- The Women of Colour Hockey Collective ran its first international ball hockey camp in Kingston, Jamaica from July 24-26
- The NHL and NHLPA helped fund it, and 75 sticks stayed on the island after the group flew home
- Read below for what Sophie Jaques and Saroya Tinker saw from the kids
Sophie Jaques landed in Jamaica ready to teach hockey from scratch. She spent three days trying to keep up instead.
The PWHL Vancouver defenseman helped run a ball hockey camp in Kingston last month with the Women of Colour Hockey Collective, and she told NHL.com’s William Douglas the kids skipped the learning curve entirely.
“Literally, the second they grabbed the sticks, they started playing around, started passing balls. We’d say, ‘Try doing this next time’ and they learned so quickly. The growth there was truly incredible.”
Roughly 150 Jamaican kids came through the National Stadium across the three days, per the Associated Press.
Half of the campers were girls, which is the entire reason the collective exists.
This was the group’s first camp outside Canada. Founder Saroya Tinker picked Jamaica because so many of her members have family roots on the island.
Jaques is one of them. Her father is Jamaican.
Take a look at CityNews on the collective’s summer camp work with the PWHL back home:
Word got around fast about who was running the drills. Tinker said the room changed once the kids learned Jaques had won an Olympic silver medal with Canada in Milano Cortina.
“These are accomplished women. Sophie was just one of the girls, but as soon as the kids found out she was an Olympian, their eyes were wide open and amazed at her.”
League money made it work. The NHL and NHLPA covered a chunk of the bill through the Industry Growth Fund. Swift Hockey kicked in about 75 sticks and apparel, and all of it stayed behind along with goalie equipment, balls and T-shirts.
Swift belongs to Zechariah Thomas, a 23-year-old former minor pro who played for Jamaica’s national team and made Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in December. He explained why he wanted his company attached to this one.
“I’m Jamaican and I love, love, love the country and, obviously playing on that national team, I always wanted the sport to grow there as much as it can. This was my way of saying ‘Thank you.’”
Jamaica’s Olympic Ice Hockey Federation is chasing something bigger than a long weekend. President Don Anderson said the IIHF has signed off on a grow-the-game project on the island before the end of the year, and he wants about 20 kids from this camp feeding straight into it.
“We’re looking at this as continuity. What we want to do is select from this group about 20 kids that we see going into the next program.”
Here is Television Jamaica on the island’s push to finally get an ice rink built:
Rollerblades sit next on Tinker’s list. She pointed at Jaxon Cover, the Cayman Islands product Ottawa took 32nd overall at this year’s draft after he came up playing inline.
“In my head, the next step is getting rollerblades there for them because I think that is going to be the next biggest piece.”
Watch the NHL’s own film on how the game took hold in Jamaica:
The Kingston camp is the second Caribbean project the league has put money behind this summer. NHL STREET staged its first tournament in Latin America and the Caribbean in San Juan on Aug. 8.
