Florida football player canoes to practice after Hurricane Milton devastation

Canoeing was a hobby until it was needed by Sanford Seminole's Eli Chivington as transportation to get to football practice

Sanford Seminole's Eli Chivington canoeing to a teammate's house to get to football practice / Eli Chivington

When Hurricane Milton made impact late last week in Western Central Florida, many regions around the state suffered devastating flooding due to heavy rainfall totals.

One of those regions was the Sanford area, which is near Orlando, where Sanford Seminole sophomore defensive lineman Eli Chivington lives. When Seminole coach Karl Calhoun called for practice over the weekend, ahead of Monday's game against Lake Mary, Chivington had a little dilemma.

His home was surrounded by nearly four feet of standing water, making the roads out of his neighborhood undriveable in order to get to football practice.

"We're definitely in a low lying area," Chivington said. "Historically, (the water) shouldn't have ever gotten that high. It got to like three or four feet high. Our house is high enough to where we didn't sustain any damages. Most of my teammates live a little closer, so I was the only one I know of that had an issue."

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So what did Chivington end up doing in order to get to practice? The sophomore hopped in his family's three-person canoe and rowed it 1/8th of a mile to a friend's house, who ended up taking him the rest of the way to football practice in order to prepare for Monday's big matchup against rival Lake Mary.

Down below is the post Chivington made on X, regarding his canoe ride so he could reach football practice. The caption read:

"Canoeing to football practice early this morning. Road was flooded due to the hurricane and is too deep for us to drive out. Canoed down about 1/8 mile to a friend's house who had a jeep that was able to take me the rest of the way."

Canoeing to football practice early this morning. Road was flooded due to the hurricane and is too deep for us to drive out. Canoed down about 1/8 mile to a friend's house who had a jeep that was able to take me the rest of the way. pic.twitter.com/XK6B7xMOTc

— Eli Chivington (@elichivington) October 12, 2024

"We have a big game coming up against Lake Mary," Chivington said. "No one was going to stop me from getting to football practice. I'm definitely looking forward to (the game). Our coaches have been saying this game will define our season. I'm just thankful I'll get to contribute to that."

When it comes to what his family thought of him canoeing in order to get to football practice, Chivington said that they all got a laugh out of it.

"My family thought it was pretty funny," Chivington added. "My dad saw me and was like I've got to get a photo of this."

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivefl