It wasn\u2019t the result the Ottawa Redblacks were looking for Friday night. Still, for rookie defensive lineman Charlie Parks, the 42-20 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium was a memorable night.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the result the Ottawa Redblacks were looking for Friday night. Still, for rookie defensive lineman Charlie Parks, the 42-20 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium was a memorable night.<\/p>\n
Parks, a Regina native and former University of Saskatchewan Huskie, got the opportunity to play a professional football game in his hometown for the first time. And the 22-year-old didn\u2019t have to travel far to get there. Parks grew up just a 10-minute walk from Mosaic Stadium, making his first CFL game in Regina an experience he won\u2019t soon forget.<\/p>\n
His introduction to the CFL, however, came with a bit of a collision. During Ottawa\u2019s game against Saskatchewan earlier this season, Parks was playing on special teams when he got flattened on a kickoff return.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been our game at home against Saskatchewan. I sat back on kick return and just got run over,\u201d Parks recalled. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s been a while since I felt that one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Parks said he has since learned from the experience and adjusted his positioning.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince then I kind of figured out how to position myself a little better and it hasn\u2019t happened since, so fingers are crossed that won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parks even remembered exactly who delivered the hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure it was Aubrey Miller Jr. who just came flying down on kickoff and hit me right under the chin. I was like, \u2018Darn!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
While special teams may have provided Parks with his first taste of CFL adversity, it\u2019s also an aspect of the game he genuinely enjoys. Parks has embraced the responsibility of playing special teams as a young player trying to establish himself in the CFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love special teams,\u201d Parks said. \u201cI said it in all the interviews I had at the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Parks, special teams represents football in one of its simplest and purest forms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI assume there\u2019s a lot of guys that kind of don\u2019t really accept that role as something they\u2019re gonna have to do as a young guy in the CFL, but I love it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like, for me, it\u2019s the epitome of one-on-one competition. I\u2019ve got my job, you\u2019ve got your job, my job is to stop you from doing that. Who\u2019s gonna win?\u201d<\/p>\n
That competitive element is what draws Parks to special teams. He sees every rep as a battle between two players, while also providing an opportunity to challenge himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the biggest reasons I love football. I get to compete head-to-head not only with other guys but with myself,\u201d Parks explained. \u201cI think that special teams honestly boils that down to one of its purest forms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parks believes there\u2019s only so much that can be accomplished through schemes on special teams before the game comes down to individual battles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s only so much scheme that you can really do on special teams before you\u2019re just thinking too much about it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just boils down to all those one-on-one matchups. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a Regina kid who grew up just minutes from Mosaic Stadium, getting the chance to play a professional football game on the field he grew up around made Friday night a special one, even if the scoreboard didn\u2019t go Ottawa\u2019s way.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s Between The Lines for Sheppard Realty in Regina, specializing in farm and ranch real estate in Saskatchewan. Call Harry, Justin or Devan at 352-1866.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It wasn\u2019t the result the Ottawa Redblacks were looking for Friday night. Still, for rookie defensive lineman Charlie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[297205,49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-854509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-between-the-linescharlie-parks","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}