A pair of Kingston brothers are hoping to move on to professional sports careers after high caliber accomplishments at the Canadian university level.
Alex Vreeken, 23, a quarterback for the Queen’s Gaels, may return for a fifth and final year at Richardson Stadium in 2026 but hopes to find himself on a Canadian Football League roster or playing in Europe.
Connor, 25, a six-foot-five basketball guard, has played professional round ball recently in Europe and in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL).
Alex quarterbacked the Gaels to a Yates Cup championship in 2025, a 30-27 upset of first place and undefeated Laurier Golden Hawks, but finished their season one step away from the Vanier Cup, a 22-11 loss to the Saskatchewan Huskies in the national semi-final.
The children of public-school teachers Erik and Shelley have come a long way since playing TimBits soccer in the city’s west end.
“We were kind of were around sports our whole lives,” said Alex in an interview with Tourism Kingston. “Our dad ran marathons and mom did Iron Man (competitions), they’re both very athletic so we had some good role models there that led us to live pretty active lives.”
The brothers got into basketball and soccer in their formative years before Alex concentrated on basketball and football in high school at Frontenac Secondary School before playing strictly football in his last two years. Connor was a star basketball player at Frontenac.
“By grade nine I knew basketball was what I wanted to do and went full pursuit in that,” Connor said.
He played basketball on Team Ontario while in grade 11 and 12 which exposed him to USports coaches and scouts.
“I was recruited by pretty much every school in Ontario and a few out east.”
But Connor knew, even in grade six, he wanted to go to Carleton to play for legendary coach Dave Smart.
“I’ve always valued winning and competing at the highest level possible and I knew the pathway I wanted was to be a pro athlete, so Carleton had the best track record for that.”
Things worked out well for Vreeken. With the Ravens he was a four-time USports champion and a two-time Ontario University Athletic champion.
He finished his career with 27 points and nine rebounds in the 2023 USports semi-final before recording 23 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in the national championship game.
Showing promise as a quarterback at Frontenac Secondary School Alex had his university choice down to a pair of teams; Queen’s Gaels or Western Mustangs. He decided on Queen’s because of head coach Steve Snyder.
“I realized he was going to be the person that would try to push me the most just like Dave Smart pushed Connor,” Alex said. “I think they have the same qualities of being very intense and telling you exactly what they think.”
In 2025 Alex completed 227 out of 370 passing attempts for 3,260 yards, he threw for 24 touchdowns while he was intercepted only six times. While rushing he ran 183 yards on 29 carries scoring three touchdowns.
Connor may stay in Kingston over the summer to pursue his passion running basketball programming and camps for elementary and high school players.
“If I’m playing pro, I’m not here so I can’t do both at the same time,” he said. “The community stuff is important to me, and I enjoy working with the kids and they get a lot out of it.”
“I had an offer to play in Europe, but I didn’t take it,” it wasn’t what I was looking for. There’s an offer to play in the CEBL this summer, I haven’t decided to take that yet.”
There’s also a possibility he could play in a professional three-on-three league.
Alex would like an invitation to a CFL training camp in May after the Combine but quarterbacks from north of the border are a rarity in the CFL.
“Hopefully the Combine works out well and I get invited to a camp. If I make a team that would be awesome. Obviously, it’s very tough for Canadian quarterbacks.”
The Vreeken brothers are a reminder of the athletic talent nurtured in Kingston families, growing up together, pushing each other, and now carrying their hometown pride onto national and international stages.
