A huge congratulations to Zack Schmidt, Linda Resch’s grandson who was recently signed to the Regina Thunder Football Team as a kicker and punter.
The Regina Thunder, originally known as the Prairie Thunder, are a junior football club, based out of Regina, Saskatchewan. The Thunder are a part of the Prairie Football Conference (PFC), which is a six-member conference with teams from all three prairie provinces. The PFC is a member of the Canadian Junior Football League, and participates in national championships with two other conferences, based out of Ontario and British Columbia.
Each year the Thunder compete with their provincial rivals, the Saskatoon Hilltops for the Shrine Bowl. The Shrine Bowl is awarded to the team who has the highest total points in the two regular season games between each other.
Recently, Zack made the Thunder news when his football team recorded a hard-fought, 24-22 PFC victory over the Winnipeg Rifles on Sunday at Leibel Field.
Winnipeg originally led 22-18 after three quarters, but the Thunder responded with back-to-back 28-yard field goals by Zack Schmidt. The second such kick, at 9:46 of the fourth quarter, provided the winning points.
We were lucky enough to chat with Zack who was happy to tell us a little bit more about himself.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My names Zack Schmidt, from Weyburn Saskatchewan. I recently started my rookie year with the Regina Thunder as a kicker and punter.
Tell us about your history playing football.
I started playing football when I was around nine-years-old. I started off with flag football and transitioned into tackle as I was a bigger kid. I won a championship in peewee, bantam, and recently won provincials with my team in high school. I started kicking half-way through my grade 10 year and didn’t punt until grade 12.
If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing (in school what would you be taking or if you went straight into the workforce what would you be doing?)
If I wasn’t doing this right now I would be taking a gap year and working for the year.
Where did you get your passion for football from? (parent, grandparent, friend, teacher?)
I got my passion for football from my step dad, Derrick. He has always been big into football and really pushed me to where I am today. I am very thankful for his commitment.
When did you first realize you wanted to pursue football?
I first realized I wanted to pursue football just last season. I always loved to play it but I never believed I could go anywhere past high school until I did well in my senior year.
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