By: Mike Still (@mikestill)
Feature photo: Farber with St. John’s head coach Grant McMillan shortly after receiving a bursary from the Rising Stars Foundation during the first annual Night of Excellence
Joshua Farber understands the meaning of determination, being humble and staying positive. Raised in the north end by a hard-working single mother, he strives to better himself every day.
Somewhat reserved off the field, Farber turns on another gear when playing football — a sport he started at age seven with the North Winnipeg Nomads after some encouragement from his mom.
“First, my mom was like, ‘you have to go try something. You could try out for football.’ I was like sure, I’ll try it out. At first I didn’t get the full hang of it, but then my first game I dominated and I just started liking it and it became a big feature of my life.”
Farber — now 13 years old — spent the first three years of his minor football career as a defensive lineman and like he said, absolutely dominated. He was named the Nomads best defensive lineman in 2014 and was the team MVP the following two years in a row.
But things really picked up for Farber in 2016 when he made the transition to running back after a suggestion from his coach. Originally hesitant to make the switch to offence, it took just one play for the powerful and built downhill runner to change his mind.
“When I first got the ball, it was my first time ever dropping the shoulder and the kid went flying! And I was like, I actually did that. I surprised myself and thought that maybe I could continue doing this.”
Farber was offensive MVP for the Nomads in his debut year as a running back and two years later helped shoulder the load as his squad won the Manitoba Minor Football Association (MMFA) PeeWee “A” Division championship.
Instead of boasting about his accomplishments or even the championship itself, Farber was quick to emphasize key personal values such as perseverance and trust.
“It makes me feel good every time I do something good to help out the team,” he says. ““When we were down, we would somehow always rise back up and try staying positive in the best way.”
This season, Farber will make his WHSFL debut at the varsity level, suiting up for last year’s CanadInns Bowl winners the St. John’s Tigers.
In preparation for high school ball, the Nomads alum decided to try out for the U16 provincial team following the suggestion of a teammate. That choice paid off big time as Farber was one of the standouts during the selection team process, cementing his spot on the roster during after an impressive showing at the phase two inter squad scrimmage.
But as usual, he remained humble.
“I didn’t feel that I did the greatest, but I know that I can improve on a lot. People said I did pretty good, but I don’t really know about that.”
Farber carries the rock during U16 practice. 
Farber demonstrates his blocking abilities. 
Inside the huddle with the hoggies. 
Taking a breather with fellow U16 running back Dylan “Hallsy” Halls.
The workhorse that he was, Farber also chose to attend indoor practice sessions hosted by the Football Manitoba Prospects Program, which provides an opportunity for players that are not selected to the U16 or U18 High Performance Program.
“Josh attended essentially every single indoor prospects practice as well as our Sunday night prospects sessions at Gordon Bell,” Eric Vincent, a coach for the prospects program says.
“Even when he knew he was going on to phase two (of U16), Josh continued to come to Sunday night prospects practices to work on his skills with coach Brian Marks.”
It’s important to note however, that in certain instances the cost to be a member of Team Manitoba can be a challenge. In order to take some of the pressure off of his mom’s shoulders, Farber applied for a bursary with the Rising Stars Foundation — a local non-profit corporation whose mission is to “enrich the amateur sports community in Manitoba by supporting, developing, and mentoring young student leaders from all backgrounds.”
In order to apply, Farber — who admits that long-form writing can be a challenge at times — was tasked with writing an essay that detailed his academic and athletic achievements as well as volunteer involvement within his school and community.
“I wanted to do it for my mom, because we needed the extra money so we could get to this level. That really pushed me to write the essay, even though writing and stuff isn’t the easiest for me.”
The humble athlete was successful in receiving a bursary to help aid in the cost of the program, thanks in part to the excellent essay he wrote which detailed a multitude of community work such as delivering Christmas hampers from Winnipeg Harvest to those less fortunate in the community.
Farber — who draws many comparisons on the field to former Grant Park Pirates standout running back/fullback/linebacker Dustin Ellis-Kyle — is eager to test his skills in the upcoming U16 Western Challenge, taking place in mid-July in Kamloops, BC, as well as against top Division 2 competition in the WHSFL.
“Because of the age gap and the fact that there’s going to be stronger people than me [in the WHSFL], I want to push myself and be able to take them down and not the other way.”