...one thing that has been clear for a long time: the program would have to adapt. Things were and are going to change...
This video was the culmination of many laborious hours (aka weeks) combing through months (aka years) of footage since my initial trip to the Himalayas in 2009. My incredible team at The Hockey Foundation wanted to make sure we did things right before we were finally ready to share what we consider a very special video.
"How Hockey Helps" is the product of 7+ years supporting ice hockey in...
Greetings from India!!
The Hockey Foundation's Founder and Executive Director Adam Sherlip leads a contingent of partners, coaches and hockey enthusiasts into Shimla -- the birthplace of hockey in India -- for the beginning of 2016's season of camps across India.
The Hockey Foundation, in partnership with Hockey Tutorial and with a host of sponsors led by Sun Life Financial, is pleased to announce the start of a new season of youth ice hockey development camps in India, which began on January 12, 2016.
Over the six years I've been coaching Team India, the Ice Hockey Association of India and I have received hundreds of messages from people around the world suggesting that we build the team with Indo-Canadian/American hockey players, often suggesting themselves as candidates. While we recognize that hockey players in North America of Indian descent/origin have received considerably more hockey training than our players from India, we've had to decline that offer due to IIHF rules regarding citizenship.
Hockey players of Indian descent/origin in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are invited to try out for approximately 10 roster spots on Team India. Tryouts will be held on Saturday, October 3rd & will continue on Sunday, October 4th at the Powerade Center in Brampton, Ontario.
Once selected, the team will combine with the 10-12 players coming over from Team India and spend the week preparing for India's first ice hockey game in North America against the Brampton Beast, the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens.
Why 10-12? Well, that's all the Ice Hockey Association of India can afford. Why else? Because the Brampton Beast are a professional team with extremely talented hockey players, and Team India wouldn't fare well if our full roster competed.
And this brings us to our next issue: the cost of tryouts.
Part of the inspiration to bring Team India to Canada was to connect the Indian ice hockey program to hockey lovers across North America, whether or not they're of Indian descent. The Ice Hockey Association of India has been forced to require players selected for the National Team to pay their own way in order to represent India. Earlier this year IHAI had to resort to crowd-funding just to be able to send the national team to the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia - the only tournament the national team competes in annually.
Because of this, we felt that bringing Team India over to Canada would provide a great opportunity for IHAI to recoup the costs of flying the team over and hopefully leave them in a stronger financial position than they were in before. This would allow them to grow their national program, such as providing more hockey training to Indian children, establishing a women's team, creating a national league, etc.
The price to tryout, $99.99 (plus HST), was set by all parties involved to ensure that the most serious hockey players attend the tryouts and we don't end up with 300 players of drastically varying ability on the ice. It just wouldn't be manageable. That being said, we want to encourage anybody and everybody who feels they should be on Team India to try out! All players who try out for Team India will receive two tickets to the game on October 9th.
This means that if they make the team, they can give the tickets to friends/family, and if they don't get selected, then they'd still receive two tickets to see this historic game. The funds collected by the Brampton Beast cover the cost of tickets to the game and then cover the costs associated with this event, as referenced earlier.
I will personally conduct the tryout in conjunction with the Brampton Beast coaching staff. The primary goal will be to fill the roster of Team India, but there's also the distinct possibility that if the Beast like your game, you'd get a crack at making the squad. And then you're only 2 steps away from the NHL! Last year, Scott Darling played in the ECHL. By the end of the season he was hoisting The Cup!
Please head to www.BramptonBeast.com to register to tryout, or to purchase tickets to the game. Sponsorship opportunities are available.
Thanks and I look forward to seeing you on October 3rd!
Adam
The Hockey Foundation and Ice Hockey Association of India are excited to announce that Team India (Head Coach, Adam Sherlip, Executive Director of The Hockey Foundation) will be participating in an exhibition match against the Brampton Beast. Stay tuned for more details.
09/14/2015 8:36 AM -
BRAMPTON, ON – The Brampton Beast Hockey Club, Montreal Canadiens and St. John’s Ice Caps ECHL affiliate, will host a press conference to discuss a historic exhibition game between the Beast and the National Ice Hockey Team of India. The game will be the first time in ECHL history a member team plays a national team of any country. Brampton is home to one of the largest East Indian communities in the world outside of India and is also a Canadian hockey hotbed. The puck is slated to drop on Friday, October 9th at 7:15PM at the Powerade Centre as the Beast, Canada’s only ECHL franchise, takes on Team India.
WHAT: Official announcement and agreement signing between Brampton Beast President and General Manager Cary Kaplan and Director of the India Ice Hockey Association Akshay Kumar.
WHEN: Tuesday, September 15 from 12:30-1:30PM
WHERE: Brampton City Hall Atrium
WHO: In attendance will be the Director of the India Ice Hockey Association Akshay Kumar, Mayor Linda Jeffrey, Team India Ice Hockey Coach Adam Sherlip, Beast President and General Manager Cary Kaplan, City Councillors Jeff Bowman and Gurpreet Dhillon and Dr. Parminder Singh, TV Personality and Hockey Commentator of Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi Edition.
DETAILS: A question and answer session will take place following the signing. National Ice Hockey Team of India and Brampton Beast representatives will be available to the media. The event is free and open to the public.
Ticket packages for this game are $29.90 plus HST and will be available for purchase Tuesday, September 15th immediately following the press conference. A portion of all ticket packages purchased will be donated to the National Ice Hockey Team of India.
Any media interested in attending the event is asked to please contact Mallory Dayot, Marketing Manager at 905-564-1684 ext. 214 or mdayot@bramptonbeast.com. For more information or general inquiries, please contact the Brampton Beast office at 905-564-1684 or info@bramptonbeast.com
Ice hockey is the ultimate team sport. Even Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin need to pass the puck in order to provide themselves with the opportunity to score as many goals as they do, and allow their teams a greater chance of winning. Learning how to work as a team is crucial to playing ice hockey. Every player has a different set of skills and weakness, which can be combined and leveraged to elevate the collective performance and effectiveness of the group at large. The same principle can be applied to many people in many fields: coaches, musicians, businesspeople, and in this case: The Hockey Foundation.
A founding principle of The Hockey Foundation is practicing what we preach, and collaboration is essential to our mission, not only because it directly benefits our programming, but because it's the right thing to do. Many of the organizations and people we've partnered with are doing great things, and through collaboration we are able to be more effective and efficient in our respective objectives and ultimately help those that need it better than going it alone.
In 2011, The Hockey Foundation officially partnered with the Ice Hockey Association of India, the official body responsible for ice hockey in India (as affirmed by the IIHF, IOC, Indian Sports Ministry and other governmental bodies), making our hockey camps the only nationally-sanctioned ice hockey coaching programs in India. While we could have easily run hockey clinics in Ladakh (and other parts of India) independent of IHAI, it was in everyone’s best interest to create a partnership that not only fulfilled the mission of The Hockey Foundation, but helped establish, strengthen and support the growth of IHAI within India, as it’s been an uphill battle for the association. To meet those goals, we charge a nominal coaching fee for all participants who attend our camps.
Why do we charge, you ask? Good question. There are many reasons.
1. Enrollment. Our camps require all players to be registered with the Ice Hockey Association of India, just like players in USA and Canada are required and expected to do within those national bodies. We’ve increased the enrollment for IHAI by over 300 players and growing.
2. Fundraising. More specifically, the funds go to the Ice Hockey Association of India to help pay for the Indian National Team to participate in tournaments and development camps, cover limited, specific expenses relating to The Hockey Foundation coaching in India.
3. To create value. There is substantial research and information to support that associating a product or service with a cost impacts the perceived value of said product/service. We charge rates that are low, even for Indian standards, as we are not looking to turn a profit or lose out on getting as many players on the ice as possible. Our rates are set in collaboration with the Ice Hockey Association of India, and all players receive IHAI certificates of participation, which carries greater value in Asia than in North America or Europe.
4. To discourage entitlement. When people receive handouts with no strings attached, there’s a fine line between receiving support on the generosity of others and expecting others to give everything to you and/or do everything for you. This has been a particular issue in Ladakh where the population has become reliant on a variety of sources for support instead of taking charge of their own situation and success. Since teaching accountability is a major focus of The Hockey Foundation, discouraging entitlement is presented along with lessons on teamwork, honesty and accountability. We continue to battle entitlement and expectations around Ladakh, from expectations of equipment donations to expectations of time spent coaching in a particular town/region. We’re actively working to curb this mentality.
In addition to our collaboration with the Ice Hockey Association of India, we collaborate with local clubs and associations, such as the Ladakh Winter Sports Club, Kargil Ice and Snow Sports Club, Simla Ice Skating Club, SECMOL (Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh) and have developed partnerships with ILSC (International Language Schools of Canada), Ice Hockey in Harlem and Health Inc, along with volunteer coaches that come to Ladakh with a desire to help people in a remote, under-served, and beautiful region of the world.
Bringing as many organizations and people in to the fold has been a challenge, but a welcome one. For one thing, The Hockey Foundation has become responsible for more and more equipment every season, which means that along with extra time & effort, we have to deal with extra politicking, as every organization feels they deserve the most/best equipment.
Dealing with equipment distribution is difficult, but the greater challenge is ensuring that every person and organization not only meets their respective goals, but that they understand and adapt to the philosophy and mission of The Hockey Foundation. This takes a lot more effort, but comes with greater reward, as we feel our instruction focuses on building better human beings, not just better hockey players.
From day one, The Hockey Foundation has been impacting lives on both sides of the planet, and it continues to do so. The people and organizations we’ve partnered with have been inspirational to me personally, and have renewed my enthusiasm and motivation time and time again. From the donors who have contributed money and/or equipment, to the organizations that are doing great things, I continue to rediscover why I started The Hockey Foundation in the first place, and find new methods of effectiveness.
Organizations like Hockey Dreams Foundation in Minnesota give equipment and scholarships out to players who can’t afford, and Ice Hockey in Harlem provides underprivileged kids around New York City an opportunity to build a future through ice hockey and stay off the streets and away from crime, and has donated excess equipment to The Hockey Foundation. International Language Schools of Canada has donated well over a hundred pieces of equipment to Ladakhi hockey players through The Hockey Foundation. Health Inc. has been supporting youth programs in Ladakh for decades, and has been integral to growing the game throughout the region. Ladakhi Childrens’ Schooling Project brings students from Ladakh to the US for study, and SECMOL has been a not-always-welcome but definitely effective disruptor in Ladakhi educational standards, with the support of many western volunteers, including yours truly.
As we work towards building a two-way exchange program for students in the USA and Ladakh, we’re excited that organizations like IHIH, ILSC, SECMOL, Health Inc., and Ladakhi Childrens’ Schooling Project will be with us throughout our growth as an organization.
Beyond the organizations, there have been people that have connected with The Hockey Foundation over the years. Paul was a volunteer coach that happened to be in Ladakh at the same time as Alex and me in 2011, and quickly became an integral part of our coaching program. When Alex and I returned to Ladakh in 2013, Paul was once again with us and became responsible for much of our Kargil District and Changtang region coaching, and was joined by fellow Canadian Antoine who reached out to The Hockey Foundation to support our coaching. This year, Antoine is once again returning to Ladakh around the same time as Alex, and is bringing along a friend to also be a part of our coaching. This year, Antoine will be our Kargil District Coordinator, while Alex will be bouncing around the whole region taking the incredible photos and videos I hope connects you to what we’re doing here.
Volunteer coaches are always welcome, as are equipment and monetary donations. Our trips are quite expensive, but we’re making a difference in lives around the world, and that is priceless.
