Derek Rogers commits to Generals
Saturday February 27, 2016
Oshawa, ON – The Oshawa Generals made a special signing on Saturday when 11-year old Derek Rogers signed a one-day contract with the team. Derek plays sledge hockey with the Durham Steelhawks.
The Generals gave Derek a tour of the facility before the signing, followed by watching the Generals battle the Rangers in owner Rocco Tullio’s suite with his entire Steelhawks team.
“Anytime as an organization we can sign someone that displays incredible drive, discipline and courage it is very easy to do,” says Roger Hunt, Vice President and Generals Manager of the Oshawa Generals. “Derek displays all of those qualities and more. I am thrilled to have Derek as a Gen!”
Derek is a huge sports fan. He was introduced to sledge hockey at the age of four at a Grandview Children’s Centre holiday event. Derek could not wait to join the Durham Steelhawks Sledge Hockey team. Now at age 11, Derek is scoring goals and winning medals. Also an avid wrestling fan, Derek rounds out his year playing both soccer and baseball every summer.
Derek was born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy resulting in tight muscles in all four of his limbs. Since he was an infant, Derek has been coming to Grandview to learn how to improve his strength and relax his muscles at the same time. Derek will be the first to tell you he can “walk and do everything that everyone else does”, and the rehabilitative therapy he receives at Grandview helps him to do just that.
Once a General, always a General.
For more information, please visit oshawagenerals.com.
