Battalion players Nick Paul, Matthew Santos and Mayor Al McDonald listen to Tom Hedican talk about Coach4Food. PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.
For the third year, Coach4Food made the transition from the ice rink to volleyball court.
On Tuesday night Battalion players Alex Henriksson, Jake Smith, Miles Liberati, Kyle Wood and Matthew Santos participated in a charity volleyball game at St. Joseph-Scollard Hall as the Troops and members of the women’s volleyball league played a handful of sets as the girls' reward for gathering food for the North Bay Food Bank.
Tom Hedican, the brain child of the Coach4Food program which has expanded to every OHL based community, was thrilled to be involved for the third straight year as the Women's Volleyball League gathered 2,350 pounds of food.
Volleyball league official Joanne Wallace convinced Hedican to make the transition to the court 3 years ago when she won a Coach4Food practice at the Blue Jean Ball.
“I got some drills from the national team coaches because I know nothing about volleyball and then last year with the Battalion being here we thought it would be a lot of fun for the ladies to play a game with the guys and they were good enough to come back again tonight and the guys are just so good about it,” said Hedican.
Joanne Wallace, who officiated in the event, has always thought Coach4Food can translate to any sport.
“We have a large volleyball league and I thought if everybody brings a couple cans of food we could make a difference and that’s how it started,” said Wallace.
As for the Charity game itself, the Battalion players showed their athletic prowess on the court. Even Mayor Al McDonald participated using his lethal serve to keep the opponents on their toes.
Jake Smith showed his agility on the court while defenceman Miles Liberati somehow made a hip check style dig to save a point.
“Well Santos thinks he’s a hot shot doing some nice overhand spikes but the rest of us are kind of taking it easy a little bit but definitely Kyle Wood and Miles Liberati need some work,” joked Smith about his teammates.
“This is fun its nice getting out in the community and definitely having fun doing it is a plus to I mean and it’s of course for a great cause and I’ve heard what this is all about and it seems like it’s going very well and heard nothing but good things.”
Hedican says Coach4Food will work the same way as last year with the top 3 teams geting a practice with the Battalion. The local program will begin in early December.
