March Most Valuable Member

There’s no surprise that March’s Most Valuable Member is Wheels McGee, Grand Raggidy’s skate coach.

Wheels is a long time speed skater and speed skating coach. He began working with Grand Raggidy players right around the time of the league’s inception. Ten years ago, the founding members of the league were attending open skates at local roller rinks in order to get in extra practices. Wheels had seen them around, and offered his services as a coach. He’s been with the league ever since, working as our skate coach and all-around problem fixer.

Three times a year, Grand Raggidy has a new group of newbies join our team, and each season, Wheels helps new skaters gain their footing on the track. Along with the Basic Training coach, Wheels does all of the new skater evaluations to make sure that new players are safe to join full contact game play. When I first started Basic Training in August 2013, it was Wheels who taught me how to crossover, how to turn around, and how to skate backwards.

Wheels is often the person that team members turn to when we have questions about skates, when one of our toe stops fall off mid-drill, or when we need someone to tape up an injury.

Grand Raggidy thanks Wheels for all of the work that he does for our league. We’re so thankful that his grandmother gave him his first pair of skates when he was still in elementary school, and that he’s continued to be a part of our team as we’ve grown from our early days into the strong, nationally competitive team that we are today. It really wouldn’t have happened without his expertise and fantastic coaching skills!

In addition to coaching for Grand Raggidy, Wheels is one of the coaches for GR Speed, the local speed skating team. You can learn more about speed skating on their Facebook page.