Mountain View has a community

It was the first day of practice and Dave Lodwig, a pastor at River Rock Church, had a gift for the Mountain View Thunder. His church had donated 15 cases of bottled water.

(By the way, here is another reason why athletes should be cleared to practice before the first day of practice: The players who were not yet cleared had to carry all those cases.)

Mountain View coach Adam Mathieson appreciated the gesture from Lodwig, a former assistant coach.

Mathieson also said this is a part a much bigger deal than football. He wants his players to help with the community, and in turn, the community will help with the program. A win-win.

In the past couple of weeks, the team has taken time off from practice to assist others. One day, the team harvested vegetables at a nearby farm for a food bank. Another day, a homeowner donated money to the program in exchange for a few hours of yard work.

Imagine having a football team clean up your yard. One, that’s a big yard. Two, hope it was really clean by the time the team left.

Mountain View kicks off its season against Evergreen at 7 p.m. Friday (that’s tonight!) at McKenzie Stadium.