On Monday, October 28th, Bishop’s Lucky Ducklings Club — a chapter of the Lucky Duck Foundation, a San Diego based homelessness relief nonprofit organization — hosted former San Diego Chargers running back Terrell Fletcher in their annual kick-off event, which brings together Lucky Ducklings clubs from high schools across San Diego.
The event’s purpose was to “bring all the Lucky Ducklings together to share their hopes to make a difference this coming year, while also giving [them] the chance to grow leadership capabilities,” said Lucky Duck Foundation Executive Director Drew Moser in his opening speech at the event.
Taking place at Bishop’s, six high school chapters of the Lucky Duck Foundation — including Francis Parker, Torrey Pines, and Cathedral Catholic — attended the event.
Mr. Fletcher, who became a motivational and leadership speaker after retiring from the Chargers in 2002 after eight years in the NFL, headlined the event as the “leadership expert,” according to the event’s agenda. Mr. Fletcher is the Executive Director of the Blanchard Institute — a nonprofit organization with the goal of “bringing time-tested leadership models to people across the globe,” according to its website — which organizes the events he speaks at, such as the Lucky Ducklings kick-off event.
The event began at 5:30 p.m. with a 30 minute reception, featuring pizza from Timmy’s Place — a pizzeria and print shop which employs homeless youth and was started by the Lucky Duck Foundation.
Then, at 6:00 p.m., Mr. Moser and Mrs. Jacqueline Gomez, Director of Service Learning at Bishop’s, welcomed the approximately 50 people in attendance to the event with brief remarks about the purpose of the event and leadership speaker.
“Our work is not about credit, it is about action,” Mr. Moser said. “Each of you are leaders, within your schools, communities, and San Diego. We hope Terrell Fletcher can open your minds to everything being a leader can mean, so you all can continue to excel as leaders of your own communities.”
At 6:20 p.m., after the opening remarks, Mr. Fletcher, who was not at Bishop’s, but on Zoom, began his one hour leadership workshop, which focused on “the importance of mindsets and goal setting” for successful leaders, as Mr. Fletcher put it.
Mr. Fletcher began his workshop by reflecting on his life and path to the Chargers, emphasizing his “time of growth and leadership” while playing for the University of Wisconsin, where he was on scholarship and served as one of the team captains.
Next, he discussed his career at the Chargers — specifically his leadership roles as team union representative and eventually team captain. He said that “more than anything else I did in the NFL, I am most proud of being a team captain.” He pointed out that while he was “never the biggest, fastest, or strongest,” it was his ability to influence others by “getting the best out of them” that got him elected team captain.
He then moved into the main point of his workshop, which was sharing the keys to becoming a strong self-leader and leader to others in the community.
“Being an exceptional leader starts from the inside out,” Mr. Fletcher said. “It is all about your mindset, and how you set your goals and approach the challenges to those goals. A mindset will get you where you believe you belong, so if you sell yourself short, you will never be anything more than that.”
He shared a personal anecdote about his first week of training camp at the Chargers after being drafted in April 1995, in which NFL legend Junior Seau, a linebacker for the Chargers, tackled Mr. Fletcher to the ground and said “welcome to the NFL, rookie.” Mr. Fletcher explained how, after this, he felt as if he would “never make it” in the NFL, and that he “might as well just give up now.”
“You see, that was my mindset holding me back from my potential,” Mr. Fletcher said at this point in his story. “Once I stopped thinking like this and told myself I belonged in the NFL with all the great players, including Junior Seau, I became a much better player. It is all about the power of your mindset. To be a great person, player, student, leader, or really anything, it starts with your mindset.”
Mr. Fletcher ended his workshop by explaining the importance of goal setting.
“Nothing happens by accident — someone always has a vision and sets goals,” Mr. Fletcher said. “One of the best things you can do for yourself, even if it seems simple, is to just set goals. Because our minds are all hardwired to chase after our goals, so by setting goals, you are on your way to achieving them, and making a difference in your life and hopefully other lives as well.”
Following Mr. Fletcher’s leadership workshop, Will Shea, Senior Program Manager of the Lucky Duck Foundation, gave an overview of the calendar of Lucky Ducklings volunteer events for the 2024-2025 school year. Upcoming events include food and water packing on November 23rd, a San Diego Unified School District sock drive during November and December, and ‘Giving Tuesday’ on December 3rd, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, which is supposed to “cancel out the consumerism of Black Friday by doing a day of giving,” according to Mr. Shea.
“We have so many important and exciting events for you all to help run, and we hope you all can get as many people from your schools to come and help too. These events really make a tangible impact in our community and can help many people feel supported, especially in these colder, darker months ahead,” Mr. Shea said.
Mrs. Gomez then introduced the leaders of the Bishop’s Lucky Ducklings club — the most established chapter in San Diego — to speak about their plans for the year, as well as give advice to the other high schools’ Lucky Duckling clubs about how to run a successful chapter.
“I want to start by thanking you all for coming, this is an incredible opportunity to learn and I am glad to see all of you here,” Adelaide Kessler (‘25), one of the club leaders, said. “There are definitely times where leadership can be difficult or disheartening, whether you are running a club or a captain of a team, but I would just say to remember the importance of compassion for others and yourself to connect with others in all that you do.”
To end the meeting, there was a roughly 15 minute discussion open to all students and chapter members to discuss their hopes for the year, questions or concerns they had, and any plans they wanted to put in motion to collaborate with other chapters.
The event ended at approximately 7:45 p.m., though some students stayed later to continue their discussions. As the event came to a close, many celebrated its success, with Brad LaDrido, a junior at Bishop’s and member of the Lucky Ducklings, concluding, “Terrell Fletcher’s workshop was very thoughtful, interesting, and inspiring. I think Terrell and this event as a whole will help us all be better leaders as we try to make a difference in the community through the Lucky Duck Foundation.”
