Trevor Gamache discovered a new skill on Monday.
The second-year Lakehead Thunderwolves forward learned he could read upside down, while visiting St. Pius X School, part of a community outreach program by the university hockey squad to promote literacy among the city’s elementary students.
Gamache, joined by line-mate Adam Sergerie, joked it didn’t come naturally.
“I practiced for a couple of days,” he said.
Right side up or upside down, the former Superior International Junior Hockey League scoring champion said the importance of Monday’s event was to encourage the students to read and demonstrate how important it is later in life, regardless of what you choose for a career.
“We’re a team that depends a lot of the community and we have a lot of kids who come out to watch our games, always standing around near our dressing room looking for autographs,” Gamache said, after helping to read Dream Big, an interactive and personalized book that included fun facts about the Wolves team with quotes from coach Joel Scherban and former captain Jordan Smith.
“So it’s important to give back and teach these kids what they’re going to do if they want to continue on with hockey and stressing the importance of school.”
Sergerie, one of the top scorers on the LU squad this year, plans to be a teacher – as does Gamache – when his hockey-playing days are done.
The fourth-year forward, third on the club with 20 points, said for him it’s about paying it forward.
“When I was in school we had a lot of semi-pro hockey players come in and talk to us. At the time they were role models in the community. Now that we view ourselves as role models to the kids, it’s very important to come out to schools to stress education and literacy, education being a big factor in the community and university degrees being very important,” Sergerie said.
Lesley Fecca, who teaches a Grade 2 class at St. Pius X School, said her students were fortunate to have the Thunderwolves, who host arch-rival Western this weekend, teach them to make schoolwork an integral part of their schedule.
“We consider the Thunderwolves to be celebrities here in Thunder Bay, and a lot of the children are involved in sports and they have to balance sports and school.
“So knowing how to (do that) is a really important topic to hear, especially from individuals who have been so successful at doing that and knowing that they go onto university and all of them place an importance on literacy and learning.”
Learning to live an active lifestyle was also part of the message, Fecca added.
