 8 home opener.
“We were in the clinic with all the new renovations, getting everything set up and ready for the season,” he said.
“The biggest thing for us is being behind the scenes and making sure that we give them everything they need to be able to go out there and compete in the greatest health that they can.”
Things really got real Sunday, April 7. That’s when the team returned home from a series with the New York Yankees.
“We got to meet some of the guys when they got in, which was another pretty surreal experience, one that was a nice, professional ‘hello,’ which was great,” he said. “You don't get to meet many professional athletes and when they're all in a room with you, it's a crazy experience.”
Langlois grew up in a baseball household. He played for the LaSalle Turtle Club as a kid, starting at age five. But he stopped playing the sport in grade six in favour of soccer.
However, Langlois said being around the park watching his younger brother, Andrew, play with the Tecumseh Thunder and St. Clair College, “flipped a switch” and Langlois made the Sheridan Bruins team as an outfielder when they launched a new team two-years ago.
Langlois said he’s always wanted a job in sports.
“I love the competitive nature about it. You know, even when I'm not playing, I still feel like I want them to win as much as they want to win,” he said. “So, even though I'm not playing, I kind of get to continue that competitiveness through them.
Langlois originally planned to be a physiotherapist after graduating from the University of Windsor Human Kinetics program. But while working a co-op placement in LaSalle at the time, he was nudged into athletic therapy.
He credits Dylan Durwood, a Sheridan grad, for tweaking his career path.
“I had the chance to observe his treatment plans, talk to him, and pick his brain about his profession and how he got into it,” Langlois said. “I guess that was the turning point.”