University of Manitoba football player back on field 3 months after tumbling off waterfall

Tyler Fong was hiking with a friend near his home in Victoria, B.C., when he lost his balance and fell off the edge of the waterfall.

As Tyler Fong plummeted toward the bottom of a 45-metre waterfall, he says he thought of his family, his coaches and his team.

Certain that the fall would kill him, the University of Manitoba football player said he felt a range of emotions, but also a strange calm.

“I thought I was going to land on rocks. So in my mind, the only self-talk I had was ‘This is how I end,’ ” Fong told CTV News. “It was an eerie calmness; just falling and thinking ‘This is it. You can’t do anything about it.’ ”

Fong was hiking with a friend near his home in Victoria, B.C., when he lost his balance and fell off the edge of the waterfall.

The pair had reached the hike’s summit and Fong wanted a better view. He tried to step forward onto a rock near the edge and slipped, tumbling off the side of the cascade.

In the seconds he was falling, Fong said a number of thoughts ran through his head.

“I thought about family, this team, and coaches. There was happiness, sadness, disappointment.”

While his thoughts focused on loved ones, Fong’s instincts took over.

Mid-air, he managed to turn himself around so that his head and neck wouldn’t hit the water first.

“I managed to see that there was water at the bottom and just instinctively went feet-first,” Fong said.

He suffered a broken rib and punctured lung, but by positioning himself upright, doctors say Fong likely saved his own life.

“They said the whole reason I’m still here is remaining calm and going feet-first,” he said.

When he landed in the water, Fong said it took a moment to realize where he was.

“My vision was still blurry and I had no idea that I was at the bottom,” he said.

After surviving the drop, the football player faced a long recovery.

At first, he said, it was painfully difficult just to breathe. Still, the athlete had only one thought on his mind: “The first question I asked when I was still in the hospital was if I could still play football,” Fong said.

Gradually, he healed enough to walk, then run. And just three months after his fall, on May 17, he returned to the field.

Brian Dobie, head coach at the University of Manitoba, said the team is happy to have him back.

“He’s going to be able to play football this year. He’s going to be able to go to university this year. He’s going to be able to be a teammate in our locker room and on campus with his friends,” Dobie said. “It could have been so much worse. It could’ve been -- and likely should’ve been -- us going to his funeral.”

The starting safety said he was a little nervous to try tackling and pushing himself during training. But once he got on the field, “it was like nothing changed.”

Nothing except for a new tattoo and a new nickname.

After the accident, Fong got the date of his fall inked on his arm. He said the tattoo serves as a reminder to be grateful for what he has.

The athlete has also picked up a new name, courtesy of some teasing teammates.

“There’s a couple people that call me TLC,” Fong said, naming the R&B girl group who earned fame for their 1994 song “Waterfalls.”

“Every time that song comes up,” he said with a smile, “They love it.”

With files from CTV’s Jill Macyshon and CTV Winnipeg