The U of M Bisons football player Jackson Tachinski has made giant strides in the ongoing season. The quarterback has racked up 286 passing yards thus far this season, with 81 yards as his longest pass against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and 71 rushing yards against the University of Calgary Dinos.
Jackson sat down with the Manitoban to elucidate what life is all about as a student-athlete and the inspiration behind his team.
The Manitoban: What do you think are the short-term and long-term plans for your career?
Jackson: Obviously short-term, I just want to work really hard every day, give this team that I’m on my best foot forward and show them that I’ll do anything for them to get wins in the department. So, I want to show them that, especially short-term. And then, long-term, I have aspirations of playing pro football and playing for a while. So, my long-term goals are to be a football player for as long as I can, no matter what league I’m playing in. I love football and I just think the more I can play it, the better it’ll be. So, long-term, it’s kind of far in the future and I’m not really thinking about it too much. It’s kind of living more in the moment, but, I have goals to play professionally. So, if I can do that, that’d be awesome.
M: I’m pretty sure you agree with me that there are a lot of expectations from you guys and looking at the target. So, what would you say is the target for you guys this season?
J: I think a good target for us would be, obviously we play eight games in a year, so, I think a good target would be to kind of reach six to seven wins. I think that’d be a very manageable and achievable target. And then, I would really want to host a Hardy Cup. So, if we could be the top of our conference and then host the playoffs all through Winnipeg, I think that’s our goal right now. Because we just got to win a Hardy Cup and we want to do it at home because, it’s not a lot of fun coming to Winnipeg and playing in late October when it’s cold and it’s dark. So, our goal is to force teams to fly on down to Winnipeg and play us in our environment.
M: I’m a student like yourself and I’ve been thinking about how you can combine studies, training and then playing. Of course, you must maintain your spot in the team and also maintain a good performance in the classroom. How are you able to combine studying, training and playing at the same time?
J: Yeah, it’s a lot of work. You got to have a lot of discipline in what you’re doing and I think, you know, when you’re organized, that really helps. So, for me, I make a lot of scheduling. I like to plan out my day the night before. That just kind of helps me stay on top of things, make sure I’m doing all the little things I got to do, like working out, studying, handing in my assignments. So, being organized, having a schedule, it’s a really big part of it to stay on top of things.
M: As a student-athlete, how are you able to maintain discipline across the board?
J: Yeah, it’s really hard. There’s a lot of tasks you got to do that you don’t want to do, like studying or, working out and getting up at 7 a.m. to go run. But, like I said, it’s kind of a responsibility that when you commit to this team, when you commit to this program, this university, it’s honestly just like an expectation of you to do all those things. So, it’s hard to keep discipline every day, but at the same time, when you have belief in a team, when you have belief in a program, when you have belief in a school, it makes it a lot easier because, when you’re waking up that early, you have something to look towards, you have something to look forward to. And I think that’s the biggest thing with keeping discipline is just, whatever you’re working for, just kind of keep that in sight, have your goals, whether it’s on your phone or in your room, kind of just have them up there. So, if there is a day that, you don’t want to do anything or, you’re feeling a little more undisciplined than usual, then you can kind of just look at those goals and see what you’re headed towards and see what you’re striving towards. And, it’s very motivational to do things like that.
M: Let’s say a senior high school student picks up our newspaper and they read this interview. What message do you have for someone who wants to join the football program in this school?
J: I think the main message I would have is just treat it with respect. It’s not everyone in the world gets the privilege to play university sports or be a part of a university like this. So it’s definitely a great honour and treat it with respect and with dignity. If you got meetings you got to go to, class you got to go to, workouts you go to, just go to all of them because not everyone gets the opportunity to do that and it’s a pretty special opportunity to be able to do things like that.
M: How do you feel when the headline points to you as a quarterback of the team? How does that make you feel?
J: It’s honestly a great honour. You know, there’s a lot of pressure that comes with the position of being a quarterback, but there’s also a lot of praise. So, as a quarterback, you can get a lot of attention. Whether things are going bad, it’s going to be your fault. And when things are going, it’s going to be because of you. So that’s kind of how it goes. And whatever the case is, you kind of just got to try to be the main person that brings people together, brings things together. And yeah, it’s a lot of responsibility, but at the same time, it’s a blessing because not everyone in the world gets to be in the situation you are in. And it’s fun.
