Fitting Into Kamloops

By Matthew Strader
Spring 2007

A great number of university students admit to the nagging worry about what comes after school. For TRU athletics graduates, the city of Kamloops may bring them just the opportunities they are looking for.

Jack Schmidt played and coached men's volleyball at TRU and graduated with an elementary education degree. Schmidt was a Scholar Athlete of the Year and has gone on to teach and coach at Sa-Hali Secondary. He most recently has become a vice-principal at NorKam Secondary. Schmidt was coaching while completing his education degree and coached the volleyball team to their first trip to Nationals in 1997/98.
 
 
Chad McIntosh graduated with an arts degree from TRU and went on to get his secondary school education degree from UVic. He came back to act as an assistant coach for our men's soccer program at TRU and has spent time teaching and coaching at SouthKam Secondary before more recently taking a full-time position at Valleyview, coaching soccer and basketball and teaching. "A lot of the people I know now are because of the athletic program, and a lot of my friends are from my time at TRU," said McIntosh. "I love the town, my family is here and I plan to stay."
Chad was an assistant with our men's soccer program when they won the first CCAA National Gold medal in school history. "One of his claims to fame is that he held Steve Nash to four points while guarding him in junior high school basketball. He late went on to become friends with Steve Nash and play soccer with him," said Jonathon Shephard, TRU Athletics and Recreation Assistant.

Ryan Porter played basketball at TRU and graduated with an elementary education degree. He now teaches and coaches at Westsyde. Porter almost didn't play basketball as he didn't think he was good enough to make the team. He joined halfway through the 1997/98 season and was red-shirted. Over the next four years he dominated the basketball court and was a three-time BCCAA 1st team all-star and a two-time CCAA All Canadian and won CCAA Player of the Year in 2001/2002.

Will Blair played basketball at TRU and helped the team win its first National Bronze medal in 1997/98. Blair graduated with Arts (English) and elementary education degrees and now teaches and coaches basketball at Brocklehurst. His playing days were cut short when he injured his tricep while playing basketball, but he has had a huge impact through assistant coaching our men's basketball team.

"I had a great experience as a player at TRU. When I acted as an assistant with Nevin (Gleddie - head coach of the men's basketball team) and we took the team to the National title, that was a great experience."

Steve Scott played soccer, was awarded CCAA All-Canadian status in 1997/98, graduated with an elementary education degree and now teaches and coaches soccer at Westsyde. Steve also is the assistant for our men's soccer team at TRU, and was an assistant for TRU when it won our school's first-ever CCAA National Gold in soccer in 1998/99.

Finally, Sean Wallace played soccer for TRU and graduated with an accounting degree. He now works at BDO Dunwoody downtown and is our current men's soccer head coach at TRU.  (By the time this story was published, Sean had now changed jobs and is with a new accounting firm.)

Exceptional to note about some of these graduates is that they moved to Kamloops from other areas, and decided to stay. McIntosh came from Victoria, and Scott from Langley. Blair moved here from Williams Lake, and Porter from Cranbrook.

TRU is blessed by a beautiful campus, and as long as our athletic graduates find such success in our town, our children will be able to enjoy it for years to come.