{"id":41838,"date":"2025-11-11T01:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T01:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/41838\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T01:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T01:50:13","slug":"jon-cooper-hosts-eighth-annual-coops-catch-with-special-guest-charles-barkley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/41838\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Cooper hosts eighth annual Coop’s Catch with special guest Charles Barkley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"8th <\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> were not on the ice on Monday. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“Great to get out of the rink and get on the water,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ: Alex Singleton cancer diagnosis revealed after random drug test<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Bolts were on the water for the eighth\u00a0annual Coop’s Catch, an event started by Lightning head coach Jon Cooper to raise money for pediatric cancer.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“Ten years ago, when we first started this, the dream was to make it be what it is now,” Cooper said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now,\u00a0the whole team is in attendance for the cause.<\/p>\n

MORE: Guardians pitchers indicted in gambling scheme involving MLB games<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“As a parent, you can’t imagine going through that as a family, but what you learn about these kids is how resilient they are,” Hedman said. “What these kids go through and what they do is inspiring to all of us.”<\/p>\n

The Lightning aren’t just inspired by the kids,\u00a0they are inspired to bring in a haul.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“Hopefully we can come through and catch some good fish,” Hedman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That part has been a struggle for some members of the team.<\/p>\n

READ: Paul Tagliabue, longtime NFL Commissioner, dies at 84<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“So proud of the event, and hopefully I don’t get skunked like I have in year’s past,” Cooper said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charles Barkley in the house:<\/p>\n

While Cooper has been skunked in the past, he did bring in a big celebrity fish \u2014 NBA legend Charles Barkley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“I’m inspired by these kids, but I am here for Jon Cooper,” Barkley said. “He’s an amazing man. He’s a great friend. I’m excited. It was really cool to meet some of the kids and hear some of the great stories.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

One of the stories is from 19-year-old Weston Hermann, who beat brain cancer and is back on the water with the team once again.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Making a Difference:<\/p>\n

“With things like this and Cooper being who he is, all of the players coming together and dropping what they are doing just to be here, really means a lot,” Hermann said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE: Dodgers’ Alex Vesia, wife share devastating update about their family<\/a><\/p>\n

It means a lot to Cooper that the event keeps getting bigger and bigger for all of the right reasons.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“It’s just a stark reminder of the realities of some of the hardships that kids face,” Cooper said. “We are going to go out here, and we are going to have a bunch of fun but in the end, we know what the purpose of this is for. We have heavy hearts for those who are in the hospital right behind us.”<\/p>\n

All proceeds go to the J5 foundation, the Cooper family’s charitable organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Mark Skol, Jr. during the eighth annual Coop’s Catch event outside the Tampa Convention Center.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>Sports<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Lightning were not on the ice on Monday. \u00a0 “Great to get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[9662,5691,110,135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-41838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-lightning","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tampa","12":"tag-tampa-headlines","13":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}