Time Out with: Shannon DeShield *Senior *Sports Management *Captain of the '07 SJC Men's Soccer Team

The "Time Out" feature will provide St. Joe's followers with an opportunity to learn more about our athletes and other individuals involved in athletics.

The short interviews will focus on recent events in professional sports or St. Joe's athletics, possibly current issues in the news. No specific format will be followed; we will ask open-ended questions and discover where the conversation takes us from there!

This week we will feature senior Shannon Deshield, a Berkeley Institute graduate from Bermuda and a member of the 2007 Men’s Soccer team. Deshield is a Sports Management Major at Saint Joseph's College and was captain of this year’s team. Contributing writer Pat DeCola conducted the following interview:

Pat DeCola: How’s your last semester going?
Shannon Deshield: It’s going great, actually. I’ve had a lot of free time to just relax and chill.

PD: Now that your last season as a soccer player is over, how have you been spending your last few months off before you graduate?
SD: Well, I’ve been putting a resume together and a coaching manual too.
PD: Coaching manual?
SD: Yeah it’s full of soccer formations.

PD: What are your plans for after graduation?
SD: Eventually I want to teach high school, but I think I’m still a little too young to teach. So I’m going to try to come back here to coach soccer.

PD: What subject do you want to teach?
SD: Physical Education

PD: So, here’s the big question. You’re from Bermuda, right?
SD: Yeah.
PD: So…why are you going to school in Maine???
SD: (Laughs) well that’s a long story. I started at Bermuda College. I went there for about 6 weeks and decided I didn’t like it. One night I was at a restaurant and I ran into the soccer coach for St. Joe’s at the time, Chris Parsons. We talked and he convinced me to come here. He came and watched me play for my club team and liked what he saw. So in the fall of 2004 I showed up in Maine.
PD: Must have been quite a shock.
SD: Oh, it was. He told me Maine was just like New York City. I was misinformed!
PD: That’s definitely not what I would compare Maine to! The cold weather must be a little hard on you compared to Bermuda, no? What makes you want to keep coming back after spending the summer down there?
SD: Well, I see it as just finishing what I started. Plus the cold weather doesn’t bother me. I dress really warm.

PD: How’d you feel about the Super Bowl?
SD: Oh, man, the Giants are my TEAM! It was kind of nice to walk around here and be able to rub it in people’s faces for a change. It’s backwards. Plus it doesn’t help that I’m a Cubs fan, too. They always lose.
PD: Yeah, I think at this point we’re all a little bit of a Cubs fan at heart. They’re even more cursed than the Red Sox were.

PD: Did you play any other sports in high school?
SD: I played cricket until I broke my finger. And softball too, but it wasn’t as organized as it is here.

PD: What was it like being a captain this year?
SD: It was different. The younger kids had to listen to me, which was nice, but being a captain can be mentally draining at times. In practice I megged this kid 5 times in a row and I thought to myself, “How can you just let me put it through your legs like that, man?” But I kind of took him under my wing and he ended up starting.

PD: Any parting advice to give your teammates?
SD: Yeah, when they make mistakes that are unacceptable, not like a bad pass or anything, but mental mistakes, they need to learn how to take responsibility for them. And they need to learn that every game is 90 minutes and even if they get down in the beginning there’s always time to come back. Play the whole game.

PD: That’s some good advice. How would you rate your overall experience here at St. Joe’s?
SD: My overall experience was good. I mean, my first year the team had a lot of talent but weren’t as disciplined as we should have been. This year was definitely the best though.

PD: Thanks for taking the time for our interview. It wasn’t so bad, right?

SD: Ha, no. No problem, man.

Time Out with
Michael Hebenstreit


Chalk Talk
with
Mike Bolanz