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6 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, Wednesday, October 6,1993 Foolbdll Pro Leaves CFL for Teaching Career Phone Brad Kelly at 623-3303 RECREATIONAL LEAGUES BEGIN -- Most of the winter recreational leagues throughout the Municipality of Clarington have begun, with hockey, volleyball and basketball teams hitting both the ice and the courts after a brief summer layoff. As always, we are extending an offer to any sports leagues who would like to see tljeir standings and game results posted in the paper to give our office a call to make the necessary arrangements. The service is free, which is always a welcome price for leagues who may be financially strapped for cash. Our Scoreboard feature appears weekly in The Statesman, and if space permits, we manage to : include it in our weekend Independent edition. We'll be glad to give your league the exposure it deserves. • •MIIIIIKI TIP OF THE COWBOY HAT -- Can't say enough good things about the rodeo that was staged over the weekend at the Down Farm in Courtice. Everything from the parking, to the exhibits to the rodeo itself were well organized, with no noticeable flaws. We understand that the dances held on Friday and Saturday night were also a success. So impressed were we that after taking photos of the proceedings on Saturday afternoon for today's edition of the newspaper, a return on Sunday for the finals was a must. Though the weather was cool, especially on Sunday, everyone in attendance seemed to be just as impressed as we were. Our congratulations to The Kinsmen Clubs of Bowmanville and The Great Pine Ridge for a job well done. MMKIIIIII EAGLES BEGIN SEASON -- After seven pre-season games, the defending Jr. C Central League champions from Bowmanville will begin the regular season with a pair of games this weekend. Their league opener will be in Uxbridge on Friday night, while their home opener will be on Sunday night at the Recreation Complex against the same Uxbridge team. Game time, as always, is 7:30 p.m. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Jr. C hockey in Bowmanville. In 1968, the Bowmanville Whiz Kids were bom, and competed in the Suburban Junior League. NATIONAL HOCKEY TRY-OUTS -- Had a conversation with Sarah Couch on Sunday night and learned that she had just returned from Kingston, where try-outs were being conducted for the women's National hockey team. The women's world hockey championships are slated for the spring of 1994 in Lake Placid, NY, and Sarah hopes to be included on the final rosier. She will be sitting anxiously by the phone this week, waiting to hear if she has been selected to attend another camp. A NEW NAME -- Readers of the sports pages may have noticed a new byline appearing with some frequency over the past couple of weeks. Chad Maartense, a grade 12 student at Clarke High School, is a co-op student who will be with us until mid-January. Chad will be out and about helping to cover various sports events in the area, as well as working on an upcoming feature on the sports memorabilia collecting industry. One of those stories will include an interview with Boston Red Sox pitcher Paul Quantrill on how professional athletes deal with autograph seekers. imiiiiiiit DCHS GIRLS PLACE THIRD -- The girls' soccer team at Durham Christian High School placed third overall at a tournament held on Saturday in Ancastcr, which is near Hamilton. They finished in first place in their pool after round robin play, with two wins and one defeat. They opened by beating St. Catherines 4-3, and then they beat London Academy 4-0. In their third game, they lost to Lambton 2-0. Against Hamilton in the consolation final, they recorded a 4-0 shutout. Melanie Vandergaast had an outstanding tournament, scoring seven times in the four games. The boys' team didn't fare quite as well. They finished with a 1-1 record after beating . Ottawa 4-2 and losing to Guido of Hamilton by a 5-1 score. by Chad Maartense To many of us, professional sports are everything. But not to Clarke High School teacher Rick Konopka. Konopka, a four-year veteran linebacker of the CFL, was drafted out of university football. He attended attended Sir Wilfrid Laurier University before before being drafted by the Toronto Argonauts. He was later traded to the Calgary Calgary Stampeders and ended up in a Saskatchewan Rough Riders uniform uniform where his pro football career came to a close in 1978. Konopka, who is presently teaching teaching the new Lab 2000 computer classes at Clarke High School, said: "Professional sports is a job. The fun of athletic competition that you get from university ball is gone. Basically, Basically, the fun is gone." It was a combination of things that made Konopka get out of the game. "The enjoyment just wasn't there. I played on losing teams. It was short-lived and I realized I had no place to go." He realized that a losing team will always make changes to become become a winning team. This means that if you play for a losing team, you could be here today and gone tomorrow. The former linebacker also recalled recalled how hard it was being away from home for six months of the year. He realized football was a dead end street and that he wasn't going to go anywhere. "There are only so many super- stars out there who will be able to use their name after football," explained explained Konopka. "Education is important. You have to have a skill or you're in trouble. When in football, you're a somebody, but after football you're no longer in this category. This creates a void." Konopka doesn't see a lot of difference difference between the CFL today and when he played. The CFL uses a lot of die same coaches now as when he was in the league 15 years ago. " Konopka also said that if teams, have a good ball player, they should keep him around so he can be a good coach. But they don't do that. One exception, Konopka said, was the Edmonton Eskimos who have a number of previous players involved in the club. The former Argo added: "They need coaches who know the game. Experience is a must. They bring in high-profile American coaches and their strategics strategics don't work." Fan loyalty is a must in this game. The teams must have a good public relations department to keep the public interested in the organization. organization. Today, Konopka is not involved in football at all and admits to being too busy to watch pro games on television. television. The linebacker's most memorable moment was his first game at Olympic Olympic Stadium in Montreal in front of 45,000 people. He said, "it was definitely definitely an experience." v Two things that Konopka found out from playing pro football were the importance of an alternative career, career, and how much sacrifice the individual individual must make. One other key thing that the former CFL player learned was exactly how poorly the industry treats you. "The overall experience probably would have been much better had I played for winning teams. The fun might have been there," stated Konopka. Konopka. The Clarke teacher also found out how different the way of life was. "You're so used to being out late every night with the guys, when you come home to a wife and kids, it's a tough transition." Some of the problems he sees in today's CFL are its lack of marketing marketing and the league's need for higher profile players. They need to be in the publics eye all year long. They need activities in the off-season to keep up the public's interest. He realizes realizes this is very difficult to do with the Blue Jays, the Leafs and now a basketball team in the same limelight. limelight. What Konopka continually stressed was the importance of an [athlete having something to fall '[back on. Professional athletes are ,fhot going to be in sports forever and they eventually will have to support themselves. From Konopka's experience, we can see that professional sports are not all money and fame. There is plenty more to the game on and off the field that we don't even know And that's a totally different about. of the game. ISliSlSSII Mill : . ■■ ■ ■ u ; side- Former CFL football player Rick Konopka (left), now a teacher at Clarke High School, helps one of his students, Ryan Dewulf, in the new Lab 2000 program. Mr. Konopka played for three teams during his football career, including the Toronto Argos between 1974 and 1978. Tough Season for Clarke Soccer Team by Brad Kelly The junior boys' soccer team at Clarke High School has become resigned resigned to the fact that this year won't be a storybook season. What they are hoping for is to write a couple of new chapters to the book before their South Kawar- tha league schedule concludes. So far, all of the pages have read the same. In five games, they have yet to record a win, including their most recent setback last Thursday on their home field against Port Hope. The visitors tallied twice in the opening half and added another in the second for a 3-0 win. Though it was their fifth loss in as many games this season, coach John Gale continues to remain upbeat upbeat and optimistic about his team's efforts. "I can't be disappointed in the way we played," said Gale, noting : : '£ ;4 iVfv, i . - ■••*** * HS • y ' " . ; i ifff .'ip that Port Hope traditionally fields one of the best junior teams in the league. "Our defence is getting better, but we've got a lot of guys who haven't played together before, and they need to get some more games under their belts." . That is especially true of the team's offence, which to this point in the season has been virtually nonexistent. nonexistent. The unfamiliarity with each other has kept the club from generating some potential scoring opportunities. It was the second straight game in which Clarke has been shut out on home field. On September 21 against Cobourg West, the visitors posted a 3-0 victory. With five games remaining in the regular season schedule, a string of five wins in a row may be enough to vault Clarke into a playoff spot. Realistically, Realistically, Gale is not expecting that to take place. But he did say that his team would continue to improve over the. second half of the season. And, he predicted, they might even pick up a couple of victories. "That's not a prediction, it's going going to happen," he said. "I really believe that we are going to get a couple of wins before the end of the year." In die senior game, which followed followed the junior contest, Port Hope handed the Clarke squad a 4-1 setback. setback. WORKING FOR YOUR FUTURE : : •' ■ : ■ ' X\ X"'.'X i\ X .«'X XS- ELECT Ross STEVENSON YOUR STRONG VOICE FOR DURHAM Your Progressive Conservative Federal Member of Parliament for Durham Riding Authorized by: Doug Berry, Official Agent for Ross Stevenson ... 8b®H SB IB Above, a Clarke player tries to get the ball under control during a South Kawartha Junior League soccer game against Port Hope on Thursday at Clarke High School. Clarke lost 3-0 to drop their record to 0-5 on the season. fred's autobody ltd. 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