Although he didn’t act as the team’s tour guide, offensive guard Hunter Steward knew a bit more about Kingston than his B.C. Lions teammates.

In between the team’s games against the Toronto Argonauts and the Montreal Alouettes, the Lions had a four-day stay in Kingston. On Tuesday, the team hosted a practice at Richardson Stadium open to the public. With more than 50 people in attendance, the Lions ran through drills, scrimmaged and signed autographs for their younger fans.

Calgary native Steward’s time growing up in Kingston was short. Coming from a military family — his father, Robin, is a lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian Forces — the Steward family lived in Germany, Wainwright, Alta., Toronto, Oromocto, N.B., Kingston, Ottawa, Virginia Beach, Va., and Victoria all before Hunter was even finished high school.

Though he was only in Kingston for grades 10 and 11 at Bayridge Secondary School, he has fond memories of his time here.

“I loved Kingston, it was one of my favourite places growing up,” he said. “I had a good group of friends, Bayridge was a great school, I had a couple of really good teachers there. I enjoyed my time here.”

Steward said he played a lot of sports growing up, starting out with rugby and basketball. Kingston is special spot for Steward because it’s where he first started to play football, first at Bayridge and then with the Kingston Grenadiers, as a defensive lineman.

Looking back on his development, Steward said his two years in Kingston were formative for his football career.

“I didn’t really know what I was doing out there, to be honest. The Kingston Grenadiers helped a lot,” Steward said about his early football career. “It was a higher quality of football and some pretty good coaching there, then I started playing the U-17 East Ontario, I got hooked into that through a Kingston connection and that really started my football career.”

After high school, Steward first went to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and spent most of his time on the sidelines. Transferring to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., after two years, Steward made the difficult transition from the defensive side of the ball to the offensive side.

“I think that’s how we all start; having dreams of making sacks and tackles and being on the scorecard,” said Steward, who’s OK with being under the radar as an offensive guard.

The decision paid off for the now offensive guard. In 2013 he helped Liberty rush for a record 36 touchdowns that season, receiving First-Team All Big South honours for his play.

Drafted sixth overall by the Lions in the 2013 CFL Daft, Steward has played 30 games for the team over four seasons.

As a professional athlete, Steward said there is a small difference as to how he feels about the game.

“I don’t know how you put it into words. You love the game but it’s a bit different now — it’s peoples’ livelihood, so you still love to play it but there’s a lot more stress,” Steward said.

Even though his time in Kingston was short, he still has some memories from the old Richardson Stadium. Unlike the Grenadiers now — who play there — this was Steward’s first time on the new field.

“It was falling apart a little bit when I was here, but this is a beautiful stadium here, this is fantastic,” he said about the $20.57-million revitalization of Richardson Stadium. “I love how close the stands are to the field.”

Rather than flying back to B.C. for a few days after their 28-15 win Friday against the Argonauts and then returning East again for their game against Montreal, the team has used this time to bond and enjoy the city between practices and meetings.

With four and a half hours of practice a day, the team has had some downtime in Kingston. Although Steward has spent most of his time downtown at the pubs and looking at the architecture, he said a lot of his teammates have gone to the city’s hottest attractions.

“I know some guys have taken the Penitentiary Tour, they have done the Fort Henry tour, a couple of guys got out on the water a little bit,” Steward said of his teammates.

Even with the season in its early stages, Steward like the look of the Lions (1-1).

“We assembled a lot of high-quality targets from the offseason,” Steward said.

With the offensive line coming together and a strong defence, he believes the team is trending upwards.

“We brought back a lot of good veteran leaders, so the team is looking really good this year.”