Coop’s Catch for Kids Annual Four Year Celebration

Other than our local Tampa Bay Lightning being one of the top teams in the NHL rankings stats, all of the credit can’t just be given to the players. Let’s take a moment to put the spotlight on our multi-million dollar paid coach Mr. John Cooper.

Beginning in 2016, today the fourth annual celebration for John Cooper’s founded organization Coop’s Catch for Kids is being celebrated while also collecting about $200,000 in funds towards pediatric cancer. How amazing is it that an activity for the teammates to bond with one another as well as the coaches, can result in creating awareness and raising a total of $500,000 over the course of four years. Who doesn’t love a hockey player and coach with a good heart? Exactly nobody. All of the Bolts players as a total donated $10,000 as well as owner of the team Jeff Vinik collaborated with Heritage Insurance whom sponsored $25,000.

The overall event is a fishing tournament that benefits pediatric cancer. One of the newest drafted players Witowski is big on fishing so he very much enjoyed being competitive against his teammates for a day during the event.

Witowksi says “Usually it’s a golfing event, which is the opposite of my thing. They say a bad day fishing beats a good day at work, but I've got a pretty good job, too.”

It’s very eye-opening and honestly makes me so happy to see that even people who make millions of dollars every year, care very much about giving back to the community that supports them throughout their season in whatever way they can. I was raised to always remember where you come from and count your blessings because there are so many people who would die to live the life I'm able to every single day.

To wrap up the event, head coach John Cooper adds “It means something special to me, The guys enjoy giving back. They’re a super group of guys, But also, training camp’s been a grind. I think this is a little bit of an exhale.”

If you didn’t know, over the summer the players have been training weekly to prepare for the season which started on October 2nd. Coopers inspiration to begin this event was by Tony Colton who helped first take part in the event but had passed away in 2017 from cancer.

It truly warms my heart to see so many great people giving back and having a fun time doing so. My family doesn’t only purchase season tickets every year because we are such a hockey-loving family, but also because we truly love our team’s mindset. The more we donate and buy season tickets for the team, the more money they make and give back to our community, and Tampa is and always will be my home.