A Surrey man has started up a training program for young football players.
Called Wide Receiver University (WRU), the school for sporting improvement “fills a need” in the football world, said founder Rashaun Simonise. He runs camps at Cloverdale Athletic Park with training groups in Richmond, Langley, and Delta. He also does 1-on-1 coaching for clients all over the Lower Mainland.
Simonise, born and raised in Surrey, is a former pro football player—playing in both the NFL and CFL and other indoor and spring pro leagues. He’s also a coach with the UBC Thunderbirds, handling the receivers for the university squad.
Simonise told the Cloverdale Reporter at WRU he coaches all types of players and will work with anyone who is in need of training, but his area of expertise, and therefore main focus, is wide-outs and DBs.
“That’s my specialty,” he added. “I also have a track and field background, so I specialize in speed training and track and field work, and then I focus on individual position skills for wide receivers and defensive backs.”
He said he also trains a few QBs too. He’s open to training athletes in other sports and says “he’ll get there” at some point, but for now his “hands are full” with the football athletes he’s currently training.
“For football in B.C., there is a void, in terms of opportunities for development, for players at the high school level,” Simonise explained. “My goal is to guide these young kids, train them and improve their skills, and be a mentor as I prepare them for that next level where they are trying to get scholarships.”
He said being at UBC gives him a window into what university coaches are looking for. In turn, he imparts that on his students in an effort to help get them to the next level. He added the biggest obstacle to recruiting local kids is their lack of early development.
“I want to change that,” he added. “That’s done by starting to develop those kids at a younger age.”
Simonise noted most kids in B.C. don’t start taking football seriously until they’re about 16 or 17.
“By that time, it’s almost too late to try to get an athletic scholarship,” he explained. “Some kids might do it, but when they get to university, because of the physical demands of the level of athletes they go against, they end up having to sit out a season or two just to develop.”
He said WRU elevates an athlete’s training so the transition between high school ball and university is both easier and smoother.
Simonise said kids who are serious can start football specific speed and skill training at any age, but he recommends beginning gridiron skill development at about 11. He will train kids as young as 9 and he does have several taking his lessons.
“For the younger kids, it’s more geared towards fun training, but they still get the development, and I push them hard,” he noted. “For older kids, for athletes that are serious about their training, it’s hard work. It’s really hard work. I’m bringing guys up to speed to be able to play at the college level.”
Like anything, Simonise said, the kids need to be engaged and invested. Before any players get to high school ball, he recommends playing flag or community football.
“Its a great place for the kids to learn the game in ways they maybe can’t while watching it on TV with the family,” he explained. “Understanding the game, and getting used to the game, are best built in those younger ages. That way, when they get older, they’re already in the swing of things, already comfortable with the hard work and the scheduling and the routines.”
He said for kids under 12, he works on getting them moving and teaching them physical literacy. For kids 12 and up , that’s when the technical, football-specific training and speed work gets serious.
Simonise said he got the idea to start WRU after his final year playing in the CFL. He started coaching his younger brother, who was in his final year of high school, in order to prep him in an attempt to get him a scholarship to play football at the college level.
“I just tried to get my brother ready (for university),” Simonise recalled. “Started training with him, and he ended up bringing some of his friends. And one kid turned into two and two turned into three and it kind of just snowballed from there.”
He realized he was making an impact. His initial success with this program led him to the epiphany that he was now the person for these kids whom he needed in his own life—and didn’t have—when he was trying to make the jump from high school ball to college.
From that eureka moment, WRU was born.
“It was the guidance, the knowledge, the motivation—all those things that the kids needed that I knew could take them to the next level.”
Not content to just start WRU, Simonise also penned a book. He said “Winning Mindset for Athletes” is a guide for players “who feel stuck or overwhelmed” at any point in their sporting journey.
The book, published in January, 2025, looks at strategies and mindset tools to help build confidence and enable athletes to perform under pressure. It’s available on Amazon.ca.
For more info on WRU, or to get in touch with Simonise, visit widereceiveruniversity.com.