Raffle

The Hockey Foundation is offering a raffle to support our fundraising efforts in advance of our next trip to India.  We're excited to offer you some unique raffle prizes, and wanted to take this opportunity to explain what makes each prize significant to our us, and hopefully to you as well.

If you've been thinking about donating, this is a great option to get a little something in return beyond supporting a great cause, changing the lives of countless children (and adults!) and being a part of something bigger than oneself, of course.

Green Vibrance, courtesy of Vibrant Health

Green Vibrance, is a green super food.  It's a powder of many greens, and then some!  There are 74 ingredients in Green Vibrance, with 25 billion probiotics per serving, and can be mixed in water, juice or other liquids.  When our team of coaches is in Ladakh, one of the biggest problems we all have to deal with relates to our diet, but it's not what you think.  Sure, Ladakh is in India, a country famous for "Delhi belly", a particularly un-fun food-borne stomach illness, but Ladakh has cleaner spring water than most of India, and rarely gets to a temperature (especially in the winter) that allows harmful bacteria, viruses and protozoa to fester and multiply.  The problem in Ladakh is that during the winter there are very few options for a nutritious balanced diet.  That's not to say our team is looking to eat as per the famous USDA food pyramid (there are too many Pringles and Snickers consumed), but the distribution of vitamins and minerals doesn't seem to be present in the salt & carb-heavy diet of Ladakh.  Green Vibrance has been the complement and supplement that keeps our team healthy, energetic and digesting well.  When they return to lower parts of India, such as Delhi, Green Vibrance adds the additional support of keeping our team "regular", as the probiotics digest much of the stuff that can contribute to "Delhi belly" and the rest of the ingredients boost immune system and digestive system function, creating a tough battle for the harmful organisms.  The taste is pretty neutral, and with some juice, it's barely noticeable.  The benefit is obvious!  Vibrant Health has donated two 30-day supplies of Green Vibrance for our raffle, ending 11/25/13.

PURCHASE RAFFLE TICKETS NOW

Citi Bike Annual Membership, courtesy of NYC Bike Share

Being a New York City-based non-profit, we're excited to offer 2 annual memberships of Citi Bike, courtesy of NYC Bike Share.  This new bike-share program is less than a year old and already seen over 10 million miles traveled in over 6 million trips by nearly 100,000 annual members & countless 24-hour & 7-day pass-holders.  Riding a bicycle is one of the best ways to train for hockey.  The leg muscles get a great workout that contribute to power, endurance, agility and overall wellness.  Players like Jaromir Jagr and Chris Chelios are famous for riding bikes before and after hockey games to maintain peak physical conditioning.  Whether you own a bicylce or not, having a Citi Bike membership is a great perk for any New Yorker, as sometimes you don't want to drag your own bike around all day or lock it up in areas that may not be reliable.  For non-New Yorkers, if you have a friend or family member that lives in the area, this is a great gift for the holidays, but you can only win it if you enter our raffle, ending 11/25/13.

PURCHASE RAFFLE TICKETS NOW

10 Skate-sharpenings, courtesy of NYC Skate Pro

Keeping with an NYC-theme.  NYC Skate Pro, the pro-shop at City Ice Pavilion in Long Island City, Queens, has generously donated a card for 10 free ice skate sharpenings, whether it be hockey, figure or speed skates.  Sharpening ice skates in NYC is an expensive endeavor, especially if you skate regularly, and there are few locations that facilitate this service.  It goes without saying, this is a great prize to win, but only if you enter our raffle.

PURCHASE RAFFLE TICKETS NOW

Hockey Books: "Tropic of Hockey" by Dave Bidini & "The Final Call" by Kerry Fraser

Authors Dave Bidini and Kerry Fraser (the famed helmet-less referee) have both generously donated their hockey books to support our fundraising efforts.  Every trip, we donate books about hockey to schools in Ladakh, whether the books be instructional, fiction or in this case non-fiction.  The Final Call is a collection of stories stemming from Kerry Fraser's final season in the NHL.  Tropic of Hockey is about one man's journey to find hockey in unexpected regions around the world.  Needless to say, we identify with that mission, as The Hockey Foundation operates in Northern India!  Of course, you can pick up these books on Amazon, but for only $20 you'll get 5 chances to win both, and still have 4 more chances to win something else!

PURCHASE RAFFLE TICKETS NOW

Stay tuned for more updates on our raffle, including information on the rest of our raffle prizes!

Hockey in the Himalayas?

(question mark intentional)

So many people seem stunned when I tell them about ice hockey in India.  Adding in the explanation that it takes place in the Himalayas makes it both more logical and more alluring, all at the same time. 

The most common comparison people make is to Jamaican bobsled (popularly portrayed in Cool Runnings), and on the surface it's easy to understand why, as both countries are primarily tropical and the associated sports are not native, and not easily performed, within the respective nations.

But that's about it.

While bobsled was a sport that a handful of Jamaicans were able to undertake and compete in, ice hockey is growing in popularity in India, especially in Ladakh, a remote region in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, which is sandwiched between Pakistan and Tibet (China).  It's also being played in Shimla, in the neighboring state of Himachal Pradesh, on and off in Dehra Dun, the capital of the state south of Himachal, Uttarakhand, and even at a small indoor facility on the border of New Delhi and Gurgaon (Gurgaon is kind of like the Bangalore of North India...corporate parks, call centers, suburbia, middle class & upper class boom, trendy clubs, Western restaurants, and many many malls).

Hockey has been played in India since the British introduced it in the early 1900s (in Shimla), and has been growing in popularity in Ladakh since the Indian military brought it with them in the 70s.  Today, hundreds of Ladakhi children and adults play hockey for 2-3 months every winter, when temperatures in the region are consistently below freezing.  Schools are off during the winter, and tourism is low (other than people trekking the Zanskar River), so hockey has become the literal pastime, the sport that passes time.  But it's become more than that.  It's become a way of life, as so many Americans, Canadians, Swedes, Czechs, Russians and more can understand.

We've interviewed children (boys and girls) and adults about what hockey means to them, and the answers are wonderful.  So many of them remark that hockey has given them confidence, it's allowed them to work together better as a team, it makes them happy, it keeps them healthy.  One women, in particular, said she's happily married to hockey.

This love of the game can't be tought, it can only be noursihed.  The Hockey Foundation strives to not only nourish that love, but to focus the understanding of the game, and to reinforce many of these qualities that so many intrinsically understand once the game captures their hearts and minds.  

We strive to teach not only the young players, but the organizations that ultimately interact with them every day, that they need to work together (organizationally, regionally, nationally), that they need to be accountable for their actions on and off the ice, responsible for their own success, that they need to be resepectful, humble, yet confident, that they need to be tough when necessary, but gentle otherwise, and that they need to have fun!

It's not easy to survive a winter in Ladakh.  There's very little indoor heating and running hot water.  It's cold, all the time, everywhere.  You see your breath when you sleep, you have to use buckets for showers, and bathrooms are either outside or the ones inside don't flush.  There are very few options for food, and not much in the way of entertainment, but there is hockey in one of the most beautiful mountainous regions of the world, with a vibrant history.

Resources are limited though.  Coaches are few and far and getting equipment is both difficult and expensive.  The Hockey Foundation's coaches go with great expense to themselves, not only to travel to Ladakh, but the time away from home not taking in income.  It's a burden in many ways, but one we all feel a calling to undertake.  We also bring as much equipment as we can transport with us, in addition to any equipment we ship to India through the year (more on that in another post).  In the past 5 years, The Hockey Foundation has donated 300+ pieces of equipment throughout Ladakh (Leh and Kargil Districts) and we've coached over 500 children and adults.  This year is looking to be another record-setting year in all measurable categories, and it's with your support that this is possible, so thank you to all that have donated, and to those that have helped in countless ways!

Adam

Dealing with Adversity

It's said all the time, but founding and growing a non-profit is not easy work.  Even when things are done properly, there are many challenges.  One of the key principles of The Hockey Foundation is to teach all of the children we coach that they must work through adversity.  Hockey is a challenging sport that requires discipline in mind and body, and learning to conquer those challenges on the ice directly leads to learning to deal with adversity off the ice.  This is fundamental to all sports, but as hockey lovers, I'm sure we're all together in believing that hockey is the premier sport for challenging players to work through adversity.

2013 began on a high note for The Hockey Foundation!

Shortly before departing on another trip to India to coach hockey throughout Northern India (Delhi, Shimla, Ladakh, Kargil) - something I'll write about in future posts - we took in a large quantity of donations & completed form 1023, the application for tax-exempt status from the IRS (US Government).  Prior to this, The Hockey Foundation was (and is) incorporated as a tax-exempt organization in New York State, where we are based out of.  This was a necessary and incredibly important step in the development of The Hockey Foundation, since form 1023 is required to obtain the coveted 501(c)(3) status.  

The application took many months to prepare.  Being a small organization with limited resources, I wrote most of the content, with help from the law firm that represents The Hockey Foundation, Proskauer Rose LLP, and some financial reporting support from a friend.  Together, we edited the application over and over again, making sure every detail was covered.  Altogether, after completing a long application unto itself, the Appendices of form 1023 was over 7,000 words!

I also worked to ensure that all state filings were current and accurate, and that the organization moved it's office of incorporation from Long Island to New York City (there's more support available within the city than in the suburbs, as one can probably imagine).  

It took a lot of work, but ultimately, everything was completed, and just a few short days before returning to Ladakh, India in January, I mailed out the form to the IRS.  Of course I didn't expect to get a response within a couple of weeks.  But I did expect to get a response within 90 days, as we worked so hard and diligently on being thorough.

I routinely checked the IRS website to see if The Hockey Foundation had been added to their tax-exempt organization database, even when I was actively fulfilling the organization's mission in India.  Nothing.

In the middle of this programming, I stumbled across a grant that seemed tailor-made for The Hockey Foundation.  The deadline for submission was smack in the middle of Ladakh programming.  There was a night where all of my assistants, volunteers and primary partners in India were sitting in a hotel lounge together, enjoying some late night snacks and drinks.  I was obsessing over this grant and the support it could provide to The Hockey Foundation.  It was decided that night that I would leave Ladakh for Delhi, meet with representatives at the U.S. Embassy, and dedicate my time and energy on completing this application.  The assumption was that the IRS should be approving the 501(c)(3) status at any moment, and I had some volunteer coaches I entrusted with continuing the mission in my absence.  This was not what I envisioned for 2013, but sometimes challenges present themselves that need to be met head-on. 

The meetings with the staff at the American Center and Embassy offered some great perspective and promise, and so I tried to utilize what I learned while filling out the grant application.   Additionally, the volunteer coaches seemed to be holding their own in Kargil District, and provided me with the reassurance that as The Hockey Foundation grows around the world and starts to have overlapping schedules, the mission can be fulfilled by people other than myself, which is a concern of mine, being the founder and Executive Director of this organization.

If there's anything I've learned in my travels and experiences, it's not to get too comfortable when things are going well (conversely, don't sweat the small stuff when times are tough).  The 501(c)(3) status never came, a mandatory requirement for the grant, and as a result, the deadline was passed without submission. 

With the grant application behind me (at least for this year), I started to press on why  the 501(c)(3) status hasn't been granted.  In so much of life, timing is everything, and for The Hockey Foundation, timing has been one of our greatest challenges.

The past 12 months have been particularly challenging for the IRS as well.  First came a U.S. government sequester, which reduced all government spending by 10%, impacting staff resources.  Shortly thereafter, a scandal at the IRS based on the determination of tax-exempt 501(c)(4) political organizations erupted.  The office that determines the status of 501(c)(4) exemption is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is the same one that determines exemption for 501(c)(3) organizations.  Scandals typically force organizations to reallocate resources in order to address the issue at hand.  While I am not privy to the inner workings of the IRS, it's hard to imagine them being exempt from this organizational behavior.

Finally, and most importantly, there seems to be a few clarifications needed on our application, due to either a misfiling by the IRS or an oversight by the applicant, in the case, me.  We've been waiting for 6 months to be told what clarifications are requested and required, but have yet to hear from our venerable Internal Revenue Service.  Surprisingly, for an organization that knows so much about the population it collects from, they're incredibly difficult to contact, especially in the case of non-profit exemption determination (the other E.D.) 

So what does this all mean? 

Well, quite a bit, and very little good. 

When an organization applies for 501(c)(3) status, they are legally able to operate as a federally tax-exempt non-profit, so in this regards, The Hockey Foundation is doing so.  Unfortunately, no database can verify that, since the determination isn't finalized, so there are many services The Hockey Foundation is not eligible to receive or utilize (too many to list) and more importantly, it prevents The Hockey Foundation from applying for and receiving foundation grants, governmental grants, corporate charitable giving, and large-scale donations (even though it shouldn't).  This has slowed the progress of growth for The Hockey Foundation, and in case you can't tell, has been frustrating to deal with.

That being said, dealing with adversity is a key principle of The Hockey Foundation, and if I and the organization I founded can't handle a few setbacks, then we shouldn't be doing what we do.  We're looking for more ways to get in touch with the IRS to figure out how to resolve this issue, we're partnering with organizations that are more concerned with supporting a great cause then just getting a tax benefit, and have already facilitated a major donation of equipment that was sent ahead of me so that when I arrive in India this winter, we'll once again set organizational records for equipment donations around the region.  We're still able to operate as a non-profit and collect donations, so please consider contributing to ensure we can keep fighting the good fight!

More to come... 

Adam

The Plan, Part 4: Barely in Bodhkharboo

It only took five days longer than expected, due to snow storms, but eventually we made it to Bodhkharboo.  Only problem: more snow was forecasted throughout the region, from Kargil to Leh (Bodhkharboo is in between them), so the decision to stay was long and arduous, with multiple incarnations of stay and go proposed.

Ultimately, at the request of the General Secretary/President of the Kargil Ice and Snow Sports (KISS) I agreed to stay for two days, as he guaranteed that the weather would hold to get me back to Leh in time to continue my adventure.  He is a very determined man, so it doesn’t surprise me that he would promise something he can’t control. 

The next morning, the rest of my group agreed to stay as well, which included Paul and the two girls from mainland India that were also volunteers at SECMOL and had the fortunate/unfortunate (depending on point of view) opportunity to be my stand-in translators.  Alex had made it out of Drass just before the storm hit, so he could not join us in Bodhkharboo.  His support on the ice and behind the camera was invaluable.  I look forward to sharing more experiences like this with him in the future.

From the outset, there were supposed to be seven days in Bodhkharboo.  At the conclusion of that camp, I was debating heading to Dhomkhar, but scrapped that plan when it became apparent that 1) the “Under-16” players from Dhomkhar were not actually under 16 (it has since been learned that they are reasonably open about the fact that they cheated, although I’m not sure they consider what they did cheating), and 2) they won the Under-16 tournament in Leh.  My goal in Ladakh is to help the players that need it most, but also reward the players that show integrity in their actions.  Our tour around Ladakh was decently publicized in newspapers and radio around the region, so I hope the players in Dhomkhar are aware that they were purposefully ignored in our hockey clinics this winter.  When it gets announced next year that we are returning, I hope that they request our support so we can explain why we didn’t give it this winter.

After the scheduled hockey camp in Bodhkharboo, the region quickly warms up to the point where it’s nearly impossible to skate.  Bodhkharboo is close to Chiktan, where I participated in a tournament two years prior.  I loved the scenery and the people in this town, but the ice quality was terrible two years ago (it was like walking on broken glass in ice skates), and was even worse this winter.  As a result, the camp was hosted in a town that had never played ice hockey before.

Before our arrival in Bodhkharboo the Kargil Ice & Snow Sports Club hosted a learn to skate program that was run by Stanzin Dolkar, a Ladakhi woman that was featured in a documentary Thin Ice, that focused on a particular controversy surrounding women’s hockey in Ladakh, and the girls at SECMOL.  Having spent enough time around people involved in this controversy, I will spare you any more details and depositions and let you see the documentary on your own and go from there. 

Stanzin Dolkar has had a particularly unique life for a Ladakhi. She’s well-traveled, having gone to Sweden for the documentary, Finland for an IIHF training on behalf of India, and Malaysia to participate in hockey training on behalf of India as well.  She’s got a firey personality, is quick on the sarcasm, and has a big laugh that can make anybody with half a heart smile.  She’s got a toughness that many Ladakhis, let alone Ladakhi women, lack.  As a core ideal of The Hockey Foundation, toughness is a quality that’s important on the ice and in life, and to see someone like Stanzin Dolkar have that quality is refreshing and gives me hope that we can continue to make progress with the rest of Ladakh.  The goal isn’t to tell them how to live their lives, nor is it to change their culture.  On the contrary.  The goal is to help them strengthen their culture and quality of living, on their terms.  Ladakh was closed off from the world for most of their history, and the recent modernization has started to eat away at Ladakhi culture, not just Ladakhi tradition.  Local politicians have started saying the same thing, that Ladakh is losing its tradition on its own.  The foreigners that come to Ladakh come because it has a deep tradition that has remained consistent for centuries, if not 1000 years.  They don’t come to modernize Ladakh.  It’s the ruggedness and tradition that is appealing, and although Ladakh is moderning, it is far from modern.

Stanzin Dolkar hasn’t been involved in hockey in Leh as a result of the Thin Ice controversy.  The opportunities in hockey have been given to her by the Ice Hockey Association of India and the Kargil Ice and Snow Sports Club.  It’s unfortunate.  She has so much to offer the hockey players around Leh.  Hopefully things can progress to a point where bygones are bygones and everybody can get back to focusing on the improvement of hockey and the betterment of the children.

Stanzin Dolkar - I refer to her by her full name because Ladakhis don’t always go by the first name, nor do they always go by the last name.  It seems to be a random application of the names, more so than in the West.  Since there are as many Dolkar Stanzins as there are Stanzin Dolkars, I prefer to follow the other form of the acronym: “KISS”, Keep it Simple Stupid - had to hold learn-to-skate lessons for extra days due to us being stranded in Drass.  When we arrived, the first thing we did was check out the ice rink that was claimed to be to international standards.  They were not (no surprise there).  The rink was a fraction of the size that was claimed by the head of KISS, there were no boards, the ice was beyond choppy, and oh yeah, there were no goals.  You know…minor details.

Another problem facing the players in Bodhkharboo: poor skates.  This has been a problem throughout Ladakh.  We thought it was bad in Drass.  It was much worse in Bodhkharboo.  Children were wearing enormous skates with dull edges on poor ice.  We weren’t able to coach more than 20-25 people at a time, and even though that’s ideal in North America, we can usually accommodate a few more in Asia.  Overnight they built some hockey goals for us to run a learn-to-play program, as intended.  Unfortunately, since nobody in Bodhkharboo had ice skated previously, this was just a continuation of the learn-to-skate program that Stanzin Dolkar ran before our arrival.

We did end up running some passing drills to at least make it appear that it was a hockey clinic, but these drills were performed with incredible difficulty in comprehension and execution.  The concept: pass to the player across from you, then skate to where they were standing.  They will do the same to the next person in line, and so on.  Got it?  We had to do this drill for two days, and it still wasn’t close to done well.  

Separate from the educational limits, there was only 1 player on the ice other than myself and Paul that had a hockey stick that would be considered adequate.  Some players had sticks that were 2 feet shorter than they were.  Other players had sticks that were heavily taped together to keep it in one piece.  Some players had hockey sticks constructed with local wood.  They were not tempered, so had lots of flex and minimal support, and the blade was rarely curved more than 1 cm, and to make matters worse, was a separate piece of wood that was usually nailed and wrapped with twine.  This is arguably the most important part of the whole stick, the base of the shaft near the heal of the blade, as most sticks break here due to the shock and vibration when passing and shooting (or slashing in some cases).  These days, wood sticks are usually fused together by blending with plastics and composite materials and are tempered to the point where it becomes one piece.  If the shaft and blade are in two pieces, all the vibration in the blade will stop at the nails and twine, limiting the stress the hockey stick can handle.  I tried to explain this to the guy making these sticks.  He responded with a blank stare.

The biggest problem during the passing & skating drill was that most of the passes were significantly off.  Usually the passes were 10 feet wide, which is where another player in line was standing.  I would not accept that their shotty sticks were the culprit, so I traded sticks with a player and showed them that even a local stick can give and receive accurately, and that their local sticks are sufficient to execute a drill properly.  They still couldn’t control their passing, so I gave each group an ultimatum: 3 large mistakes as a group and the next one goes.  Keep doing it right, keep practicing.  This was a pretty effective shift, instead of just letting each group go for a set time.  It motivated them to pay better attention, try harder and assist the players that were struggling.

Since our time was limited, I ran a classroom session after the 1st practice.  I spent an hour, translating through Stanzin Dolkar, explaining the rules, penalties and basic concepts of the game.  Some of the kids were great, asking detailed questions about scenarios, while others laughed and dozed off.  They got one warning, then they were kicked out.  30 minutes in, I gave them an opportunity to leave as a group, so the youngest took that opportunity, which is sad in one aspect, but considering it’s the older ones that will teach the younger ones, it’s fine by me.

Ultimately, it’s unfortunate that we weren’t able so spend more time in Bodhkharboo, but there’s also a frustration, considering we were promised a particular scenario about the condition of hockey in the area that was not true at all.  The clinic was not for beginners, it was for children that never set foot on the ice.  It’s the beginning of being beginners.  Hopefully though, this was enough for them to take notice and start playing every Winter.  Considering the fact that Bodhkharboo is pretty remote from the major cities of Ladakh (Leh is 5 hours, Kargil is 2), it’s definitely something for them to do in the harsh Ladakhi Winter.  This was also an incredibly beautiful area, with mountains practically on top of the rink, which was a 3 minute walk from some pretty steep cliffs.  It was also one of the last Buddhist towns heading towards Kargil, even though it’s in Kargil district, which is predominantly Muslim, which makes it quite unique for the region.  There’s a feeling of being at the crossroads of Ladakh.

I look forward to spending a proper amount of time there next Winter.

Time Flies

It’s been two years since I was last in India & Ladakh (in many ways, they are different worlds, even though Ladakh is a part of India).  It’s a surreal experience. I spent three and a half months in India in 2009, of which 5 weeks were spent in Ladakh.  Other than New York, there’s no place on Earth I’ve spent more time.  It’s something I never would have imagined, even as I was preparing for my first trip here. When I returned home, it was obvious Ladakh & the rest of India left an undeniable mark on who I am as a person.  It was upon arriving in India again that it became so apparent.

Upon landing in Delhi, I borrowed the phone of the gentleman sitting next to me, still on the tarmac, and called a friend to see if I could stay over for the evening.  It was no problem, as I suspected.  That pattern has continued thoughout.  My plans have consistently been last minute, yet always worked out as I intended.  With so much to do, I’ve scheduled very little, knowing that it will all play out as it should, as long as I follow up with the right people the right way.  When people have asked me what my plans are tomorrow, next week, or next month, all I can do is shrug and say “I don’t know”, even though my agenda of tasks to complete is long and under way.  Everything progresses as it must.  In response, Americans, Ladakhis and Indians have all said the same thing: “that’s very Indian/Ladakhi of you”.  All I can do is agree.  Twenty months wasn’t going to diminish that characteristic.  If anything, returning hightened the desire to operate in a state of controlled chaos.

I spent a long time upset that I couldn’t return to India last year, as I promised upon departure in 2009.  For simplicity’s sake: it wasn’t feasible for me to return to India, financially and emotionally. The previous trip went much longer than expected, and the road to recovery was also longer than expected.  At the same time, there were factors that held the organization back and other factors in India that made it less enticing to return.  That’s the short of it.  For a while, that was it.

But things started to change in life, for The Hockey Foundation, and regarding ice hockey in India.  Finances stabilized, the organization got a new identity thanks to Kevin Sterling working with me to develop a new logo, and I got news that the arena in Dehra Dun was finally completed.  From there, all it took was the support of the companies I work for, and the businesses I work with, and 8 weeks after making a decision and 5 weeks after making that decision public, I departed for India on the same date in 2011 that I did in 2009, only this time with support. 

Alex Harney has joined me for the first leg of this trip, recording pictures and video of our work here.  Alex played hockey throughout his childhood, has a background in photo/video, and is a great guy that is as passionate about this project as I am.  He’s already in love with Ladakh!  I’ve been delighted to introduce him to my friends in Delhi and Leh, and he’s been able to record what has made this experience so surreal for me.

In so many ways, it’s like I never left, and everything feels like home.  The excitement of going somewhere new has been replaced by the familiarity of Delhi and Leh.  At the same time, there’s a much greater sense of purpose and confidence that focuses my intent and allows me to enjoy things in a whole new light.  The familiar is raw.  And that’s India…raw.  Everything flows as it should, and people and situations thrive where others never could.  

The situation is a bit different this time.  Last time, I came without an understanding of hockey in India & Ladakh.  Now that I have immersed myself in it, there’s a lot more to do and a lot more to tell you about.  Future posts will give you an understanding of what we are here to do, what has been going on from our side of things, and what others are doing to support hockey in Ladakh/India.  There’s a lot, so I’ll save it for now.