Young player knows showing respect earns respect

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 8/1/2018 (820 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ty Kloppenborg is a nine-year old Grade 4 student at École Guyot. He is a good respectful student and his favourite class is math.

"I like school," Ty says. "Math is my favourite class. Math is fun. There are a lot of quizzes in math and they are fun."

Ty is an active boy who enjoys playing a number of sports.

"I play soccer, hockey, and baseball. I like other sports, too (but) soccer is my favourite," he says. "I really like soccer. I play for Bonivital, my coach is Coach Nesbitt. Our team has a lot of fun. I really like my team."

Bonivital Soccer Club has a great representative in Ty.

"Shooting is my favourite thing to do in soccer. It feels good. I really like how it feels when you think it’s going to go into the net," Ty says. "I get excited."

Being respectful in the classroom is important for a student, and being respectful on the soccer pitch is also important to Ty.

"It is very important to respect officials. If you ever get mad at them you can get in trouble. It’s always very important to be nice to them. You never yell at them," he says. "You respect them and what they are doing."

Ty lives in Royalwood and his mom Shannon, dad Andy, brothers Cameron and Owen, and sister Tiffany have nurtured the love Ty has for his favourite sport.

Ty is tuned into the game and does not hold back on his dreams.

"My dream is to play for FC Barcelona," he says. "(Lionel) Messi is my favourite player."
I asked Ty if he would want to play with Messi.

"Yes," he says, immediately. "My number is 11. Messi would wear 10, and I would wear 11!"

I always ask the athletes I speak to what they would say to a younger athlete who is looking to get better at the sport they love.

Ty had one of the best answers ever:

"Practise."

Former Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicker Troy Westwood is co-host of The Big Show, every weekday morning from 6 to 10 a.m. on TSN 1290 radio. He writes about Winnipeg’s unsung sports heroes every other week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. If you know of an athlete whose story Troy should tell, contact him at: troy.westwood@bellmedia.ca