A great day at the races

Or the football, more like.

You may remember me explaining last year how much Sophie loved her favourite football team (and ours), the Fremantle Dockers.

Well, given another year, Sophie's obsession has just continued to grow. She's been to every match this year and is practically leading the cheer squad. Last night, at the ANZAC Day match between Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs, it came right down to the wire. Every person in our stand was on their feet in the final minute, and Sophie was screaming and shouting with the best of us. In a rare moment of quiet, she yelled, "GO DOCKERS!" and got everyone started again.

So, at the end of the match, when the Dockers had won by eight points, I took her down to the fenceline so she could celebrate the best way possible- up close and personal. At the end of every winning match, the boys run out to all corners of the ground and thank the crowd. They also each get a hat to give away to a member of the crowd. 37,000 people in the ground, about 20 hats to give away, and guess who got one?


Yep. Number 23, Chris Mayne, made a beeline for Sophie from a good distance out (it's hard to miss the cute toddler), and deposited it on her head.

She was so excited. So, so excited. It just blew her little mind entirely that a Docker had run out of nowhere and *given her a hat*. All the way home, all day today, she's been saying, "The Docker ran up and gave Sophie a hat!" It's going to become legend in her mind, and I doubt we'll hear the end of it for a long time.

What's particularly good is that Chris Mayne, who gave her the hat, is (besides being one of the best up-and-coming young players) an ambassador for the Starlight Foundation, which supports Princess Margaret Hospital, where Sophie had her treatment. He's an ambassador, amongst other reasons, because he spent a fair bit of time in that hospital himself as a kid. Chris was born with a cleft lip and palate, and had a number of surgeries and therapies during his childhood. These days, he's overcome those challenges to become a real inspiration for and supporter of sick children in Western Australia.

I can't think of a more appropriate person to have given Sophie her beloved hat. I've emailed the club with a thank you, which I hope he gets to see. I love that young players like Chris are using their position to make a positive difference to the world, and it's great that such a simple gesture can make a kid like Sophie so happy, too.

You can read more about Chris Mayne and his work with the Starlight Foundation here.