The Hockey Foundation
Sharing happiness & changing lives, one puck at a time.
Our mission: to change people's lives around the world via ice hockey. Born on a 2009 trip to Ladakh, THF sent volunteer coaches, donated gear & pitched in off the ice, in India & well beyond it.
By the numbers
- 10,000+pieces of hockey equipment donated in India, Morocco, Turkey, Chile, Argentina, Canada & the US (plus Peru, later on)
- 3,000+players coached in India by more than two dozen volunteer coaches
- 1,000+books donated to local schools
- 40+clinics & camps in 15+ skating locations, from the Himalayas to India's tropical south
Guinness World Record
Hockey went higher
On Feb 6, 2018, we set the Guinness World Record for the highest-altitude game of ice hockey: 4,361 m (about 14,300 ft) up in Ladakh, on a rink built in five days. 100+ players from 11 countries came to play.
What we did
Coaching & equipmentCamps & clinics on & off the ice, plus donated gear for communities where the game was just taking root.Learn more →
Team IndiaOur founder, Adam Sherlip, coached India's men's national team from 2009 to 2015, including India's first-ever international win (2012) & its first game in North America (2015).Learn more →
Books for schools1,000+ books donated to schools, alongside the coaching & gear, to help with English literacy.Learn more →Our impact
What it left behind
Camps end & coaches fly home. Here's what stayed after nearly a decade (2009-2018) of hockey in India.
- Coaches who coachDozens of Indian coaches, refs & officials trained, and 100+ players, coaches & officials sent abroad for training & exchange.
- Programs that kept goingTHF helped local programs find their feet & keep running, season after season.
- Hockey jobsCoaches THF trained now work in hockey, in places that had no hockey jobs before.
- A new arena in LehThe 2018 record game's boards went to Leh's new arena & helped get it finished.
- Ties that lastedYears of work with local schools & clubs in Ladakh, and a 2018 record game that brought 100+ players from 11 countries together. The friendships stuck.
- Changed at home, tooTHF's volunteer coaches from North America went to teach the game, and came home changed.
Snapshots, 2009 to 2018
All the photos →
Beyond India
India was home ice, not the whole map
Most of THF's coaching happened in India, but the work spread from there. 20+ countries got involved along the way, in one role or another.
- Nunavik, northern QuebecCoached Inuit youth in Canada's far north, with Puvirnituq as a focus community.
- Metula, IsraelSent 11 sledge-hockey sleds in 2018, for the adaptive (sit-down) version of the game.
- Gear on four continentsDonated equipment went to Morocco, Turkey, Chile, Argentina, Canada & the US, and more recently Peru. In 2017 alone, five pallets sailed for Istanbul.
- Team India in CanadaTeam India's first games in North America, in 2015: vs. the Brampton Beast (the first ECHL club to face a national team) & the Calgary Inferno.
Game-worn Team India jerseys
See all →Every jersey comes with a commemorative puck from our Guinness World Record game. Proceeds support our mission.
From the archive
All posts →What's next?
THF ran programs in India from 2011 to 2018 & has kept donating equipment since, most recently to Peru. The door's open to a next chapter. Want to be part of it, or just talk hockey? Get in touch.