TAYLOR HALL GIVES BACK TO YOUTH IN HIS COMMUNITY | The Shift

TAYLOR HALL GIVES BACK TO YOUTH IN HIS COMMUNITY | The Shift

well first and foremost thank you so much for joining the shift um as we mentioned congratulations on being inducted in the Boys and Girls Club Hall of Fame I know that I’ll be inducted alongside you but I don’t know if you feel this too it’s those accolades and those moments that mean the most to me um because Community is everything yeah it’s special um it’s uh it’s been really cool for me because I’ve been able to give back to the Boys and Girls Club over the course my career and um knowing how much time I spent there as a as a kid and um you know just how much that helped our family um you know me having somewhere to go after school to be able to have a platform to give back and then to be recognized for that and and um you know be up there alongside people like yourself it’s going to be really cool okay tell me about like your first BGC days how old were you when you first started going and what do you think was probably your fondest memory yeah I was uh so I went to the Boys and Girls Club in renr um that was a community in Calgary and um so I was I think I was about seven maybe maybe six um and then I I went there until about 12 years old and um the most fond memories I have are them taking us to Calgary Flames events and you know they would have a pretty good connection and they would get us to do things that we might not be normally able to do um and I was a huge flames fan and and I think that’s kind of where it all started um from there every summer when school was out we bike rided around Calgary we probably you know there were some days where we probably biked 20 kilometers um it was a lot of fun as an active kid um those are some of my best memories of being at the boys and girls club was just coming home absolutely exhausted from um from bike riding around the city and and uh being able to do that while my parents worked and you know the thing on my end because I went to West Garber Boys and Girls Club here in Toronto we would just play basketball and that was when hockey was King as you know in the city but there were a lot of us that couldn’t maybe afford to play but we had this opportunity and this home to just continuously play we almost got like banned at one point because we kept asking to play basketball so that got put on the Shelf a little bit more but can you talk to me about just being exposed to the Flames at just such a young age and realizing that hey you could step on the ice too in a professional capacity and you were able to yeah for sure um just having that access and like you said you guys played a lot of basketball we played a ton of floor hockey and and roller hockey in this it seemed like a big gym when I look back now but I’m sure if I if I went there today it’d be it’d be super small um and we played a ton of sports and I think that’s the the biggest thing was I was so active being at the boys and girls club and and being a a kid that just wanted to play sports all the time um that’s huge for you know for my development for skill development for for meeting people for learning how to play um with other kids that um you know that’s that’s just a huge part of growing up and and having that access to the Calgary Flames the stamp Peters back then um was really cool were you able to meet anyone like someone that came in to talk to us was Jamal mcore who of course played for the Raptors Denny was a coach with the Raptors when I started to be a sideline supped for the team so it kind of tripped him out like dang I’m old was there someone that you were able to meet when you went to BBC no I I don’t remember anyone specifically coming in and talking to us but I do remember going to a Calgary Flames morning skate you know and just having that behind the scenes access and kind of realizing like wow this is you know this is pretty cool this is what I want to do I bet you I was like eight or nine years old um but no so I don’t remember anyone specifically speaking but um being able to to do things like that you know during the school year was uh it was pretty cool when you look back on your career and basically the stops that you’ve been able to make how much of that do you attribute to the development that you’ve had being a part of community so young and with the Sports Development as well um I mean a ton um just knowing you know I I didn’t obviously my parents both worked and um you know we did okay but I had to go to the Boys and Girls Club just so that they could keep working they could pay for my hockey and and all that so um I just have an appreciation for how lucky I was um that the boys and girls club was there that you know I was able to play hockey at the highest level as a kid and and being at the Boys and Girls Club you know there were some kids that weren’t that fortunate right obviously and uh that’s an important lesson as a as a kid is to know that you know people aren’t always in the same position as you are and um I think you know just seeing that at a young age is is very important you know we get figurines did they tell you that we get figurines I I have no idea what we get I don’t know apparently we have to go somewhere and get like miniature figurines made up of ourselves so you have to figure out what your look no you got to figure out what your look is gonna be are you gonna be wearing a jersey like what’s the if you could have a little mini tailor haul what would you make sure they get right first and foremost because mine is like my hair like you cannot mess it up I’ll be so upset oh man they just always make my lips way too big uh especially like on the NHL video games when they like the guys the lips are way too big so I’ll I’ll make sure that they’re dialed in on that last question for me for the kids that are going to be in attendance but also the kids that you have impacted over your career what’s one thing that they that you would like them to know about just where they can take their future um yeah which is it’s going to be really cool because I didn’t go to the Boys and Girls Club in Kingston but neither I I kind of grew up there and I I was able to hold a charity event every summer for about six Summers where all the money went to that boys and girls club so I went there I saw the kids and you know if anything I’m able to tell them like I was at the Boys and Girls Club I did this and this is where I ended up and now I have a platform to give back so you know I’m really proud of that um I’ll have my mom there and and I’m sure she’ll be she’ll be proud of that as well and and just I guess the lesson I would want to want to say to them is that if you are lucky enough to to be in a position to give back make sure you do that’s amazing Taylor congratulations I cannot wait to see you soon yeah sounds good I’ll uh I’ll see you soon and congrats to you as well

Taylor Hall joins The Shift’s Kayla Grey to discuss his work in the community with Boys & Girls Club, as well as his inauguration into the Boys & Girls Club Hall of Fame and why it means so much to him to give back to youth initiatives.