Englefeld and area football fans will have a local boy to cheer for this fall when Ty Nordick dons the uniform of the University of Regina Rams football club. The Rams compete in the Canadian Inter-university Sport league Canada West division. The roster includes the Calgary Dinos, U of S Huskies, Manitoba Bisons, UBC Thunderbirds and Alberta Golden Bears (Edmonton).
Nordick, who has lived in Moose Jaw for the past four years, had been a hockey and badminton player while growing up in Englefeld. In Grade 9, he moved with his mother, brother and sister to Moose Jaw, where he enrolled at A.E. Peacock High School.
Standing six feet tall and weighing in at just over 200 lbs and only in Grade 9, Nordick caught the football coach's eye and suggested Nordick come out for the team.
"I didn't really understand the game," said the now Grade 12 student. "But the coaches and the other players took the time to explain the plays to me and I learned the game."
During his first season with the A.E. Peacock Tornadoes, the team claimed its first of three city championships over the next four years.
Nordick said he worked really hard during his Grade 9 and 10 seasons at learning his offensive left tackle position. The work paid off as he cracked the starting line in Grade 11. That was also the year the Tornadoes made it to the 12-man provincial championships and came up just a bit short to Regina's O'Neill High School to claim the silver medal.
Nordick's final year in the Tornadoes' orange, green and white saw the Peacocks claim the city championship over the Yorkton Raiders.
With his eye toward the future, the 6'3", 250 lbs senior, was already planning to enrol at the U of R's College of Education, majoring in physical education and minoring in drama.
"I have always wanted to be a teacher," he said. "I love working with kids, and phys. ed. and drama I thought would be the perfect combination."
Nordick's high school coach suggested the he should speak to the Rams' coach and approximately one month ago, the high school senior did just that and walked out of the interview with a signed letter of intent to play the next four years with the Rams.
"It was awesome," he said.
The cards couldn't have fallen into place any better for the young man.
"I was thinking of the U of R because it's close to home," he said. Getting to play more football is an added bonus.
When asked about pursuing football beyond university, Nordick said, "I would love to play for the Saskatchewan Roughriders."
Rider fans may remember another small town boy who paved a very similar road albeit from Prairie River to Hudson Bay into the Regina Junior Rams program and into the CFL. His name? Bob (the Polecat) Poley - the precedence is there.
