$300, a Bloody Jersey, and the Neatest Printing You’ll Ever See

Illustration by Karis Gruben

MY NAME IS CHRIS CHURCH. I was born in Inuvik—in 1996, February 11th. Growing up, I was very hungry to be the best at everything. That's what I aspired to be. I've always had a lot of motivation to do basically anything.

CHRIS: It hit me early, actually—I remember it like it was yesterday. I was playing hockey and there was nothing I wanted more than to be the starting goalie of my team. So, I took it upon myself to hit the gym every day, to work out my skills and my hand-eye coordination. I did everything I could humanly, possibly do just to be on top and become the starting goalie! Kids dream about making it to the NHL; they dream about making it to the bigger stage. The only thing I was focused on was just making it to the starting goalie—that's about it.

C: I'm not gonna say I wasn't happy with it, but I knew for a fact that I could do more. I always thought to myself: if I'm here, I can definitely make it somewhere better; I can definitely do a lot more. I was always just motivated and hungry to do better.

C: I work with families and their kids. I'm an active wellness worker and social worker for the kids in Sioux Lookout, Ontario. All I do is basically just keep them on the right track, making sure they're doing their daily duties, going to school, and that they're doing the right tasks. I also check in with their families, 'cause when they're coming to town, they're with their billet families, and sometimes they can get a bit out of hand. A billet family is basically just a family that invites you in as their own and takes care of you while their family observes what happens.

C: Waking up every morning with a purpose. You wake up every morning, you don't second-guess yourself what you're gonna do today. You wake up with an idea of what you wanna be and what you wanna do each day. Self-care is important. It's above all.

STEVE: I think the first time I ran into the legend that was 'Chris Church' was during a Northern Games Summit in 2012 or 2013 (which is every March at East Three). You get 200 kids from all over the Delta flying into Inuvik to participate.

The '100-meter dash' event of the Northern Games is the one-foot high kick. And there's this guy, Chris Church, who is hitting a seal ball jumping on one leg—I want to say it was nine-foot five, or six. And there he is—taking his shirt off, 'cause he ‘doesn't want drag,’ you know?! There's gotta be like, two hundred people—you could hear a pin drop, watching this guy do his thing.

And I had never seen this guy before, but I am watching him just completely feel comfortable in the spotlight. And not even just that—but dominating it. He was four inches away from a world record! Anytime that his toe touched the ball, the place would erupt. Then, he would get a few minutes to gather himself, before the crowd would get down again. It was theatre! It was just like watching theatre! You had no idea what the outcome was gonna be. That was my very first ‘foray’ into the world of 'Chris Church'.

At 3:45pm, the bell would ring. Sometimes I would be sitting in the foyer and just see Chris Church with 20 people surrounding him; he would be telling stories or showing them something. It was just the most incredible thing. I'm not watching this guy who is above anyone. I'm not watching a guy who thinks he's cooler than anyone, but there was a magnetism to him where people just wanted to see what Chris Church was up to at 3:45pm in the foyer! It was pretty wild to see from afar, 'cause I didn't know the guy and the guy did not know me. I was just watching this all play out, and that's how I fell into this world of 'Chris Church'.

C: I would not rather have anyone tell a better story about me than Steve.

C: He was always there. He would be the light at the end of the tunnel for sure.

S: Ha! The first time that Chris ever sought 'help' from me was when he was writing an essay. Strangely, the thing I remember most about that interaction was how neat his printing was! Because I'm looking at this guy who is kind of this magnetic, high-energy sort of ball of positivity—

C: —a typical jock.

S: Not typical! When you think ‘typical jock,’ you kind of think of a jerk. Chris was a typical jock in that he was really good at everything—but he wasn't a typical jock because he didn't think he was better than other people. It didn't matter if you were a 'cool kid' in school. He didn't care. He would chat with anyone and everyone. But then, all of this choatic, positive energy—and he had the neatest printing I had ever seen! It made no sense to me! So that was the first kind of interaction that we had.

T: And the rest is history!

C: We were then coworkers when we both taught at the school. He was a teacher and I was an educational assistant. If Steve wasn't there, I would just be kind of heartbroken, because he would make the day a lot easier. I would have stuff on my mind, and it would be easier to talk to him rather than anyone else.

C: Yeah, I did! It was the school year after I filmed. Steve was the one who actually helped me film my audition tape.

S: Yeah. Chris would call me up on a Sunday and say, 'the producers need a video of me doing this.' We would meet at the school, go into the gym and spend an hour making sure that the video was exactly what they needed. We did that a few times because they needed to see him 'play with the lacrosse stick while standing more upright'—or whatever the direction was.

C: When it came to auditioning for the film, Steve had come to me during a sports tournament.

S: A producer reached out to the school, saying: 'We're doing this movie and we need high school boys to audition.' The principal knew nothing of it, so because I was involved in a theatre group and was the first teacher she saw that day, she asked me to follow up.

So I started emailing back and forth with the producer. She was going to be in town for two days and wanted to audition as many boys as possible. She got lucky in that the first day of her auditions was a sports tournament. I would literally just see a teenage boy and ask them to come in. The last person I saw was Chris as he was walking down the foyer and I said, 'Hey Chris—do you wanna audition for a movie?' But in typical Chris fashion, he didn't bat any eye. He was like, 'A movie? Yeah sure, I'll do it.' He didn't get this big head. He didn't just walk in like he was gonna get it. He was just like, 'Yeah, that sounds cool.'

So he walks into this room and I introduce him to the producer. She says hi and hands him a sheet of paper. Now I believe Chris had never acted before. But he takes this paper, reads it over, and he's like, 'Yeah alright, I'm good.' She's like, 'Well you can have more time…'

C: Yeah—but remember when she gave the sheet of paper and I asked, 'What's the feeling of this?'

S: YEAH! That's right! What's the emotional feeling of the character? And this producer is like, 'Excuse me?' Because a lot of the boys just came in, read it and moved on. But Chris is like, 'Listen—if I'm gonna do this, I need to know what this character is feeling.'

So, the producer explains the feeling. Then he does it—and my mouth is completely open, seeing Chris in this vulnerable state. Not that Chris Church was never vulnerable, but I'm used seeing the Chris Church of East Three Secondary School, right? The guy who helps bring a basketball banner back, or the MVP for IRC, or the guy who's 4 inches away from a world record, right? And here—he gets to this vulnerable state. Like, is this even the same Chris Church that jumped 9'6 on one foot?!

After that, he asks, 'is that good?' And then he just leaves! I'll never forget when the producer turns to me and asks, 'who was that?' And I answer, 'oh, it’s Chris Church.' She replies, 'No, but like, who is that? That was amazing…stunning. Has he ever done acting before?' I tell her, 'I don't believe so.' And so, that was it. There were more hoops he had to jump through…

C: I had to go to Iqaluit for two weeks! And you were the one who paid for it.

S: Oh that's right! I dropped 300 bucks.

C: It was the fee for my flight.

S: Yeah, it was like, 'If I don't get 300 bucks, I can't go, then I can't do this movie.' I said, 'Alright, well let's get you 300 bucks.' I went and got him 300 bucks; he got on the plane. I think I drove him to the plane.

C: You did!

S: But that's as far as my role happened. I was just behind the scenes—literally—as Chris was doing his thing. I helped him get to Iqaluit, then the rest was all Chris!

C: That's why I like to elaborate on this part. It was the small things that just did it all. Steve asked me, and I said, 'Let's do it.' He mentioned my name to the producer. He paid for my flight. He brought me to Iqaluit. It was all these small things that just led up to this really huge movie. When it finally came out, I gave Steve my lacrosse jersey from the film.

S: Yeah, you did…with blood on it!

C: With blood on it, yeah!

C: 'Cause when we were shooting the lacrosse scene at the end of the movie, I didn't have a stunt double. So, it was just me getting sticks to the face, the hands…and then, I got heatstroke, so I had to leave for some of it. But I had to do the whole film and make sure I was as professional as possible. I had to get the shots and make sure I didn't mess it up—because of the people that did this for me. I didn't want to let them down.

S: I would have never looked at you in disappointment.

C: That was my first time. We had two months in Iqaluit where we were just straight up playing lacrosse, and it got to the point where I had to be told not to play lacrosse for a week, because I took it to heart and wanted to be the best. I would practice all night, every morning before our scenes, and between scenes. They eventually said, 'Chris, you have to stop. Give us your stick. We need you to be a beginner in the film.'

S: I don't think I knew that, but that doesn't surprise me.

C: The film physically took a lot out of me. Mentally, it ate me alive—not gonna lie. I wasn't prepared to hear the backstory. I wasn't ready to re-act it all out. I didn't want to at first. But the message it gave off afterward during the whole shooting process was enough motivation to get me through it. It took some demons out, for sure.

C: Definitely. Whatever role I play, I channel a part of my life into it. If I'm playing a role where I have to seem excited, I'm gonna go to the feeling where I won my first basketball banner. Or, if it comes to a scene where I'm sad, I want to channel some thoughts that came from my life. If it's worry, I'm gonna channel my thoughts into my little brother when I'm gone. I'm not playing the role—I'm gonna be the role for sure.

C: Yeah, definitely. When it comes to social work, they wanna hear stuff that's not out of a book. They wanna hear a real-life story about where you struggled, and where you came back from. They wanna hear stuff that comes from the heart, you know? I tell them stories about my life—what I’ve been through, what I've done, and what I’ve regretted doing. I get down to their level. I'm not the social worker that they're seeing. I'm just one of them—another person.

Growing up, I've always wanted to be a role model, just like Steve was. I looked up to that guy a lot. He was a good baseline for where I wanted to be. The way Steve carried himself in the classroom was so much more than seeing a teacher just teach.

S: That's nice of you to say.

C: You can't really get a role model—you kind of just know. You find a person who you want to find in yourself. I'm not saying you should change yourself to be another person. But to better your life, you really want to find a good point where you wanna be. You never know… it could be yourself! You could be your own role model.

C: Just take the first step—that's what I did. I had a goal. Kids are sometimes scared to take that first step. They're worried about not following through, or they're worried about failing that one stage. It's just about putting 100% into the smallest step, moving on to the bigger step. Small things happen first, and throughout your time, they will get bigger and better.

C: Things are tough. Things can get really tough, no matter what you're going through. When people come to me, I say, 'Yeah, you're having a real bad time. But you're here, you're talking to me, you're alive. That's the first step.'

I let people trash me. I let people talk me down. I let people vent out their feelings, but my only response is that ‘you are here.’ You're talking to me, as a person— you are alive. You're getting this out. And they have no real response to that. They don't know how to respond to that. Knowing the first step is knowing that you're alive and talking to somebody.

C: Give yourself a fighting chance. Have an eight-hour sleep. Get some food into you. Go out, get some sun. Talk to people who you want to talk to. Listen to songs that make you think about other things. Be around people who make you happy. If none of that works, there's always a different way. But it's on you first. You take the first step—the small steps.

It could look like: making your bed in the morning. After that, doing the dishes. Getting a workout done. Going to see how your friends are doing. Taking a self-reflective day at work. Going home. Watching movies. Sometimes, it might just be spending time with the person that you really want to be around.