Hanson Steps Up - BIG TIME!

My son is one of the Parkland football players who have spent time at Wabamun this summer, throwing dead ducks for the Labrador Retreiver field trials. It's an important fund-rasier activity for the Parkland Predators football program.

This was the first time that Brad has been involved in throwing dead ducks. It is a fairly un-pleasant way to spend a weekend, but many of the kids have stepped up and some (my kid included) have gone back more than once because in the end, it helps the team.

After a few trips to Wabamun, dropping off and picking up kids, I noticed that most of the players out there throwing ducks were rookies and kids who have just completed their first year of Predators ball. I mentioned this to my son, saying also that the one veteran player who I had seen was Kevin Hanson. Brad reminded me of something I had forgotten - Hanson graduated this year, so he's out there doing fund-raising for a team that he won't even be playing for next year.

Hanson! We've all admired your incredible football skills - you're a gifted athlete for sure. Nobody should ever question your commitment to the Predators program or your work ethic. If we could all support the team to the same level - think where we'd be!

Note: I hope nobody feels offended or slighted by this blog post. There probably have been other veteran players out there throwing ducks this year - I wasn't there every day. And maybe it's reasonable to have rookies "pay their dues" by throwing the ducks - something like that would be pretty common on all sorts of sports teams. Even if they weren't throwing ducks, many of our veteran players support the team in other ways - including lots of fundraising. I just thought that Kevin should be acknowledged - he was the only veteran player that I actually saw out there. He's one of those elite players who also demonstrates "commitment and effort".