Heart pumping, hands sweating, butterflies in stomach, and he is ready for the game. For junior Jason Dockery, he can’t begin without his good luck charm: his Paw Patrol blanket.

“It’s my special blankie, my good luck blankie that I wear on game days,” Dockery said.

Dockery is a player on the SHS basketball team and carries around a Paw Patrol blanket to give him the ability to bring his best game to the court.

Dockery explains that he got the idea from a TV show, where a character on it had a pencil with Spongebob and Patrick, resembling each of their special attributes to give him good luck, just like Dockery’s blanket has his favorite characters on Paw Patrol on it that resemble special attributes he utilizes on the court.

“It (has) Marshall, Rebel and Chase,” Dockery said. “They’re dogs that help people, but they also have their own attributes.”

From Paw Patrol, Rebel the bulldog represents the aggressiveness he brings to the game, while Chase the police dog gives Dockery the power to “lock up” on his defense. Marshall the firefighter dog gives Dockery the power to get hot on the court.

Junior Dylan Davidson is Dockery’s “Giver,” or his teammate that ceremoniously “gives him the powers” of the blanket.

Dockery says that before warm-ups, he calls Davidson over to give the individual attributes of each dog to Dockery by tapping the dog on the blanket then tapping Dockery, giving him the powers for the basketball game.

“It’s basically sending the powers to him,” Davidson said.

Davidson says, as a part of Dockery’s prep before the game, Dockery then gives a speech to the dogs on his blanket.

“I talk to them…we have a conversation,” Dockery said. “They listen, but they don’t talk. I feel them inside of me.”

Dockery purchased the blanket at Walmart at the beginning of the school year in hopes to use it as his good luck charm before games.

Dockery says that although carrying around the blanket makes him appear weak, his opponents’ opinions change quickly when they see what Dockery brings to the game.

“It’s not intimidating when they see me walking in,” Dockery said. “They think, ‘Oh, maybe he’s a crybaby. He’s soft,’ but then they see me coming out and bringing out the dogs.”

Although Dockery has gained fame throughout SHS for his blankie, he says there are always people who imitate his idea, and there are even some that attempt to steal the blanket from him.

Dockery says people stealing the blanket from him is the reason he ties it around his neck, his signature.

He warns Cards that he won’t be tying the same blanket around his neck next year, but instead he’ll have a new special blanket for the next basketball season.

“It won’t be the same blanket next year. it’ll be a different one,” Dockery said. “Just wait for it.”