McSweeney’s WHL Community Collective: Red Deer Rebels
By Cami Kepke – Once a year, four brave Red Deer Rebels step off the ice and into the ring for Father Henri Voisin School’s annual ‘Battle of the Books’.
The bracket-style showdown sees the players read books to more than 100 kindergarten to fifth-grade students who vote their favourite story through to the next round.
While the event is usually held with the readers inside an actual wrestling ring at the elementary school, so many students wanted to participate this year that teachers had to move the event to a bigger room to fit everyone in.
“It got down to the final, like me and Ollie (Josephson),” Rebels defenceman Jace Weir said. “They liked our books the best, then we had to read them again so then they could decide on which one they liked the best. I remember they gave us the microphone for that one. It’s fun how you get to have a little internal competition with your buddy just by reading a book. It’s something so simple that that can be something fun.”
While Weir’s book, The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, ultimately came second to Josephson’s Barnaby Unboxed, teachers say the event goes a long way toward building excitement for learning and reading.
“They love it,” Grade 5 teacher Cody Huseby, who is also a WHL linesman, added. “Especially some of our reluctant readers, right? Sometimes our reluctant readers kind of fall into that category where, it might be not gender-specific, but like some boys that maybe don’t love reading that much, but they really love hockey. So I think it’s important when they see their idols out there sharing their love of reading and putting themselves out there. They really look up to that.”
Weir, 20, has participated in the Battle of the Books for the last two years, in addition to many other school visits.
He’s played all five seasons of his WHL career in Red Deer and recently moved into fifth place for most games played by a defenceman in franchise history (266).
While the pandemic prevented the team from taking part in community events in his rookie year, he’s found these opportunities to be one of the most fulfilling parts of his hockey career- especially when he sees the kids in the crowd decked out in their Rebels gear and dialed into the stories.
“For my whole time being here, we take a lot of pride in the community side of things,” Weir said. “Just to see all of them looking at you smiling with pure joy on their face and then after they want you to sign everything you can.
It makes you take a step back and realize how you don’t want to take any of this stuff for granted, about how lucky you are to be playing for a hockey team that gets to do these things and have great, great fans and kids who look up to you.”
The Western Hockey League strives to promote and foster a welcoming environment in communities close to our 22 clubs in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Every team has the creative freedom to allow their players and staff to work with the organizations and groups that they are most passionate about. The end goal is to create and maintain long-lasting relationships and ongoing partnerships within their community.
Through the McSweeney’s WHL Community Collective, we aim to highlight these outstanding initiatives done by each club throughout the season.
