Scholarship Program

Regina Thunder's Steven Arens misses practice to serve as a reservist

By Tim Switzer, The Leader-PostSeptember 1, 2009


Steven Arens is breaking his own rule.

The Regina Thunder defensive tackle has always been a big proponent of the old belief, "If you don't practise, you don't play."

Through the first half of the Prairie Football Conference season, however, the Moose Jaw product has yet to make it to a practice, but has played in every one of the Thunder's four games.

But there are few who would argue with the bending of the rule. Arens is not just skipping practices for the heck of it. He spends his weekdays in Edmonton, where he serves as a reservist with the Lord Strathcona's Horse regiment of the Canadian Forces.

After he finishes his duties on Friday nights, he drives to Regina or wherever he has to to meet up with the team for games.

Regina head coach Erwin Klempner admitted the coaches and team leaders met before the season to figure out how to approach the unique situation, but in the end could come up with no reasons to keep Arens off the field.

"For four years, the kid has driven from Moose Jaw to Regina every night for practice and never missed one -- he was here all the time," said Klempner. "The commitment he made was phenomenal. Now the kid turns around and makes a commitment to his country ... and he is still committed to his team. It is an awkward situation, but it's a fifth-year guy ... and the players respect him for who he is and what he's done. When he comes back full-time, they will really get a chance to know him and know what he has sacrificed."

Arens' commitment to the military was so strong that he was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan with the Strathcona unit this year before the powers that be changed plans. When that happened, Arens decided to do whatever he could to play out the final year of his junior career with the Thunder.

Arens is expected to be let out of his Canadian Forces contract in the next week, but for the last month and a half, he has been in constant contact with Thunder coaches while keeping in shape doing his basic physical training with his unit every morning and hitting the gym after work every night. During the day, Arens is busy working on tanks, doing radio training and helping ready the squadron.

"I've always wanted to join the army since I was five," said Arens, a member of the Saskatchewan Dragoons, who is attached to Lord Strathcona's Horse.

"I went to Europe two years ago (with the Dragoons) and we went to France and Belgium. We went to all the Commonwealth cemeteries where the Canadians are like Vimy, Passchendaele, Ypres. All those people died so we can do this stuff every day. It's one way I can repay them."

While Arens eventually wants to turn his military service into a full-time career, he would like to first explore his football options.

"I always wanted to join the army, but when I started to play football in high school I realized it was pretty awesome too," he said with a laugh.

Arens still has two years of eligibility left to play CIS football and plans to look into that. Until then, Klempner expects the lineman to keep getting better and better.

"He dominated our league in the last two or three games of the year last season," said Klempner.

"There's no question if he were here every day, he'd be a hell of a lot better. Some coaches already tell us, 'That Arens is unbelievable.' We definitely haven't seen his complete capabilities. Once he's practising every day, he's going to be a stud."