By Vasoula Ioannidis
The moment that shaped the trajectory of Christos Zigoumis’ young athletic life came on a tykes football field.
His Orleans Bengals were down by two points at the end of the fourth quarter in their under-10 contest and his team scored a game-winning touchdown.
The thrill of that early victory has stayed with Zigoumis throughout his career, and he chased it all the way to an offer to play for the University of Connecticut varsity football team.
Zigoumis spent his childhood and high school years playing sports like soccer, volleyball, and basketball, but said he knew from the beginning that football was his passion.
“Around eight years old I got into football and I knew right away. That was my sport,” Zigoumis recounts.
Luck and genes would have it that Zigoumis’ size — standing at 6’6″ and 240 pounds since Grade 11 — gave him an edge in the sport he loved.
But being big alone does not guarantee a position on a division one team, and Zigoumis knew he would have to push himself.
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Orléans Bengals coach Aldège Bellefeuille says what sets Zigoumis apart from his peers is his resiliency and dedication to his craft.
“Anything that will make him a better player, he will do it,” Bellefeuille highlights. “I equivocate it to a student that will read a book and then read the footnotes on top of that.”
Bellefeuille remembers that at age 8, Zigoumis was the Bengals’ youngest player — two years younger than the other boys and a huge contributor to the team’s stellar defence that season.
Since then, Zigoumis played for the St. Matthew Catholic High School Tigers and was part of a 2022 OFSAA Football Bowl Series comeback victory, and then went on to join the Bridgton Academy Wolverines preparatory school in Maine.
Now he’ll be joining the “Dog Pound” with the UConn Huskies.
While he does not know what position he will be playing for the Huskies, Zigoumis has experience at linebacker for six years, tight end for three while at St. Matt’s and defensive end in his post high school year. He feels prepared for whatever position he ends up playing.
“We’ll see where they put me. I have played on both sides of the ball, so I am pretty confident I will be fine wherever they put me,” Zigoumis indicates.
Zigoumis’ seamless switch between defence and offence is a feat that trainer Victor Tedondo of the Gridiron Football Academy attributes to his personality, versatility and “high football IQ” — meaning he is a player who can make quick decisions, adapt to changes in-game and anticipate plays.
Zigoumis is known to friends, family and his coaches as kind, humble and slightly reserved. However, Tedondo, who coined Zigoumis’ nickname “The Big Greek”, recalls a seven-on-seven tournament in Baltimore where Zigoumis learned how to throw his weight around and he saw the nice boy he was training transform into a fierce and focused competitor.
“I mean, off the field I would say I am a nice guy. But on the field, when I am playing the sport I love, something switches a little bit and I get in a different mindset where on the field we are not friends but off the field we are friends,” Zigoumis explains.
While Zigoumis was open to playing for other smaller schools, being offered a spot to play at UConn is a huge reward for the work he has put in over the years. He thanks his family and coaches, like Bellefuille and Tedondo, for pushing him to be his best and helping him reach this next step in his career.
“It is a dream,” Zigoumis underlines. “I am really happy and really excited. It is going to be a big jump in my life, and I know hard work is coming as well, but I am really excited.”
Zigoumis is eager to become a part of the Dog Pound and chase the same thrill of victory as he experienced in Orleans, now in 38,000-seat stadium.
“The school I am going to is only going to lead me to good, so wherever I end up, I am going to be happy,” signals Zigoumis, who plans to study either business or communications. “But, my end goal is I definitely want to play professional football one day.”
Read More of our 2025 High School Best Series as we tip our caps to top local student-athletes at: OttawaSportsPages.ca/Ottawa-High-School-Best-2025