Providing Access To Hockey, Other Sports  

Tyler Deloach smiled as she watched a group of 7-year-olds chaotically trying their hand at handling hockey sticks.

Several were doing so for the first time last week at a makeshift indoor ball hockey clinic set up by the Kraken at the Rainier Beach Community Center, chaotically chasing a wiffle ball and whacking away at it with limited structure to their play. But the excited squeals and laughter erupting whenever a stick connected with the ball and sent it soaring into the net was all Deloach needed to hear.

As the Kraken’s senior manager for fan development, Deloach was helping as the team and its One Roof Foundation philanthropic arm staged a ball hockey clinic at the fifth annual Pro Sports Sampling Camp, presented by the King County Play Equity Coalition in partnership with our city’s professional sports squads.

“For the Kraken and One Roof, it’s extremely important that kids have access to play not only hockey, but also every sport,” Deloach said. “So, this camp gives us the opportunity to introduce kids to hockey and make sure they are engaging with us in a fun way.”

The One Roof Foundation’s “Access to Play” pillar focuses on breaking down barriers to sports and recreational activities for underserved youth, particularly in hockey. They achieve this through financial assistance, sponsoring programs, and creating partnerships to ensure all young people have opportunities to participate in sports. 

The Kraken joined the Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders, Storm, Reign, Seawolves pro rugby and Tempest & Cascades ultimate frisbee teams in staging camp clinics on various days throughout last week. Other clinics were run by the Seattle Tennis & Education Foundation, the George Peacock Rowing Foundation as well as soccer from the Bridges United Foundation, field games from Upower and golf from First Tee.

“The whole sports sampling camp was inspired because we saw the growing trend of younger students specializing in certain sports very early on,” camp coordinator Maddie Walsh, an intern with the Seattle Sports Commission, said of the free weeklong program for children ages 7-to-13. “And what we want is to make sure kids have access or exposure to different kinds of sports. This camp gives them an opportunity to learn and get hands-on experience with so many different activities and also to just have a good time over the summer.

“It runs all day, so it gets them outside and keeps them active. And hopefully, it helps them stay active well after they leave here.”

The Kraken’s clinic last Tuesday had some help from the newest pro hockey team in town. The Seattle expansion franchise in the Professional Women’s Hockey League sent head coach Steve O’Rourke, defender Emily Brown and the squad’s recent first round draft pick, forward Jenna Buglioni, to speak to the campers and guide them through the Kraken-run ball hockey drills.

O’Rourke said he was thrilled at the chance to get out and meet future young hockey players and fans.

“It’s important to touch base with these kids for a lot of different reasons,” the British Columbia native said. “One, it’s what you want to have in your building – the PWHL is really built around grassroots.”

Also, he added, the opportunity to speak to young campers about “the journey” of women’s players was one they couldn’t pass up.

“We can explain who we are and where we come from and what we’re looking to accomplish,” he said.

The youngsters stared on wide-eyed as the two women pro players were introduced. Many had questions during the introductory part of the clinic as well as during the drills, with both players offering tips and demonstrations.

After staging the ball hockey clinic, the Kraken returned to the camp last Friday for an end-of-session jamboree in which campers showed off their proficiency at various sports learned throughout the week. Instead of a skills clinic, the Kraken this time staged a series of ball hockey games – full-court for the older players and half-court for younger ones.

“A lot of the kids had never played hockey before,” Deloach said. “But I think the best thing about this camp is we saw them on Tuesday and then we saw them again on Friday and many of them had improved from one day to the next. So, it was great to see their improvement and also how they enjoyed the sport more as they were leaving than when they started.”