Family trumps football

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2012 (5058 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Derek Sholdice had a short but enjoyable career in football.

He got his first taste of the sport when he was in Grade 10 and was a member of the Crocus Plainsmen team that went on to win its only Winnipeg High School Football League title in 1987. He continued playing football at Northern Illinois University for four years before pursuing a three-year career in the Canadian Football League.

It’s been 13 years since his football career ended, and he’s not involved in the sport at all. Even though Sholdice teaches math at Maples Collegiate in Winnipeg, he’s not on the football team’s coaching staff. He doesn’t attend any kind of football games and doesn’t watch the sport on TV. While he loved his time in football, the sport just isn’t as important to him anymore.

“A lot of people think it’s crazy that I played football for that long (and stopped being involved),” said the 39-year-old former Brandonite. “People seem to think I eat, sleep and breathe football and that was all I would ever do. I really don’t and it’s not because I have any ill will toward the game. I just seem to have other things going on and that’s the way life is.”

Sholdice’s life has become less about football and a lot more about family over the years.

After his CFL career wrapped up with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1998 because of two anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surgeries in his right knee in three years, the 6-foot-4 Sholdice returned to Brandon. He went to university to obtain his education degree.

After getting a job at Maples 11 years ago, Sholdice joined the football team’s coaching staff. He left them in 2003 to spend more time with his wife, Cindy, and two daughters, who are now 10 and 12 years old.

His daughters are not involved in minor football programs, instead opting to play hockey. Without a lot of expertise in that sport, Sholdice has taken on the role of being a supportive spectator, and he’s loving it.

“I really enjoyed playing hockey as a kid and the one regret I have is when I started playing football I didn’t continue playing hockey,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to really enjoy that game again and I really do like watching hockey.”

While Sholdice has left football behind, that doesn’t mean the former offensive lineman doesn’t have the occasional flashback memory. He loved his time with Crocus, playing in front of 87,000 people when the Northern Illinois Huskies visited the Florida Gators or the tour of West Point when his team visited Army back when he was in college.

However, those flashbacks always end with him thinking about what his career did to his knees and he becomes grateful for the life he currently has.

“Periodically you remember the good old days and I still try to monitor the university that I played at. That kind of brings back some nostalgia, but I don’t really yearn for it,” Sholdice said.

“I think I wake up every day and realize that I played football long enough and that my body is beaten and broken,” he continued. “Even to do the coaching thing, my knees aren’t in very good shape and to stand for long periods of time is difficult at my age, which is sad for things to come so to speak. I don’t miss it at all.”

» cjaster@brandonsun.com