Durable Mccarty not ready to hang up his cleats just yet

Calvin Mccarty wasn't alone on the sidelines of a 2020 Canadian Football League season cancelled by COVID-19.

It was the first time in 14 years he didn't don the green and gold of the Edmonton Football Team — his first and only stop in a career that has lasted five times longer than the average expectancy.

But with that longevity comes questions, not the least of which asks if the 36-year-old will be back on the field once the threedown circuit finally fires up again.

Chances are if he is, it won't be with Edmonton, who Mccarty couldn't come to terms with on an offer ahead of last February, when he hit the free-agent market for the first time in his career.

“The ball doesn't stop because Edmonton doesn't want me.

I'd been playing football a long time before I was an (Edmonton Football player),” he said, getting tripped up — and understandably so — by the old moniker the club dropped in the summer. “And if I can go out as the Last of the Mohicans, if you can say that, then I'm proud I had a chance to do it.

“No offence to anybody, but I wouldn't want to go out any other way.”

While time might not be on Mccarty's side, he's not ready to give up his cleats just yet. And as long as there is a chance his phone could ring, the R word will continue to stand for a roster he could end up on, and not the thing that happens at the end of one's playing career.

“It's kind of forced upon us,” said the Burnaby, B.C., born Mccarty, whose five-foot-10, 215-pound frame has been the model of durability both in the backfield and on special-teams duties, which can be physically demanding, to say the least. “I can't say you're ever prepared, I think you've just got to adjust and keep going. It's the same thing in football.

“I've actually been talking to a few teams, not about coaching, potentially playing. I haven't completely given up on it. But at the same time, I want to make it as tough for myself if it does happen, that I have something else that makes that decision (to play again) hard.

“I'm happy where I'm at. Shoot, man, I've got a ring. I would love to play again. I just want to do whatever I can and stay ready. The feedback I get from other coaches and other teams after being a free agent, I definitely feel like I've got something left in the tank. Obviously, I don't want to fade away. I've got my communications degree, I've also looked at other jobs but at the end of the day, I know I need to be involved in something that I'm passionate about and that I love to do.”

Whether that's the management side of football or coaching on high school sidelines, it doesn't matter to Mccarty.

This summer, with COVID-19 wiping out his annual football camp, he was running speed and conditioning drills with small groups of young athletes in St. Albert.

“I also have a group of eight kids I'm helping with recruiting and putting film together, because they don't have any games,” said Mccarty, who works as an educational assistant at Bellerose Composite High School. “I can't imagine being in their shoes and not having an opportunity to pursue your dreams.

“So, with me being local, here with them, we'd meet at the park three times a week. We'd throw the ball around and sleds. I was really training a small group of kids and helping them follow their dreams. They still want to play.”