By ROBERT L. LEE

HAHNVILLE – Completing an online survey turned out to be just the ticket to send Hahnville High School head football coach Lou Valdin to Canton, Ohio for an annual high school summit.

While visiting the National Football League website to check up on a De la Salle football game held in California and to find out more information about the upcoming world championship football games, Valdin noticed a survey and decided to submit his ideas.

The online survey asked high school football coaches how the NFL could help their high school teams. Being a well-experienced head coach, he sent in his remarks and continued his online browsing.

Much to his surprise, not long after sending the survey, Valdin was mailed a packet of information, asking him to attend the 2003 summit beginning July 31 as a delegate from Louisiana.

Each year, the summit gathers one high school coach from each state as the state’s delegate and sends the group to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

The coaches and NFL officials discuss various topics, then attend the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and the Hall of Fame football game.

“I was very, very surprised. I’m fired up. It’s an honor,” said Valdin.

“I have never been to the Football Hall of Fame. For a football coach, this is kind of like going to Mecca.”

The topic for this year’s summit will cover what the same topic Valdin submitted comments for online, what can the NFL do for high schools across the country, and what can the NFL do to recover the Monday night fans and ratings that have been lost recently to televised professional wrestling.

“I think the NFL is concerned because high school kids are watching wrestling instead of Monday night football,” explained Valdin.

“Wrestling used to be on television on the weekends, then on Tuesday nights, now it’s on Monday nights with football.”

Valdin said he imagines the NFL is worried about losing future ticket sales to current high school students and players tuning in to wrestling.