Our speaker this past week was Jayden Dalke, a born and raised Leduc native. Jayden started playing minor football right here in Leduc and now plays professional football with the Saskatchewan Roughriders proudly wearing the #38 number on his jersey. As I was attending via Zoom and the audio wasn't the greatest, but I thought I heard Jayden say that when he started playing football at the tender age of eight years old, our own Gerald Thomas was one of his first coaches and that was 110 lbs. ago! I'm not sure if he meant Gerald or himself! :)
As this was Jayden's first year in professional football Jayden filled us in on the tense weeks doing the two-a-day workouts and living in the U of S dorms with all the other prospective Riders. Jayden talked about the thrill of being picked up by the Riders and giving it his all to make sure that he made the team. Jayden has worked hard to get where he is now, playing his guts out in his younger years with the Edmonton Wildcats where he picked up the prestigious MVP Award in 2017 and the Founders Trophy 3 years in a row 2015 - 2017.
Picking up a scholarship along the way, Jayden spent 3 years playing for the U of A Golden Bears Football Team 2019-2021 prior to be drafted and picked up by the Riders. Dalke, who was named a Canada West All-Star and U SPORTS All-Canadian for the second-straight season while studying Business at U of A. Jayden works with his parents in the family owned construction business in the off-season.