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www.insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, June 29, 2 0 1 7 | 4 8 Roughrider pick Sprukulis delays pro career a year for education By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Danny Sprukulis walked off the field after a game with Golden Horseshoe Region Rising Stars and was met by a lineup of university coaches waiting to talk to him. All of them were interested in having the offensive lineman play for their program, even though he still had another year of high school remaining. He left that day with a fistful of business cards and for the first time thought there might be a chance he could play professionally. When it came time to choose a school Sprukulis made a somewhat surprising decision. Despite having his choice of several of the top foot ball programs in the country, the highly recruited lineman chose the University of Toronto. The Varsity Blues had not produced a winning season in 17 years, but that didn't factor into his decision. "Honestly, I wanted an educa tion and U of T is the best school in the country," said the honours student who studied mechanical engineering. So as most of the players selected Drafted in the sixth round by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Oakville's Danny Sprukulis is delaying his pursuit of a pro career for a year while completing his MBA. | photo by Martin Bazyl - Special to the Oakville Beaver in this year's CFL draft spent the last few weeks working to earn a roster spot, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Saskatchewan Roughriders' sixth-round pick was instead inspecting sidewalks and road reconstructions for the Town of Oakville. Sprukulis hasn't given up on the dream of playing profession ally, but he also knows his career after football will last much longer than his career on the field. So the 6-foot-5, 310-pound offensive line man opted out of training camp this year with the intention of re turning to school to get his MBA. With a year of eligibility remain ing, he'll be able to play football after finalizing his choice of school. "It will give me another year to work on my game," he said. An outstanding student in the classroom, Sprukulis applies the same focus to learning the game on the field. While at Holy Trinity, in addition to playing in the Rising Stars game, he followed up with the outstand ing lineman award in the annual all-star game between the Golden Horseshoe and Greater Toronto Area. He also represented Ontario at the Canada Cup, where he was again named an all star. But he quickly found out the university game was played at a different level. "I didn't sleep the night before my first game," he said. "I was 18 playing against 24-year-olds. Tech nically, I put up a good fight but they out-powered me," he said. Sprukulis may have felt over matched, but others certainly didn't see it that way. He was named to the Ontario University Athletics' all-rookie team and was selected as the top first-year player at U of T across all sports as the team finished 4-4, its best record since 1995. He started every game that first season and would do so in each of the next three as well. "I take a lot of pride in that," Sprukulis said. He maintained his spot, con tinuing to improve by working with the strength and condition ing coach. In his final two years, Sprukulis felt he could match up against anybody. Also, instead of taking critiques personally he learned from them. "Being able to handle criticism was important. After every prac tice and game you would have an hour or two nitpicking every little thing," the 22-year-old said. "You just have to take everything in and improve." He'll continue that process while balancing school and football for another year. But don't mistake his decision to delay a potential pro ca reer as a sign of indifference. "I was ecstatic," he said of being drafted by the Roughriders. "Sas katchewan has the best fan base in the country." Following an unconventional path has paid off for Sprukulis in the past, and if his instincts off the field continue to prove to be as good as on the field, it will be worth the wait for him and the Roughriders. Momingstar club gains Can-Am medals Oakville's Morningstar Taekwon-Do had four athletes win gold medals at the Can-Am taekwondo championships in Philadelphia, Pa., earlier this month. Nine members of the club made the trip, with black belts Thao Nguyen-Segin and Gyorgy Vanyo winning gold in their respective pattern and sparring divisions. Sarah Muelli and Lukas Pagliaro also won gold medals for Morningstar, while Karley Janula, Cassandra Janula and Amelie Per reault earned silver medals. The Morningstar club has been awarded hosting duties for the 2018 Can-Am champi onships, which will be held at Sheridan Col lege next June. OakvilleAquatic Club relay teamsets Canadian record Four members of the Oakville Aquatic Club set a Ca nadian national age-group record in the 4x50-metre freestyle relay. Ethan Ma, Hashim Haba, Thomas Clinton and Jack Li combined for a time of one minute and 51.10 sec onds to win their 11-12 age group race in record time at the Grinter Walton swim meet in Brantford recently. The feat also earned the foursome the provincial agegroup record. Ma, Li, Clinton and Patrick Williams also broke an Oakville Aquatic Club (OAK) mark in the 200m med ley relay with a time of 2:07.30. Ma then erased the OAK record in the 50m back stroke that had stood since 2011. Thao Nguyen-Segin (left) and Amelie Perreault were two of the Morningstar athletes who were medal winners at the Can-Am Taekwondo Championships in Philadelphia. | photo submitted From left, Thomas Clinton, Ethan Ma, Jack Li and Hashim Haba of the Oakville Aquatic Club set a national age group record when they won the 4x50-metre freestyle relay in a Brantford meet recently. L e a s e B u s te rs .c o m is the largest vehicle lease marketplace in Canada. W e'll unlock you fro m yo u r vehicle lease com m itm ent... save tim e, early term ina tion fees and penalties. C all n o w fo r a fre e c o n s u lta tio n 1 -8 8 8 -3 5 7 -2 6 7 8 o r v is it us a t w w w .L e a s e B u s te rs .c o m OAKVILLE SOCCER CLUB Week Six Photo Contest Winner: Photographer: Kevin Raposo 16USTERS .COM EASE |£ Age Division: CO-ED Adult Sponsored by: O a k v ille B e a v e r A Proud Sponsor of Oakville Soccer Club