By City of Ottawa Sports Commissioner Mathieu Fleury
Lewis Ward was born in England. He then lived in Switzerland before immigrating to Kingston, Ontario, Canada half way through Grade 8.
Growing up he played many sports, but after high school he needed to pick a sport on which to focus. He picked football.
He, unsuccessfully, applied for football scholarships to many universities. In the end the University of Ottawa offered Lewis his much sought-after scholarship for football.
He started off as a receiver, then switched to kicker. In his five years of playing for the Gee-Gees, Lewis set a record for the most converted field goals, and scoring the most points all-time.
He had not been drafted to play professionally during his time at uOttawa, so Lewis briefly went back to Kingston. He wasn’t meant to stay in Kingston, however, because the RedBlacks contacted him shortly after that and offered him a spot on the team.
The next year, 2018, he went to training camp. He is now the starting kicker and has earned the title for “most consecutive field goals”. The Canadian Football League’s record was 39 kicks in a row for the regular season. Lewis smashed this record with his personal best of 69 kicks!
Ottawa is home for Lewis now. Despite being overlooked on his first attempts at a career in football, he persevered and achieved his goal.
His advice to aspiring young athletes is to play as many sports as you can, then pick the one that interests you the most. Most importantly: do not give up if you are overlooked at first. Stay focused and train hard.