As part of Football Night in Saskatchewan the Yorkton Minor Football program initiated a new program called "Getting in the Game" designed to allow special needs kids the opportunity to experience what it is like to be on a minor sports team, providing the necessary infrastructure and teacher aids, chaperones, or additional expense to make that a reality.
The idea came from YRHS Sr. Raider wide receiver Ryan Krochak, who asked coaches why their longtime trainer Tyler Senchuk didn't come on road trips. Senchuk is a staple of the Raider football program, a special needs student, Senchuk has for years been a huge fan of the team and their biggest cheerleader. Attending nearly every practice and home game, he is always there for constant support of the team and loves YRHS sports as a student of the school. Krochak explained Senchuk's importance to the program as well as his love for the game and his teammates saying, "Although Tyler wishes he could play, he would do absolutely anything just to be a part of the team. He was just as passionate about the game as Coach Sharpe himself. You could always spot Tyler in the hallway wearing his jersey, handing out high fives, and making sure you were going to be at practice. When game day came he would be just as excited as the players, and when you made that spectacular play he was always the first one to high five you and get you the water."
So Krochak and Sharpe devised a plan to allow Senchuk, and special needs students like him to have the equal ability to travel on the road with the team with this new program, but first funds would need to be raised. Chad Nehring, a YRHS alumni member who is currently playing semi professional hockey in Phoenix stepped up with a donation of one of his game worn jerseys with every cent being donated to the "Getting in the Game" program. Naturally, with such a good cause a bidding war ensued with people at the Football Night in Saskatchewan eager to support such a worthwhile cause of helping special needs students.
At the end of the auction, Lee Rusnak donated $3,300 dollars that will go towards this new program, something that Roby Sharpe feels is one of the most important parts of what Football Night in Saskatchewan raised this year. "Obviously you want to get as many kids involved in the game as possible, but with busy coaches and a team full of students to already look after and the demands of a special needs student, there needs to be certain infrastructure set in place and now thanks to generous donation from the community we can do that, which is great," says Sharpe.
Lee Rusnak, a former University of Regina hockey player and Yorkton Terrier was thanked immensely by Sharpe for his generous contribution to the new program, which got a huge $3,300 head start at the banquet. "Lee and the community really stepped up as the community always does for us and once again I am blown away" says Sharpe. "Lee told me almost every team he played on had a stick boy or a bat boy with special needs and that he thought it was such a great thing to support and it is great to see the kind of giving back that we get to see in the community," closes Sharpe.
The "Getting in the Game" program will now allow the equal opportunity for all Yorkton students to experience what it is like to be apart of a team and the childhood experiences of going on the road with the team and the excitement of a road game. Experiences that athletes and students remember for their entire lives will now be readily able to be accessed by all students of Yorkton no matter if they are disabled or not. A great program that got its start from the generosity of the Yorkton community and the bond between a team's waterboy and its starting wide receiver.
