Rattlers giving back to the Hat

By Ryan McCracken on November 30, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Rattlers are striving to be champions beyond the playing surface this season.

Rattlers men’s volleyball head coach Mark Porter says Medicine Hat College’s athletics program has signed on for a number of new community initiatives geared toward getting players involved with Medicine Hat’s senior community.

With only one local player on the roster, Porter says reaching out to senior care facilities will allow his athletes the ability to form bonds within their in-season home of Medicine Hat while providing a sorely needed service to the community.

“If they can create a connection away from their coach and away from their school, it’s almost like another family to talk to,” said Porter. “The one thing we like about seniors is it’s a win-win situation. You go into those homes and you see a lot of them don’t have people visit them, so it’s a good communication thing for the seniors, to help them, but also for the athletes. It gives them maybe somebody who’s a neutral to have a coffee with or play a game of cards with and get involved with — just talking about life with them so they don’t have to deal with their coach all the time.”

One of the initiatives the Rattlers have taken on is called Cyber Seniors, which allows members of Medicine Hat’s senior community to learn about technology from kids who were raised with it.

“They work with seniors teaching them anything to do with computers and technology. The city runs it and we’re going to help out with that,” said Porter, adding his players have taken to the initiative with open arms. “They’re really looking forward to spending some quality time in the community helping out.”

Porter added the majority of his players haven’t had to work regular jobs before signing on as college athletes, and lending a hand in the community will help grow their knowledge in a variety of fields while allowing them to strengthen their portfolio with important community service.

“The kids have really responded well to what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re still involved in the schools, we did the River Run and everything else, and they like that. But I think the other thing is that a lot of these kids have never had a job before, so learning to deal with adults, and learning to deal with seniors and learning to deal with communication at a different level and building up a resume — working with people with dementia or early onset Parkinson’s or physical disabilities or mental illness. It’s really important for these guys to be aware because most of these kids come from pretty well to do families overall, healthy situations. So on my team the guys are really excited about it.”

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