‘MIRACLE KICKER’ TAKES BOOT AT THE PROS
Winnipeg native who played for University of Calgary gets shot with Argos
There are humble beginnings to a career as an athlete, and then there’s the way Winnipegger Niko Difonte started his.
An avid soccer player, Difonte walked into a high school football practice for the first time and went directly to the head coach.
“Your kicker sucks — why don’t you let me play?” is what Difonte told Oak Park Raiders boss Stu Nixon.
Next thing he knew, Nixon discovered a Grade 10 phenom with leg strength he’d never seen before.
“I could not believe his first field goal was a 55-yarder,” Nixon said. “Are you kidding me? I’ve had soccer guys come up to me I don’t know how many times and say, ‘I want to kick for you.’ And they just don’t pan out. But he certainly did.”
Six years later, Difonte has a shot at pro football, his rights claimed by the Toronto Argonauts after he was bypassed in the CFL draft.
Coming off a Vanier Cup championship with the University of Calgary, that’s all he wanted. A chance.
“It’s everything for me,” Difonte said. “It’s what I want to do with my life. It’s just something I want to see out. I just want to be the best at it.”
Watching four kickers taken in the CFL draft might have been sobering.
But, like that first day at high school practice, Difonte is brimming with confidence he can beat all comers.
“It hurt a bit, truthfully,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter if I’m drafted or undrafted. At the end of the day we all have the same opportunity at a camp.”
There’s a funny twist about Difonte’s first opportunity in high school: the kicker he thought sucked was his older brother, Jesse.
“He knew he wasn’t very good at it.” Difonte said. “We’re pretty honest in my family.”
Pretty athletic, too.
Difonte’s father played pro soccer in his home country of Italy. But the youngest of his three sons fell in love with Canada’s version of football.
Much of the credit for the kid’s smooth transition goes to Oak Park assistant coach George Mcfall, himself a former kicker and the brother to EX-CFL kicker Cyril Mcfall.
“When he saw the potential in Niko he basically gave up coaching receivers and spent all his time with Niko,” Nixon said.
Mcfall says he’s never seen a leg like Difonte’s, and that includes his brother’s, who was good enough to get a shot at the NFL. But he was skeptical, at first.
“All of the coaches would tell me about this miracle kicker ... this kid that plays soccer and can kick the ball 50 yards,” Mcfall recalled. “And I said there’s no way. Because high school kids generally can kick from about 30 yards and in. We kept going back five yards at a time, and I was just amazed. We had it at 60. I told him right then and there, ‘That’s more than a pro leg.’
“You’ve never really kicked a football before, and to do that, that’s something else. I knew he was special right then and there.”
Mcfall’s student was eager to learn. The two would have kicking competitions, Difonte calling Mcfall “the old man” and challenging him.
“I had a strong leg and my brother had a strong leg, and I’ve seen other kickers,” Mcfall said. “But he is, by far, the strongest leg I’ve ever seen.”
Difonte wasn’t just kicking for show, either. He was accurate.
“He’s right down the pipes, and I’d barely started to work with him,” the coach said. “I told him after a couple of practices, ‘If you’re willing to commit to this, you’re going to go a long, long way.’”
Mcfall watched the draft unfold last week, and couldn’t believe the kid wasn’t taken.
There’s a good reason, though. He’s coming off his worst of four college seasons, hitting on just six of 16 field goals, after going 24-of28 and being named an all-canadian the previous year.
Difonte points to injuries, both to himself and his kicking unit.
“When it rains, it pours, I guess,” he said. “It was different from every other season. But because of this I’ve grown. Developed my mental strength. Stay in the game. If you miss one, get back. If you have one bad game, it doesn’t determine your season.”
These days Difonte is kicking 200-250 field goals a week, alone.
He takes three balls and a tee to a field, running down to the end zone over and over to gather them up, bring them back and tee them up again. “Just perfecting my swing,” he said. “So when it does come, when the opportunity is there, I’m ready to seize that.”
Because you never know when a kicker will suck, and it becomes your turn.
All of the coaches would tell me about this miracle kicker ... this kid that plays soccer and can kick the ball 50 yards.