Stynsky first JP football player to commit to college

Jacob always loved the contact part of ice hockey, and although the proper form to hitting was slightly different, the contact was still one of the best parts about it.

Football was a new love, but it wasn’t his only love. Like his dad, he was a multi-sport talent. What often separated him from the pack, however, was his intensity.

“He really developed a competitive side, which took over and kind of really showed us his passion and love for whatever he was involved in,” Vic said. “When he did go out and play, he played very hard and was always engaged.”

That intensity, passion, and willingness to keep going has now led the Grade 12 student to a milestone.

In January, he announced his commitment to Presentation College in Aberdeen, S.D., a private Catholic college that has been around for roughly 60 years. He is the first Crusader to take football to that next level beyond high school.

Bruce Yockey, Jacob’s football coach throughout high school, isn’t surprised he was able to do it.

“He’s really determined,” Yockey, who has coached Jacob since he was a junior in Grade 8, said. “He’s determined to be a really good player on the field. That’s what he wants to be and he works hard to attain that. He’s got a strong drive.

“Already in Grade 9 we began to use him with the senior team, as soon as it was possible… and you could tell he was going to be a good one.”

The Presentation football program is only seven years old and currently plays in the North Star Division for Div. II in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

The Saints are coming off their best season ever, at 7-3.

“The coaches were amazing there. They were really easy to talk to,” Jacob said. “They wanted to see me succeed, if it was there or somewhere else. They were worried about if it was the right fit for me – if I would excel there.

“They’re a Catholic University so that was another big selling point. Coming from a Catholic family and a Catholic school…I feel it’ll be easier to adjust there, having that faith there.”

Saints head coach Andy Carr said Presentation holds itself to a high academic standard as well.

“We talk in our program about operating in excellence in three areas,” Carr said. “That’s on the football field – we want to be great at that of course, that’s what we do – in the classroom…and then we want to be great in the community and [Jacob] certainly fits in all those areas.

“We’re teachers at the end of the day. We’re teaching a sport and we’re teaching a lot of life lessons within that sport.”

When the process first began last summer, the one requirement from Vic and Roxanne was for the schools to be located in the South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Nebraska area.

Jacob was fine with that.

“I didn’t really want to be going down to Florida or anything,” he said. “I wanted to be able to have a car there and not have to constantly be flying everywhere. I didn’t want to feel like I couldn’t come home ever because it was too far.”

And so, the long process began.

Scening out your best highlight reel is often one of the first steps. If coaches like what they see, it can often jumpstart a conversation.

But it was more than just game tape.

Face-to-face meetings are important, and that means attending football camps.

Jacob went to a camp in Humboldt run by Simon Fraser University football coach Kelly Bates, as well as a camp in Valley City North Dakota last summer.

“At first it was kind of like OK, ‘If I can get a place to play anywhere, that’s awesome. That’s what I’ll go for,’” Jacob said. “As things started going on, I started developing interest from some places in Canada and some places in the States also and I kind of wanted to see what it was like, even just to live there and see what the different style of football is.

“[My dad] did tons of working helping me through this, kind of like an agent.”

Carr said he was very impressed by the Stynsky family. To him, having that fully thought-out process was important and that’s what he saw.

“The family is very involved and very supportive but…ultimately his decision to come here was being made through a process,” Carr said. “As long as that recruiting family has a process in place and they know what they’re looking for – they’ve got a plan – good things are going to come from it.

“It’ll be a very good thing to get a young man down here that has had a productive career in his area but then also that fits so well with the academic piece of it.”

For Jacob, the academics cannot be forgotten.

He wants to become a physiotherapist, and will major in biology in order to get there.

Carr said the health sciences are at the heart of Presentation College.

“This started as a two-year private nursing school 60 years ago,” Carr said. “Any time you get into…any of the health sciences, we’re going to be a very tough place to beat, simply because our background is in that.”

Jacob is excited at the prospect of being able not only to work with athletes, but help them get through injury, which he himself has had to go through many times.

“It seems pretty suiting,” Jacob said. “I’ll be able to work with athletes and not only athletes, but I’ll be able to help other people. That was a big thing…knowing that [I’ll be] a part of helping them get back to what they love to do.”

With Jacob set to study and compete in another country, his parents made it clear he won’t be that far away.

Although that depends on perspective, as it is 1,228 km from North Battleford.

“We’re a family that loves to drive so 12 hours is not that far,” Vic said. “And with technology nowadays, he’s never too far away to communicate with.

“It’ll be a new experience for him and a challenging experience and one that he’ll have forever.”

Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca
@NathanKanter11

by Nathan Kanter

Stynsky first JP football player to commit to college

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