AT HOME WITH MIKE VANDERJAGT

In the second issue of Sports Xtra: Canada's Sports Lifestyle Magazine we hang out with Indianapolis Colts' kicker Mike Vanderjagt at his rather unique house in Killbride, Ontario.

SportsXtra is a new, glossy magazine that will give you a unique look at the personal side of today's top athletes. This special magazine is published by SUN Media and is ONLY available in your home delivered Sunday Sun newspaper. Make sure you don't miss an issue and subscribe now.

 You only have to look at his 13.4-acre home to understand the man.

 Nestled in the rural Southern Ontario community of Kilbride, the lot stands in stark contrast to its agrarian surroundings. There aren't many farmers with goalposts in their front yards. They don't tool around town in $100,000 Hummers or shoot hoops in their own private gymnasium. They don't have a cheerleader wife, two Grey Cup rings and a right foot that's worth millions. They don't plan 6,000 square-foot extensions, because that's like buying two more houses. This is Mike Vanderjagt's life and he's not a fan of half measures.

 Why should he be? At 33, the Indianapolis Colts' kicker is living the life every kid dreams of when they stay out well past their bedtime, skating on a pond, shooting tennis balls against a wall, or, in Vanderjagt's case, kicking footballs through uprights behind his Oakville high school. Forget homework, this is how careers are really born, stardom smelted from the smithy of desire and the burning need to be better than everyone else. This is what has driven a small-town Canadian kid to become the best kicker in the world.



Full story will appear online on Monday, September 15.