The Sunshine Coast continues to set the bar a bit higher for the Hockey HEROS program.
Now it is fifth year, record numbers of youth are involved in the program this year, which started Sept. 27 at the Gibsons and Area Community Centre.
In fact, the numbers are so large this year, an additional ice time was added to accommodate everyone.
There are 40 kids involved in the main program, dubbed the Future Stars, and 15 are in the All-Star session, comprised of youth who have been with the program since it started and who are now being trained to be leaders and coaches.
"It's just phenomenal," said Norm Flynn, Hockey HEROS founder and executive director.
Hockey HEROS (Hockey Education Reaching Out Society) is all about empowering children through ice hockey. The program takes at-risk youth and teaches them the basics of hockey as well as the four key HERO behaviours.
Flynn said there are now 14 programs in eight cities across Canada. He credits the Sunshine Coast chapter for being a leader and a model in the program.
"The thing that is keeping the kids in the program is the volunteers," he said. "The volunteers that we have on the Sunshine Coast are so one-on-one and really care about what the kids are doing in school. The kids are coming here on Friday afternoons and showing the volunteers how they have been doing, bringing their homework, and the volunteers are sitting down with them and working with them from time-to-time. So it's that undivided attention that they get and everyone loves it."
When the program started back in 2009, Flynn had a handful of programs in Canada.
"The more publicity that we receive, from people such as yourself here on the Sunshine Coast, we get a lot of inquiries to open up other programs across Canada," Flynn said. "It boils down to horses and resources - we just don't want to throw together a program, we want to make sure that the program is done right. The future is our kids and we want to make sure we set them up for future success now. I think that is another one of the longevities we have now with what the kids are doing, the mentors on board, the great volunteers, so it's a good cycle."
And the corporate support continues to enable the program to grow.
TELUS recently signed another four-year, $1-million deal, Canadian Tire has come on board and Sport Chek recently provided a major boost to the program.
"Sport Chek wanted to help out various groups and organizations across Canada and we were one of the organizations that they approached," said Flynn. "On a group level they thought the kids on the Sunshine Coast would best benefit from brand new gear, so we took the kids over on Oct. 25. We had 38 kids jumped on board a bus, on the ferry to Park Royal Mall. It was basically Christmas in October. These kids got suited from head-to-toe - probably $25,000 worth of gear. The thing that impressed me the most was how appreciative the kids were and how respectful they were. They exceeded my expectations."
Sport Chek has committed to the program and will go to another location next year, possibly Regina.
But it's just not the corporate world that is helping out. The National Hockey League is also taking notice.
"To get NHL guys on board is just huge for us," said Flynn. "We have these high level guys who want to get involved with our program and help out, which I think is really cool for the kids to identify with an NHL player. All these kids want to be NHL players and if they can have a couple of guys from the NHL support the program - it just brings more credibility and value to what we do."
