Showing Up And Winning Converts 

Nhu Nguyen watched somewhat astonished as her 6-year-old daughter, May, raced around an inflatable ball hockey court, clutching a stick and firing balls into nets for the very first time.

The court and its inflatable “boards” used to simulate a hockey rink had been set up last Saturday by the Kraken for the 2nd annual Back-to-School Celebration at the Family First Community Center in Renton. Nguyen had brought May and her younger brother, Alex, 4, to the event for some afternoon fun and to visit various booths set up in its gymnasium and parking lot, where school supplies and other treats were given away.

But she’d never imagined her daughter, clad in a dress, taking one of the sticks provided by the Kraken and spending nearly a half hour on the court with other children – some of them twice her size -- whacking away at random hockey balls and the occasional ankle or two.

“Nobody in our family has ever played this sport before,” said Nguyen, of Vietnamese origin. “Both of my children do martial arts, but now she told me she wants to take hockey lessons.”

Exposing more children to hockey who otherwise wouldn’t play it is just one reason Kraken staffers and members of the team’s One Roof Foundation (ORF) charity arm turned out at the community center, founded just two years ago by now-retired Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin. The bigger reason for attending was seen not only through the ball hockey court, but also an adjacent information booth where team staffers gave away Kraken and ORF-branded practice jerseys, water bottles, notebooks, coloring pages, keychains, hockey cards and other items.

“Mostly it’s just about being here and showing the people that we care,” said Jacob Hall, a Kraken manager of social impact and development. “We’ve had people tell us, ‘We’d like to see your team in our community,’ so this is a way we can do that and meet the community where they’re at.”

The community center is in the densely populated Benson Hill and Cascade portion of Renton, with nearly 31% of its population living below the poverty line. One-fifth of the ethnically diverse, historically underserved community is under age 18, highlighting the need for more recreational services for families and youth.

As well as the need for a Back-to-School Celebration. The center sits adjacent to Cascade Elementary and has about nine or 10 schools within a three-mile radius.

“This is just a great way to bring the community together and to help provide some really needed resources for the families in the area,” said Jackie Montgomery, the center’s executive director of community resources. “Everyone is having a wonderful time, and they have the opportunity to not only get free backpacks and school supplies but also build community connections and have a great time.”

Retired Seahawk Doug Baldwin was on hand along with members from his former team, while the Mariners also sent staffers to operate a batting cage on-site. This was the Kraken’s first time attending the event, and Baldwin said having them and the other teams show up is important, given that the South King County community can often feel overlooked.

“One of the things I know to be true is that to have a championship team, you’ve got to have a championship culture,” Baldwin said. “Championship-winning culture is when you have a group of folks who really care about a mission and about something greater than themselves. And to have the Kraken as a part of that team -- their community record speaks for itself. They are a championship-winning culture in that regard, and to have them with us, it enables us to do more to serve the community in the ways that we want to serve it. So, I’m grateful the Kraken are on our team.”

Hall said the Kraken have explored bringing some of that culture to the community on a more permanent basis as part of the plethora of ball hockey programs they’ve helped get started in schools throughout the region. But for him, the day was still mainly about demonstrating to people in the community that the Kraken care enough to show up to one of their events.

Attendee Nguyen certainly seemed to appreciate the team’s presence as her daughter, May, took slap shots on the makeshift Kraken ball hockey court.

“She’s certainly very active out there,” Nguyen remarked.

Her daughter finally exited the court somewhat exhausted, but saying she enjoyed hitting the ball with her stick. And that she’d like to keep doing it in a larger setting.

“Now, I really want to go and do the (hockey) lessons!” she proclaimed.