ESTEVAN — An enduring friendship resulted in a day to remember for one young Estevan football fan.
Nine-year-old Micah Walliser, who was born with cerebral palsy, suited up for the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs football team for their home game Oct. 11 against the Moose Jaw Peacock Tornadoes at the Dana Quewezance Memorial Field in Woodlawn Regional Park. The Elecs created a special play for Micah at half-time to the delight of everybody present.
Elecs’ head coach Paul Duncan said one of the Elecs’ Grade 9 players, Ryder Mantei, knows Micah quite well, and Mantei approached Duncan about the opportunity to have some type of interaction between Micah and the team at a game or practice, since Micah really loves football.
“Ryder suggested that we get together and have something done, and so we were able to have it at a game event this past Saturday here against Peacock,” Duncan told SaskToday. “We were able to get him suited up with some equipment and out on the field, run a play and let him run into the end zone.”
Micah and his mother Kirsten praised the experience. Micah said the Elecs created a great moment for him and they blocked for him. He also liked being on the sidelines.
As for the play, it was an off-sweep, in which everybody moved left, and Micah ran a slant to score a touchdown. Then he spiked the ball in the endzone.
Micah and Ryder’s friendship dates back to when Micah was in Grade 1. Ryder’s mother Elyse was an education assistant for Micah’s classroom. Ryder was Micah’s Grade 1 buddy.
During the Oct. 11 game, Micah wore a white No. 10 jersey, while Mantei had a blue No. 10 uniform. Micah donned the full ECS outfit, just like the other Elecs players, and he had a helmet, although he noted the mouthguard “tasted like a bar of soap”. Other than that, he thought everything was great.
The school added Micah’s name to the roster that was distributed at the game. Not only did the ECS players treat him well, but Kirsten said the Moose Jaw players came up to Micah after the game and congratulated him on his touchdown.
“They were awesome,” said Micah.
And since he is nine years old, it makes him likely the youngest player to suit up for the modern-day high school football team since the program was re-established in 2009.
Micah is a football fan who enjoys going and watching the local minor and school teams play. Kirsten added he also likes watching other local sports, including baseball, hockey, soccer, basketball and volleyball. He would love to suit up for the Elecs once he gets to Grade 9.
Kirsten thanked everybody who helped make this opportunity so memorable, including the announcer and the crowd.
“They thought of every piece of the football game and included Micah in all of it,” she said.
Duncan said it was “fantastic” having Micah around. The players were interacting with Micah, talking with him and getting to know him, during the game.
“Anytime that you get to interact with somebody that is passionate about football like he is, to be able to bring him in and just show the locker room and the team and have him on the sidelines for the whole game and stuff like that, was also very special. The players absolutely enjoyed it. They had a great time with him, and it’s always nice to interact with the community,” said Duncan.
This was the first time that Duncan has been involved with something like this during his time coaching youth football in Estevan.
“Anybody that has a passion for the game of football, which I love, I would like to help support in any way that I can,” he said.
Duncan believes the Elecs received a lift from Micah’s half-time score, as they were better in the second half than the first. Peacock defeated Estevan 53-16.
The game was the last of the regular season for the Elecs, so they recognized their graduating players before the game. ECS will play in the B-side playoff game, likely against Peacock on Oct. 18 in Moose Jaw.
