The Hockey Volunteer

The Hockey Foundation

2009-07-26T17:32:00.002-04:00

I am very excited to announce the launch of The Hockey Foundation! The Hockey Foundation is a metamorphoses of "The Hockey Volunteer"^TM.

From The Hockey Foundation website:

The Hockey Foundation’s primary mission (aka Mission Statement) is to operate with these goals in mind:

Respect the history, traditions and rules of ice hockey
Uphold the highest level of moral conduct surrounding the game
Provide the greatest opportunity to those with the greatest need
Support the training of ice hockey wherever there is a desire to improve
Encourage growth of ice hockey in non-traditional regions
Foster the interaction of ice hockey fans & players from around the globe
Collaborate with people/organizations that feel passionate about ice hockey

So with this in mind. I would like to refer you over to hockeyfoundation.org, where you can find this blog, view nearly all of the pictures AND videos of hockey in India within the website, and keep track of new developments and programs. This blog is being retired, although I am keeping the moniker "The Hockey Volunteer"^TM as a personal brand. Hence the "TM".

Thank you for following this blog. Your support has been invaluable!

Adam

Overcoming Technical Difficulties

2009-07-17T23:38:00.002-04:00

It took a long time, but I have finally been able to upload a large selection of pictures and videos that were stuck in a damaged hard drive from the broken laptop I ended up scrapping in India.

The pictures were taken by Ashley Morton, one of the group leaders from VIS (Vermont Intercultural Semesters), during her time in Ladakh. We were able to spend a couple of weeks together teaching hockey. Her pictures are fantastic (much better than mine!), and provide you with a great view of the hockey players in Ladakh - and the conditions that they play in.

(The pictures from the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia are still stuck in the other damaged drive, but I have renewed optimism regarding their retrieval, so stay tuned for that update)

PICTURE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hockeyidealist/collections/72157621179805535/

The videos were the ones I took before my camera broke. There is no editting, just raw footage. Clips are divided up based on their categories, and encompass hockey, as well as what life is like living in Ladakh.

VIDEO LINK: http://www.youtube.com/user/HockeyVolunteer

As you browse through all of these, please remember that donations you make will help improve that state of hockey in Ladakh.

Donations allowed this program to get off the ground, and now we have the opportunity to provide sustained support.

Please help if you can.

Adam

What's new?

2009-07-12T00:08:00.002-04:00

So, you may have thought I had fallen off the face of the earth. Or you followed along on my adventures when I was traveling, whether through Twitter, or Facebook.

I have been back home now for just under a month, and after getting used to life in the great city of New York (and the tiring suburbs of Long Island), I am happy to confirm that things are progressing.

As I promised on the video from Sarah Elizabeth Foster (located on the bottom portion of this site), I planned on filing for non-profit status upon return of a successful trip. Well, the trip was successful, so now I am reviewing the legal aspects, and filling out the paper work, and then handling the matters that will not only officially establish this initiative as a not-for-profit charity, but will also allow prior donors to claim their donations as tax exempt.

I want to thank those people here, and in due time, personally, for donating to an idea before it had matriculated, but now it is blooming, because of the support of some very generous and giving people, that donated amounts ranging from $2 to $500.

Now it's time to really blow this program open.

In a few weeks you will receive more messages from me, first on here, and eventually, on the new website that I am also constructing at this moment. I will discuss with you the plans of the organization, and once again share with you the experiences in India.

As we all know, hockey is a year round sport in North America, but every year, it is an expensive endeavor to get off the ground around India, and your support is needed now more than ever. If you can contribute, please do.

If you want your donation to go to general programming, organization founding, infrastructure, equipment, India, anything, please leave a comment when you make your donation, and by law, that is where your donation will go.

Your support in these early stages of an organization looking to make a long term goal of "sharing happiness and changing lives, one puck at a time" will never be forgotten!

Please donate securely by using the ChipIn client on the side of the page.

Thanks!

Adam Sherlip
The Hockey Volunteer

Overdue Update

2009-05-09T16:18:00.002-04:00

One of my most recent posts (although it certainly wasn't recent time-wise) mentioned that I was trying to go to Europe for hockey-related work.

Some of you may or may not be aware, but I am already here in Europe...Bern, Switzerland to be exact.

We have just concluded the IIHF World Congress, and have also been watching the IIHF World Championships.

I attended the conference as a delegate of India, and hope that what has transpired will help India and Asian hockey grow!

That will be my only report regarding the IIHF World Congress. The next plan is to attend some IIHF Development Camps in Finland in July.

In the meantime, there will be some final posts regarding Indian hockey in the coming weeks, as well as more pictures (and videos?) as I have an opportunity to do so.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions, comments, concerns or ideas.

I still check my email regularly.

Adam

Rumor has it...

2009-04-15T08:32:00.002-04:00

that I will be going to Europe. For hockey.

I cannot confirm or deny this rumor as of yet, nor can I provide any details, but this potential detour before returning to New York is to help grow the program...in a few ways.

I still need your support though, now more than ever!

There is so much in the wood-works here (I want to be as transparent as possible, but I can't divulge everything before it has happened!), all in the spirit of promoting hockey around the world, sharing happiness and changing lives, one puck at a time.

If you can, please donate.

ONE UPDATE I CAN RELEASE: I have begun the procedures to establish this initiative as a not-for-profit corporation, hopefully retro-active to mid-December, when all of this began. If/when everything is complete, your donations will be tax deductible.

Another question for you...

2009-04-13T04:22:00.002-04:00

While I have not entirely finished writing about my experiences this Winter with Indian/Ladakhi hockey (There's 1 under construction, with the potential for more posts), there are a few things that come to mind that I would like your feedback on, as my loyal readers:

Would you like to read about the experiences I have had in India, independent of hockey? You may or may not be aware, but I have done a lot of travel around India, as I've been doing my writing. Most of my major posts under the "India Ice Hockey" category have been produced between Abu Dhabi, Mumbai (Bombay) & now Kolkata (Calcutta). The writing style would be similar to this blog (as if I knew how to be disimilar to myself), but would not be based on timeline travel, but rather categorically (e.g. Near-death experiences, adventures, pollution, beggars, etc.). There are no shortage of travel writings, or writings about India, but I'd like to believe I can share my months of travel and experience in a new and unique way. So to repeat the question, and expand upon it: Would you like to read about the experiences I have had in India, independent of hockey, and if so, would you prefer that it be posted on this blog, or my other one (thesurelip.com)?
As stated early on in this initiative, the mission of "The Hockey Volunteer" is to travel around the world to help developing hockey countries, and change lives, one puck at a time. With that in mind, I would like your suggestions/recommendations/ideas on where to go next. I am in discussion with a handful of organizations around the world, but for now, I will keep that to myself, and see what you come up with! So, to repeat: Where should "The Hockey Volunteer" travel to next, sharing happiness and changing lives, one puck at a time?

Please respond to these questions in the comments section of this blog post, so that it could allow potential discussion.

I hope to hear from you!

More Tech Issues

2009-04-10T07:05:00.001-04:00

At the end of the tournament, I spent a long night copying pictures off of the cameras of every player on the team, with the goal of posting them on Flickr.

Be that as it may, my technology karma has struck again, and the pictures (along with MANY other pictures & files), have magically disappeared off of my external hard drive.

Don't know what to do.

India Ice Hockey, Part 5: IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia

2009-03-31T05:40:00.012-04:00

So, here we are, at last. Morning time, before puck drop. The tournament was organized in two divisions, A & B.

A DIVISION

Thailand
Malaysia
Mongolia
India

B DIVISION

United Arab Emirates
Hong Kong
Singapore
Macau

I assume the intention was to have the groups divided evenly in talent. I don't know if that's how it played out.

Our fate in this tournament was sealed long before we even set foot on the ice. There was going to be no Miracle. We weren't going to pull together like Little Giants, Bad News Bears, or Mighty Ducks. We were going to get dominated. But we were going to do it gracefully.

If losing was inevitable (it was, there's only so much determination that you can have, but if you're over-matched, it's that simple), we were going to make sure we skated hard every second of the game. We'd continue to huff and puff, and if we didn't blow the house down, then we'd develop short-term memory loss and go out there and do it again.

If we get scored on and beat while playing our best hockey, doing everything we possibly could to win the game, constantly improving, then this would be an incredible achievement, and a great stepping stone for the India Ice Hockey program.

GAME 1: INDIA VS. THAILAND
The first game of the tournament was India vs. Thailand. Being the first international game for the guys, there's no denying the tension that they'd feel. I felt it in high school hockey playoffs; they're representing their country (although at the lowest internationally sanctioned hockey tournament, but still). They had to play on a rink nearly twice the size of what they're accustomed to, with a flat ice surface, boards, and an opposing team that is big, strong and talented.

The night before, as reviewed the IIHF Rule Book with the captain of the team (I had read through the whole book on the flight to Dubai & bus ride to Abu Dhabi). I highlighted points about penalties (again), off-sides (again), and other technicalities to be aware of when on the ice, including his responsibilities as captain (to ask the referee for an explanation of penalty, or request a time-out), and what he can't do (go onto the ice from the bench to ask the referee for explanation, or argue anything). After this review, the captain gave me his (requested) opinion on the state of the team and which goalie should start the first game. After watching them in practice, I felt otherwise, and started the other goalie. He played pretty well. The first period went much better than I expected. I definitely think it helped that Akshay had arrived from his Europe business travel and came onto the bench (I had no assistant coach, as the one I wanted to join the team from Ladakh didn't get his passport processed in time), speaking to the team in Hindi, the 2nd language for many of them, especially since I speak faster as I get more riled about during the game (only natural). He was able to communicate what I wanted them to do, in a way that was a little more understandable, and was a much cheerleader on the bench! Nonetheless, 3-0 by the end of the first.

First intermission was about staying focused, skate hard, check some people (they were obviously physically intimidated, which really just amounts to emotional intimidation), and stay in their positions. This would become the theme message of the entire tournament.

They were clearly overwhelmed, intoxicated by the experience, and were playing like they were drunk, stumbling around the rink, getting nervous, not doing anything that we had practiced or discussed repeatedly. 7-0 at the end of the second.

For no good reason, the other goalie decided to put himself into the game. I let that go, as it didn't hurt to give him some early experience, as we were already down by a large margin. Unfortunately, he didn't hold up very well. Final score, 14-0.

We did a lot of things wrong in this game, skating around the ice like headless chickens. We discussed this during and after the game, with Akshay providing additional translation and support. More than anything, it was the mental mistakes that were holding us back. Sometimes thinking too much is no different than not thinking enough, and no matter if they were completely clueless, or thinking about every little thing, they were not focused on staying in their position, checking the player with the puck, skating hard at all times, making short passes, not letting players behind them on defense, making line changes properly, or even lining up for the face-off properly.

Some of these things are more complex than others, but not by much. It's not like these were strategies even, they were just general points. I can understand a fast player skating by you sometimes, but when they are a half a zone away, and you are attacking the guy with the puck, it's inevitable on the first, second or thirtieth time that this player will just chip it forward to the guy waiting at the other end of the rink, ready to score on a breakaway. The learning curve wasn't sloping upwards. If I can recall my trigonometry and calculus, this would be equal to zero, or infinity. I don't know. I cheated my way through most of 11th & 12th grade math (pre-calculus, College Calculus, A.P. Calculus)...seriously. Whatever the mathematical value, they didn't improve within the 1st game, but maybe that was from their jitters. Hopefully game 2 would be better.

GAME 2: INDIA VS. MONGOLIA
Prior to the second game, on the recommendation of Akshay, we had a team meeting. We held the meeting in the cafeteria, and set out to do a post-game analysis from day 1, since it was the first time any of them had experienced something like this.

Akshay had spoken to much of the team the night before, and mentioned to me that the guys were confused on the ice, and would prefer to play with the players they played with in Ladakh, whether it was from one of the civilian or military teams.

In our meeting, I spoke calmly and plainly, explaning to them that my job as coach is to put the best lines on the ice that will help the team win (or in this case, lose gracefully). At the same time, I also wanted to give everyone some playing time (although not necessarily equal time), and tried to balance out the lines a bit so that our "ankle benders" (players that skate so poorly, that they are angled inwards on their ankles, to the point where you worry they may break them) don't all go out on together, becoming a set of pylons on the rink for the opposition to skate circles around. They understood that, and then I elevated to the issue of greater concern.

Early on, I told everyone to stop referring to their Ladakhi team names. They are no longer on those teams, they are on the Indian team. For many of you, this may be reminiscent of Miracle, when the team was doing "Herbies" (suicide-skating) until Mike Eruzione said he played for Team USA. The point is the same. In order for the team to succeed, they needed to be a team, not an amalgamation of tribes, all fighting a common enemy.

This is a sticking point for me, because it's not like I was revealing a secret strategy to the team. This was one of the first things I said to the group, when I started working with them, and it was a philosophy I held to and employed throughout training. I wanted the team to do everything together. On the ice, they did drills upon my selected player combinations. When I gave the team down time, I wanted them to intermingle. And when I left Ladakh (both times), I requested that they train as a team (they told me they trained individually). Their was no cohesion in the group, and the drama that the group from one of the military branches created when they negotiated over the flights just added to the division, whether they realized it or not.

After scolding them (diplomatically, of course) for not being a team, I made them get into groups, based upon the lines I arranged from the first game, and told them to talk. About anything they would like...except hockey. They needed to get to know each other better. I made sure not to do those really horrible group activities that camps make kids do. I know it is effective, but it's so damn uncomfortable, and with the group I had, this would've been too difficult, especially in English.

Even though they were all speaking Ladakhi, I could tell when they were talking hockey, and interjected, focusing them back on non-hockey issues. It was nice to see they cared about the game, but at this juncture, improving their game was going to be more about interpersonal development than technical adjustments.

When the team-building session concluded, they jogged back to the locker room, and got ready to play Mongolia.

Just a few years ago, Mongolia was a struggling organization. They have definitely improved, but were by no means the best team in the tournament, more like bottom half. Their players had an air of cockiness though, which could be harnessed and make them better, or can get out of control, and hinder their growth.

The pre-game speech identified some of the keys to being successful on the ice, coming out like a group of gang-busters and skating as hard as they possible can, fore-checking the puck incessantly and maybe even use their shoulder pads a bit and throw a body check now and again.

I started our other goalie for this game (the one that forced his way onto the ice in the 3rd period of the 1st game). The guys came out like gangbusters, and skated hard throughout the game. They checked a decent amount, had a few scoring chances, and even changed lines much better. Overall, it was an incredible improvement in energy from them. If only they were able to manufacture a goal!

At one point, a reporter leaned over the glass to ask to do an interview, to which I responded, "How about after the game, I'm a bit busy coaching right now".

Our goalie made some decent saves (and some weak ones), but when you are constantly being peppered with shots (picture Goldberg from The Mighty Ducks, when he's tied to the posts and they fire shots at him endlessly...only to leave him tied to the net), you can't help but let in a few. Or 10. Nonetheless, this was our best effort in the tournament. Final Score, 10-0.

Akshay helped with the translation again on the bench and in the locker room, and wished the team all the best, as he was heading back to India to take care of more business. He and I completed a couple of interviews with the press, and he was on his merry way. I wish he could've stayed throughout the tournament, because I definitely think the team responded well to him, especially since they understood what he was saying. His parting words (well, kind of), were to "speak slower". In actuality, they were more like "good luck!", but the speak slower was a key point in there, which I acknowledged, but in a manner typical of feedback, I had to give my side, which was totally legit: in my excitement of hockey, I lost focus on how to speak, and just said whatever came to mind, but I will definitely try to work on speed of speech.

The post-game speech was generally positive, lauding the hard work by the goal scorer, and the others that "threw the body" (checked people), but still addressing the need to stay focused, stay in position, and keep the shifts short and accurate. Minor details.

As a team, we all went to one of the local malls (there's not much else to do in Abu Dhabi), where after spending countless hours debating the purchase of a new laptop (due to the failure of mine, technical prognosis: bad technology karma), and eventually walked out of the mall with two mini soccer balls.

GAME 3: INDIA VS. MALAYSIA
Our first two games were early in the morning, which made it difficult to do much more than eat and drive to the rink. Prior to the third game, which was in the afternoon, we did a morning group exercise at the hotel.

We did an hour of exercise, mimicking that of an NHL team a few hours prior to puck drop. We did short jog/sprints, did some calistenics, and some basic exercises (jumping jacks and the like). I then took out the soccer balls, and we kicked the ball around in the air, which helps get the blood flowing and enhances foot/eye coordination, and works the legs and core, essential to success on the ice.

They had a few hours to relax by the pool (their favorite hotel activity, being that they live in the mountains, at 3,300m/11,500ft, where annual precipitation is roughly 1-2 inches. After that, it was off to the rink.

With 2 games under our belt, with a vast improvement between the two, I was confident that the team would come out like gangbusters the next morning, and really work hard on the ice. And you know what? They did! They were fired up, and knew that if they played flat hockey like they did in Game 1, there was no way they could succeed.

I started our first goalie for this game (the one I started in the 1st game), trying to give them equal playing time. The team came out working hard, and some players really rose to the challenge of skating hard. As promised, if they worked hard, they'd get more playing time, if they didn't, they'd sit. There is no star on the team, unfortunately, but the difference was pretty big between the better players and the incredibly poor players, including a few that not only couldn't skate, but apparently couldn't think either. A bad combination, to say the least.

The hard work from the previous game and this one paid off! In the second period, while shorthanded, one of our better players fore-checked hard in the offensive zone, pressuring the goalie, who had come out of the net to play the puck - as his defense was a bit lazy getting back into their zone. Our guy rushed hard from the left side of the zone (if you were on the ice, attacking), and the goalie shot the puck into his chest, which fortuitously bounced into the empty net.

It was a great moment.

I had always wondered whether I would be emotional when I'm not the one playing. As it is, from the time I was a teenager through today, when I score goals, I don't celebrate very often. I followed the Brett Hull mantra of put your head down and skate back to the face-off circle (although there have been a few rare occasions of celebrations, but nothing evoking Ovechkin's 50th). In this situation, with the India goal, I definitely did a fist pump with a cheer, and was elated for the team. It was hard work that got the goal, and while it wasn't pretty, it was well earned. 4-1, End of First Period.

The rest of the game was pretty unremarkable though. The guys weren't able to sustain the pressure as tightly, and were running all over the place in the defensive zone, allowing players to stand alone in front of the net (I wonder what will happen when that happens?), chasing them around the defensive zone (picture chasing chickens in a pen), and letting players get behind them while "defending" the neutral zone (between the blue lines). This resulted in a handful of scoring opportunities, which Malaysia capitalized on. Final score, 10-1.

INTERLUDE
After the game against Malaysia, they invited me out to dinner with the team, which I graciously accepted. I had noticed from the onset that their coach (a Canadian) was a bit distant with me, which may have something to do with the email I sent to the organization to offer my coaching services.

About that...

I had no idea what the coaching situation for the team was/is when I sent the email. Hence the inquiry email.
I was not soliciting to become the coach of the national program. Quite the contrary, I was offering to coach at any level, especially the kids. I definitely don't want to step on any toes.
I don't actually want to be the coach of any national team. The purpose of this program is to help anyone and everyone that is looking to grow their hockey program, imparting the values of the game and improving the lives of the players involved.

With that in mind, we went out and I tried my best to make conversation, showing that I'm not trying to steal his job. Naturally, we spoke about hockey. At one point, I was chatting with a group of his players, discussing some hockey from the tournament, in particular the game between Thailand and Malaysia from the evening before. This game was rough. Unnecessarily rough. When people don't know hockey, the first question they inevitably ask is, "isn't hockey violent?” My reaction is always the same, "No. Hockey's physical, not violent," which I view as a vital distinction. The point of checking is to get the puck, or to get someone off the puck and take them out of the play. Not to hit someone as hard as you can, which can cause injuries, and it did. That's all I said. With the tag at the end, "...and you [pointing to an injured player] suffered because of it."

Apparently I stepped over the line, because their coach got annoyed and responded with "I can coach my own team. The other guy got injured too."

I don't know about you, but in a moment of excitement of talking about hockey, and sharing sympathy for an injured player, I didn't think I had done anything wrong. I knew the other player got injured too, which was my initial point. There were multiple injuries, with players being taken off the ice by stretcher because of the unnecessary roughness. I also didn't tell them how to play hockey, which I would define as coaching.

To add to that, this is a friendly tournament, with players that are nowhere near NHL careers, and a little bit of hockey sense can go a long way.

Whether I was right or wrong, I fought through the awkward moment at the dinner table, attempting to uphold the values I hold so dear to the sport (accountability, honesty, selflessness) and apologized. Twice. To no avail. He pretty much disregarded the apology both times, and we didn't speak to each other for the rest of the tournament.

Sorry to sour the moment.

But in some ways, it doesn't get much better.

GAME 4: PLAYOFF ROUND: INDIA VS. SINGAPORE
Singapore is a good team with an interesting story. Their ice rink closed down, and although they got to practice once in the tiny rink that Malaysia uses inside a mall, they spent their whole time practicing inline hockey. And it worked!

Just a few years ago, they were also a struggling organization, but their coach/manager/president (an American) had improved their program, and they had some talented players, comparatively speaking, of course.

For India, this game was our low point. The first period was sloppy, in every way I've identified, and then some, and in the first intermission, I begged the team to focus, and listed to me (I was consciously speaking slower and clearer, with simpler words).

It is getting redundant to say this, and I wish I could give you better details, but this time they didn't even come out hard, and got worse as the game progressed, making the same mistakes they had in the first three games: bad line changes , allowing forwards to stand alone in front of the net, not passing, not skating hard, letting forwards behind them, attacking the puck carrier when they are the "one" in a 2 or 3-on-1, and still didn't line up in the right spot for face-offs.

In the second period, they continued to make terrible mistakes, at one point getting a too-many-men penalty because one of the players made the executive decision to go on the ice even though I told each line who was going out next, by calling out their line number, and patting them on the back, and reiterating it many times, all game long. He didn't even come back when we (mostly I) started yelling.

I had one player skate a 3 minute shift, after I called him off multiple times when he was near the bench.

That was it for me. I'd had enough. Time for a new strategy.

It was only 5-0 at the end of the 2nd period, mostly because of our goalie, but also because of some missed opportunities for Singapore. I was sure they would score more in the 3rd, so I went into the locker room with a very different mentality.

This is practically verbatim:

"OK. Since you guys aren't listening to anything I say, there's no point in me talking and coaching. I am not saying a word next period. You figure out your lines, you figure out when to go out, since you already do it on your own. Good luck," and walked out of the locker room.

I spent the whole period in the corner of the bench, watching the game, and what I saw was even more disheartening. Singapore let up.

They spent the 19 of the 20 minutes of the 3rd period (yes, I counted), passing the puck around in our defensive zone. They had multiple "scoring opportunities", including break-aways, but didn't take a single shot.

Within 30 seconds of the period starting, I even told the coach to keep it coming, because there was a lesson in humility and hard work that needed to be learned by Team India, but they didn't shoot.

There are a couple of conflicting opinions about this. The selfish opinion (not for me or India) is that Singapore has very little opportunity to get a chance to be so dominant, and work on passing for such a long time. It's actually a very good puck control and power-play drill (even though we were not short-handed if you count the players on the ice), and a great opportunity. I don't believe that was the motivation, but I could be wrong.

On the other hand, I have always been of the belief - and from discussions, I know I'm not alone - that you play the game, no matter what. If you are better, then you score more goals. If you are worse, then you get scored on. That's the spirit of the game. It's more insulting to do anything to the contrary, as it shows a lack of respect for your competitor. To an educated fan, player, coach or official, it is dishonorable and says "I think so low of your ability that I'm just going to play around."

I was upset that they did this, but it was just another teaching point for the team. A point that some comprehended, and others could never. Final (official) score, 5-0 (should've been 15-0).

I reported back to Akshay with the score, after he emailed me hearing a rumor that we won. When I told him that we won 5-0, I added the disclaimer that while it may be important for the public to see the improvement in score (buh-bye to that theory), he shouldn't feel proud about it, due to the circumstances.

GAME 5: RELEGATION GAME: INDIA VS. MACAU
I had hope for this game, playing against the 2nd worst team in the tournament (no disrespect intended, but the scoreboard proved it). I thought we could at least score a few more goals and prevent a disaster. Unfortunately, that would not be the case. The team looked defeated the moment they went onto the ice. I tried a different strategy, not only returning to positive reinforcement, but once again appealing to their pride and determination.

That failed. We got shut out by the 2nd worst team. Final score, 8-0.

The Finals were UAE vs. Thailand, definitely a quality match. UAE went through Hong Kong to get there, but only because the rounds were structured in a way that prevented the higher ranking teams in the division to play the lower ranking teams, i.e. 1 played 2 and 3 played 4 in the first round for each division.

Thailand came out with the lead, but their poor passing and defense got the best of them. UAE, which had an abundance of passing, as well as a talented goalie, kept sustained pressure, and capitalized on mistakes, coming from behind with 2 quick goals in the middle of the 3rd period. With a massive crowd in attendance (and manufactured cheering, with officials in the stands leading chants), and an empty net goal to seal their fate, they defeated Thailand 5-3.

The Thai Ambassador to the UAE and a high ranking Sheikh of the UAE were both in attendance.

FINAL THOUGHTS
During the tournament, a few things became clear:

Abu Dhabi Tourism went above and beyond - possibly setting the gold standard - as the host. They provided buses, cars (mostly new Audi sedans), and the hotel (a 5 star***** Hilton) complementary. Their staff was pretty accommodating, although they had to be prodded a little bit to get your way (or maybe just my way), and outside of some communication issues, really did a great job.
The Abu Dhabi team had an unfair advantage of practicing every morning, while the other teams only had 1 practice. I know they were the host team, and it's a (relatively) friendly tournament, but that's a bit unfair.
The best teams were far and away better than their competition. Teams like Thailand, Hong Kong, UAE, and Malaysia (to an extent) were much better than Mongolia, Macau, Mongolia, and India.
It will be difficult to continue this tournament if the future organizers don't meet the standards of the UAE. The costs that they covered were tremendous for developing organizations like India, and could leave out the teams trying to improve at the game.
There apparently was a meeting that discussed setting minimum competency to compete in this tournament. This is concerning on a few fronts. 1) I was never notified of the meeting, if it took place. 2) This tournament is developmental at best, with no official IIHF standing other than a stamp of recognition (more or less), until it is connected to the Div III championship. 3) It singles out teams like India, which is no different than the other teams in the tournament just a few years ago. Who knows if this actually happened, but if it did, it's in poor taste all around.
If the Indian hockey system (at all participatory levels) stays at the current level, there will be no chance of India becoming competitive in hockey. That being said, if the government is more receptive to supporting the program, and the people that are currently on the front lines in Northwestern India change their attitudes and behaviors, there is potential for the program to greatly improve and succeed. Will it happen? I am trying to make it so, and I truly hope it does, but I need help, from within, and from everyone in the hockey community. I consider hockey to be the finest example of an international sport, and it will get better as the lower level teams improve, especially with the support of the better countries and hockey lovers around the world. Scratch that, you don't need to love hockey, just love how important it is to the people involved in the game, and help share happiness through hockey!

IIHF Article on the Tournament

http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/hash/b023a754ac/article/uae-wins-challenge-cup-of-asia/187.html

India Ice Hockey, Part 4: Even Closer to the Puck Drop

2009-03-27T14:48:00.006-04:00

At this juncture in the journey, it's worth restating the mission of "The Hockey Volunteer": to share happiness through hockey and impart the values that the sport can impart onto others when fully understood, appreciated, and embraced.

That mission statement is not independent of hockey, though. In many ways, it is essential to becoming a better hockey player. If you play the game (now or in the past) at any competitive level, you have probably come across a player that just irks you when he (I'm going to use the masculine form, because I'm a guy, and that's 98% of the players I play against) is on the ice, on the bench, or in the locker room. He exudes an attitude that makes you hate playing with or against him. What makes matters worse is that he has skills.

I'm not sure if I would like to believe that this only exists in my home region, Long Island, NY. On one side, I'd like to believe that the rest of North America has less entitlement issues, and teach better manners to their children, reinforcing that there's hope elsewhere, and it's just a small community of these types of players.

On the other side, I know that there are people all over that disrespect the game and those around them when they behave in ways that counter the sport: cockiness, overt aggression (especially in non-checking leagues), taunting, and selfish play. While we'd like to believe our habitat is either the best or worst place in the world (we are a people that think in extremes), this seems to be the case everywhere.

The reason I write about this now, is that what bothers me the most is that these players could've gone so much farther in the sport (even as professionals), if they just upheld the values of the game. Their skills on the ice become enhanced when those around them respect the player. They'll pass more to the player (and expect some passes back), they'll defend their teammate more (and expect that treatment back, too), and the opposition will end up playing more evenly against this player, not too aggressive, not too passive.

Case in point, Sean Avery. The guy has had more than enough troubles with his teams because of his character. Even before he got dumped by the Dallas Stars due to his "sloppy seconds" comment (I was hysterically laughing when I heard that, just so you are aware), he wasn't resigned by the Rangers due to personality conflict. I can tell you that after some discussions I've had with some "tough-guy" NHL'ers is that even some of them were a bit wary of Avery. He's the type of player that is crazy enough to make you play crazy around him, and it can easily result in someone getting severely injured. The guy is a fast and talented player, and as long as he can keep his cool (to a certain extent, he is an agitator, and a damn good one at that!); he can really thrive in the NHL.

I wanted to instill this in the Indian (Ladakhi) team as best I could. It is more important to play with high character, than to just go through the motions. It may sound simple, but you need to truly understand the game before you can truly succeed, and part of that success is having mental strength.

Without mental toughness, it's easy to lose focus. When you get scored on, or you can't score goals, you start to feel hopeless and overpowered. When you get checked hard, the inevitable bruises can feel like a muscle strains/ligament sprains (tears). Physical intimidation overwhelms your performance on the ice.

Since the Indian team had never played in an arena, or against international teams (the Canadian High Commission team DOES NOT count), or with real checking, I knew it was going to be more important than ever to strengthen their mental toughness.

But what about the technical skills? What about their familiarity with an international rink? What about reinforcing their team-play (i.e. passing, covering open areas in the rink, or power-play & penalty-kill situations). What do we focus on?

There was only so much time available to me for our one and only practice the day before the tournament began. Akshay requested that we receive 2 hours of practice time, as opposed to the 60-90 minutes that other teams received, and the organizers agreed due to our circumstances.

They also agreed to supply our team with some proper equipment, as many of the guys were missing elbow pads, among many other articles of equipment. 1-2 weeks prior to our arrival, I had a serious of email conversations with the organizers, after Akshay had gotten them to agree to provide equipment. When we arrived to our locker room, there were huge boxes filled with 10+ sets of used equipment that local players allowed us to borrow.

What an act of hospitality! This was the type of environment that I was excited to have the team participate in, more about camaraderie and support, than about raw, ruthless competition.

Wrongly, I assumed that the pro-shop in Abu Dhabi would be cheaper than the equipment available in India. It was more expensive! A basic wood stick cost the equivalent of US$100 ($30 in the U.S.), and an average, 2+ year old composite stick was $275 ($75-100 in the U.S.). I told the team to hold off buying any of the equipment there, until I could find a better alternative. What I did demand was that they sharpen skates, but as practice was starting in a few minutes, only a handful could do it before we stepped onto the ice, the rest would have to wait until afterwards.

It was the first time I had stepped onto an artificial surface in over 2 months, or any sheet of ice in over 1 month. But just like riding a bike, you get your senses back quickly. Hockey players can attest to this, your feet develop their own set of senses when you're on the ice. Every minute detail is conveyed and stored through a 1 cm tall piece of steel, and some plastic, leather and cotton (if you're fancy, include graphite, Kevlar, or other nifty synthetics).

This ice was not great, and neither was the skate sharpening I received. I pitched way too forward, more than I usually do, and cut into the ice way too easily. I can only imagine how this felt to guys only used to skating on the surfaces available in Ladakh, whether it is a rink with potholes, speed bumps, or shards of broken ice. As I gave a last inspection to their skates, I noticed that many of them had about 1/4 cm of steel left. What this translates to is that every time they will try to turn, the plastic of the blade holder will hit the ice, and they'll lose their feet from beneath them.

Falling aside, I began practice with some casual skating around the whole rink. In between the blue lines (neutral zone) they'd skate at full speed, and skate normally in the attack zones. Apparently this was too complicated. Even though I had them follow me, players would skate in the wrong direction in the attack zone.

At that point, I knew we were going to have problems. I tried to do a few more full ice skating drills, just so they can get acquainted with the size of the surface, and the ways it feels, and even after a brief demonstration and translation, they still were making the simplest of mistakes.

Now I started to get annoyed.

As I have probably stated a few times, a player said to me on the very first day of training in Ladakh that, "we're not basic." While they didn't fully convince me otherwise, I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and increase the difficulty of the drills, if only mildly. This was in Ladakh, where I left without full confidence in their abilities, but left them with a practice plan nonetheless, hoping to see a noticeable improvement when we reconvened.

Now that we were back together, it was clear that while I was away, they didn't practice as much as I had hoped, or they just weren't learning the basics as fast as I had expected. This, combined with a major lack in critical thinking and the politicking that went into the team selection, as outlined in the prior post, were already proving to me that this was going to be a disaster on the ice.

Now, I know it's important to exude confidence, trust, and belief in others, coupled with positive reinforcement. And believe me, I tried that. Many times. Even before the tournament started, I had many bouts of over-confidence, believing that the team was well capable of greatly improving. They were simple drills. Why couldn't they do them?

Over time, the plan changed from positive reinforcement ("You're representing your home, and I believe you can prove to everyone that your passion will succeed on the ice") to frustration ("C on! This is easy. Kids can do these drills.") to begging ("I need you to pay attention to me. If you can't pay attention to me when I try to teach you, there's no way you will be able to succeed in a game situation").

There's a point about the mental toughness that I think needs to be stated, as it's been on my mind for quite some time now. I've had the opportunity (if you want to call it that) to take not only a stroll, but a sprint and a marathon (or a speed skate) down memory lane, in regards to my own life on and off the ice.

On the ice, there were many times that I lacked the mental toughness to take me farther in the game. I'd like to believe that wasn't the case, but I'd just be lying to myself, and to you by extension. I can recall training sessions where I'd get a migraine, which I'm sure was in my head (literally and figuratively). I had coaches that in retrospect were trying to make me tougher, and I balked at the occasion. I didn't even like to compete against other players, when I probably had as much talent as them.

This begs a few questions. First and foremost, have I grown? Have I changed? Am I mentally strong now? I guess I can't really answer that; I can only analyze it years down the road or get outside consulting. I'd like to believe I am. I know I'm more aware, but to what extent?

Also, more relevant to the team, am I just passing along my past (repressed?) frustrations out them? Am I actually doing things that make them tougher mentally, or am I just giving them a hard time? On this point, it's an emphatic: NO. I am not taking out my frustrations on them. In all of my pre-tournament practices and off-ice sessions, I utilized many different strategies. I made it a point early on, to suffer if they suffered. I spoke frankly, and honestly, but I also pleaded for the most out of them, and explained everything I could. I was diplomatic with them, begging for their feedback, especially from their leaders, and tried to act with as much humility as I could. They are the team, not me. I argued with anyone that tried to say I was more important (it happened), because at the end of the day, I will be on the bench, the rest of them will be on the ice, and there's no paycheck or contract to even prove I did anything. And I tried to remind the team of that. Even as the tournament progresses, you'll find that I try to change my strategy as much as possible, as I find that what I'm doing didn't work.

Practice continued difficultly. We ended up doing some basic drills, with the plan of moving through each drill every 10-15 minutes, at most. At one point, I attempted to explain to the team how to do a basic 3-on-0 drill, skating down the rink, passing to one another. I have been told that I speak fast, and it's an acknowledged fault (not really a fault, but for a team that barely speaks English, I can see how that would be tough), but I've still tried to use simple words. In particular, before the drill even started, I instructed the team to line up in three lines; one in the middle, and one in each corner. I pointed, spoke with simple words "Line up here, here and here," and then had it translated. Apparently this was way too complicated, and by the time 30 seconds had passed and they were standing around, fuddling, I lined them up to do a skating drill. This time around, it was their own fault, and I wasn't skating for their lack of attention. They may have had altitude to their advantage, but there's nothing more tiring than skating up and down an ice rink, over and over again. Either way, they needed it, as it was another reminder of just how big the rink is. Again, I pleaded with them to pay attention and work hard (a common theme in this practice) and after a dismal failure in the 3-on-0 drill, we proceeded into our breakout-fore-check drill.

The drill was a combination of two drills we had already done incessantly in Ladakh. In the breakout drill, the center dumps the puck into the corner. The defense retrieves the puck (or the goalie saves it, if he's not paying attention and the shot comes on net), and then make a pass behind the net. This pass is not something I wanted set in stone, but they ended up doing it that way almost every time. The purpose of the pass to the defensive partner was to get used to using your teammate and also familiarize the players with getting into positions that would support each other.

As that was going on, the forwards would come into the zone, and get ready for the pass from the defense. The wingers would come to the face-off circles along the boards, and the center would come down low, near his net. Depending on which way the puck would go, the center would criss-cross with the strong side winger. This is not necessarily what every team would do in hockey, but it was simple enough for them to do, and was just advanced enough to help them get the puck out of the zone effectively.

The pass could go to any player, but preferably the center on the strong side, as he will be in the least vulnerable position. He'd make a short pass to his teammate, follow his pass, and the puck carrier would go to his proper wing. Now begins the fore-check.

The moment the puck carrier crossed the red line (center line), they were instructed to dump the puck into the opposite corner (the zone they are attacking). This is called "dump and chase". The premise is quite simple, dump the puck in the corner in two ways, 1) shoot it lightly behind the goal line, but in a spot where the puck dies, and sits right by where you shot it, or 2) shoot it a bit harder along the side boards so that it rings around the rink, just hard enough to make it to the other side without the goalie stopping it in the process. From there, you chase after the puck like you are running from the police, hence the phrase. If you weren't huffing and puffing after the drill, you weren't skating hard enough.

I'm not the biggest fan of a dump and chase strategy, but there was a method to the madness. When the team did their SWOT Analysis is Ladakh, we agreed that their stamina would be a major strength, as their lungs were used to the lack of oxygen (about that...didn't help so much!), and I had hoped their training would make them even more prepared for intense skating. Also, since they weren't great puck-handlers or passers, the only option left to get any offensive pressure was to shoot the puck in, and then skate after it hard.

One forward would go after the player with the puck, the 2nd forward would go after the puck itself, and the 3rd player would hover around the top of the offensive zone, analyzing the situation and going where he thinks the puck is about to go, or attacking the moment the puck gets there. If the puck does move to another player on the opposing team, then the 3rd & 2nd players would apply the pressure, and the 1st would drop back.

This can be highly effective, especially if you play at a level where players aren't used to such intense pressure. It was our own "shock and awe" strategy.

Picture how this goes. I shoot the puck into my defensive zone, my defense retrieves it, exchanges it, passes back to me. I pass to my winger, who dumps it into the corner. He and the other winger go after the puck, as I stay high watching the play carefully. It's not only the 3 of us vs. the 2 defenders; our defenders that passed the puck out of our zone have now joined us. It's 5-on-2.

This is an impossible situation, as the minimum number of skaters allowed on the ice for any given team is 3, even if you get 10 players in the penalty box. That means that the offensive team should have no difficulty scoring, let alone retrieving the puck from the defense. It should be the type of scenario where the defensive team is so over-matched, that they just want to start hitting people out of frustration.

That wasn't the case for us. For the first 5-10 attempts, the defense cleared the puck successfully, and that's when we got the puck into the zone properly. What this signified was that they weren't skating hard. They weren't giving 100% of their energy and effort, because if they were, that puck would be taken away within seconds of it going into the zone.

We ended up doing this drill for over 45 minutes, executing it properly less than 5 times in total. For a bunch of guys that weren't basic, they sure weren't understanding or executing an essential component to the game, breaking out of the defensive zone, and attacking the offensive zone.

At this point, I was traveling independently of the team. I had arrived to the rink earlier than the team to watch some of the other teams practice, which proved to be irrelevant, as scouting the opposition wouldn't help us in any way. I spoke with the guys, and then let them go on their merry way.

For me, I had to stay at the rink for a meeting with all of the team officials. It was actually pretty interesting, as we reviewed the basic rules of the tournament, discussed some jersey colors, and checked the passports to make sure all players were proper citizens of their respective teams. I had to check Thailand, which if you didn't know, they have one of the most complex languages in the world, and one of the hardest to pronunciate, especially for language-stunted Americans.

Some Examples (these are not any of the players' last names): Nathabhakdi, Punyaratabandhu, Sadhanabongse, Simnkim

$5 to anyone that pronounces all of these properly and submits them to me through email

Interesting fact: Thais do not have the same last name, the way Americans/Canadians/British have Smith, Brown, Jones; Chinese have Wang, Li, Yi; the Indians have Kumar, Patel, Gandhi. It is actually part of recent Thai law (1913, I believe), that each family must have a unique surname, which can be registered with a bureaucracy that handles allocation. The newer immigrants tend to have longer names, as the shorter ones have already been claimed.

Snap back to reality.

The most interesting point came from the gentleman (originally from New Jersey) running/coaching/managing the Singapore association (their ice rink closed, the team had to practice through inline hockey), requesting that the Challenge Cup of Asia become a qualifying tournament for IIHF Division III (lowest level) World Championships. As of now, it's nothing more than a development tournament, and this would increase legitimacy to the tournament, and provide it with greater strength for future success. I thought it was a great idea, and I hope it gets ratified.

Once the meeting was over, I left for the hotel on my own, leaving the manager in charge of the team. There were cars available for officials and coaches, and buses for the teams, and staying consistent with my philosophy, I wanted the team to be independent minded.

Still, later that evening in the hotel, the players asked me if they could go out to dinner that night. "You're adults," I responded with a chuckle, "of course you can, do whatever you want!"

"Make sure you're all up early for breakfast, we have the first game tomorrow."

There is no more that I can talk about leading up to the puck drop, so I guarantee you, the next post will be about the games!

India Ice Hockey, Part 3: Being True

2009-03-27T09:30:00.004-04:00

A conscious decision was made prior to departing for Abu Dhabi for the 2nd IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) Challenge Cup of Asia (the 1st was in Hong Kong last year) that I was going to live by and promote the ideals of ice hockey - fun, hard-work, accountability, toughness, etc. - but still keep a distance between myself and the players. I was friendly, or at least in my opinion I was (sometimes I come off colder than I realize), but kept myself at arms length.

There were a few major reasons why I made this decision (from least to most important). I wanted to ensure that the team manager from the Ladakh Winter Sports Club was actively involved in managing the team during this trip, and didn't just take this as a vacation to the UAE. As the coach, my primary job is to worry about the team on the ice and support what they're doing off the ice, if it's related to hockey (although when you move up in ranks, there are usually trainers and managers and assistant coaches that do things like that, but we're not exactly the Montreal Canadiens here...maybe I should pick a winner...but we're not exactly the Detroit Red Wings here). Of course, I care about how they behave and conduct themselves at all times, and would love to instruct each and every person on how they should carry themselves.

Just imagine it! A world according to Adam, where everyone is single, plays hockey for 12 hours a day, drinks massive quantities of expensive tea, The Beatles play on satellite speakers orbiting the Earth, and the utopia that is the Star Trek universe becomes a reality.

Did I just admit to all of that?!

Coming back to reality...the point is that I can't be the team parent, especially since some players are 10-20 years older than me. With that in mind, I have made more than enough references to the way of life in Ladakh, and suffice it to say that they have a lot of development needed, in particular when it comes to analytical thinking and mental toughness.

Above all else, this was my primary motivation.

If, when all is said and done, these guys truly broadened their horizons, took some initiative, developed some toughness and determination, and maybe even learned some new things about life, then I can walk away elated. My experiences with them in Ladakh proved that this was not only important to their development as citizens of Earth, but also essential to their success in hockey.

I decided, though, that I would stay somewhat close to the captain and one of the goalies from the team, as they were the ones I used as team liaisons and translators. It was also important for them in their own hockey development, as this reaffirmed their leadership roles, and gave them a greater understanding of their responsibilities.

In the airport, I left the group mostly on their own to figure out how to get through. Out of 21 players on the team (a typical hockey roster can carry as many as 20 players, including the goalies, but one army player got added in because of politicking done by the army commander responsible for the team), nearly every single one of them had never left India before, save for 1 or 2. I wanted to see how they handled being fish out of water, as it was going to be a recurring theme over the upcoming week.

I waited for 15 minutes as they unloaded luggage off the bus and arranged themselves in groups of 4-6, based upon the reservation ticket. My ticket had 3 players, including the goalie that I kept in contact with, and even that was difficult.

I decided then that I couldn't budge, this was going to be about personal development first. It was the only way to succeed. The impaired education system in Ladakh was now rearing its head, and I was going to prove to them how important intelligence and critical thinking was, on the ice, and off.

I wouldn't have any reason to talk about a flight, if it was normal, but it wasn't. The team was booked on a budget Middle Eastern airline, which is not a concern to me, as the funds are and were very limited. Prior to the team arriving in Delhi for the press conference and departure, the other military branch's administration played hardball with the Ice Hockey Association of India, and ended up getting their flights paid for by the association as part of their condition for participating on the team, whereas the rest of the players either got funding, paid out of pocket, or had their division pay for the flight.

This infuriated me. I try my best to talk about character, and the ideals that the sport upholds, and this went against all of it. As it is, it's an honor and a privilege for these players to be on the team, as the only thing it does is boost their potential for better careers, better positions, and ultimately better lives. That should have no value! Plus, any branch of the Indian military has enough money to pay for 6 players to participate in an ice hockey tournament. I don't need to be an accountant to know that much.

I said it then when I found out about this, and I reiterate this point now, I would rather not have those players on the team at all if that's how it's going to be. I don't believe any of them were involved in what transpired, but they were the bargaining tools in this power struggle, and the only body that looses is the hockey team. A precedent of selfishness had been set, and now I had another battle to fight, reintroducing selflessness and teamwork.

Because of this ongoing negotiation, the rest of the team had been booked in economy class. By the time an agreement had been reached, economy had been sold out, so those players were confirmed in business class, along with the manager. I was booked in coach.

There's two tangents I need to take here. This situation happened to me once before. When I went to China, Angela and I flew coach on a 13 hour flight. It was brutal. I held a grudge for a long time about that, because it seemed like a terrible way to treat employees that were traveling to the opposite side of the world to help others. The least you could do was get them there comfortably, especially when the cost was a speck on the organization's operating budget.

When I was scheduled to return to China, something that never happened for me, I was again booked in coach, whereas my director at the time was booked in business class. This really ticked me off (apparently, it still does!), as it again showed a cheapness and lack of respect for people trying to help others, and I was a bit vocal about my disdain. For me, that was the beginning of the end.

In regards to this trip, the situation is entirely different, and while I wasn't offended about being in coach for a few hours, I wasn't thrilled about it either, considering the circumstances that led to some of the team (and the manager) being booked in business class (he was late with his passport, so it delayed his booking as well). I made sure that when I got to the airport, I would get myself upgraded, and I did. For free. I don't know which player, if any, got sent to coach as a result, but I do know that a handful of players, including the manager, sat in business class.

The budget flight flew into Dubai, which is not Abu Dhabi. Two and a half hours later, we arrived at our gorgeous hotel, tired (we were a few hours behind Indian time), and starving. Checking in was a nightmare, as the team would hover every once in a while, confusing everyone trying to check us in, myself included. There weren't enough rooms booked for the team, but the hotel graciously gave me the single I required, as I wanted to make sure I was free of distractions and disturbances from the team, and force them to take some responsibility for themselves, manager included. I didn't tell anyone where my room was, even when they asked.

My last act of babysitting was getting dinner for the team. One of the local volunteers drove me to a popular Middle Eastern restaurant (I love Middle Eastern food, but then again, I love food from everywhere!), something I had requested to enhance the culture shock for the team. I went alone, even after the goalie volunteering (rather, requested) to join. I declined. I ordered a massive hummus platter and falafel sandwiches for everyone, and arrived back at the hotel around 1:30am.

They were noticeably not thrilled with my food selection, which made it all the more important. They were in a foreign country, and they needed to be tolerant and understanding of the culture of that country, as they are the guests. Since they haven't traveled outside India (and maybe even if they had), this was not a natural philosophy for them. Not everyone ate, and some looked upset that they had to pay, but that was also part of the arrangement that everyone was notified of, with ample time to protest, drop out, or raise the funds required.

It was the last time I'd arrange anything for the team. It was up to them now.

The next morning, we'd have our first and only practice prior to the tournament officially starting, and it'd be the first time that they'd skate on an international rink, let alone an indoor one.

What type of practice would you plan?

I want to take a moment to step back a little bit to say thank you. As I was reflecting on this experience, and what transpired in whole with the team, I made sure to stick to a plan that I believed in, develop mental toughness, character, responsibility, teamwork, and foster critical thinking. In times of frustration and stress, I felt that maybe I wasn't focusing enough on developing skills, and that we'd fare better if I had (is this too much foreshadowing?), but it felt wrong to think that way.

It was only after a conversation with my mother, that I was reminded that this is exactly why I set out to do this mission, and it's exactly what I said I'd do. One of my earliest posts (Who I am and why do I love hockey?) describes why I love hockey (redundant), and why I believe it's more than just the best sport on Earth, but a powerful tool for improving the lives of people around the world.

As I got caught up in the heat of the moment, I forgot that mantra, even while living by it, and my mother, so often my conscience, reminded me of that exact point, single-handedly reassuring me that I'd kept my promise to myself, and the people that donated, while staying true to and honoring the game.

So thank you, Mom. I love you.

I thought this post was going to be about the tournament, but after seeing how much I wrote about the pre-cursors, the post on the tournament will come next.

A quick note...

2009-03-27T09:27:00.000-04:00

After a few discussions, it came to my attention that what I wrote in my previous post regarding money was a bit confusing. To clarify...

All money donated by a person to "The Hockey Volunteer" is only used for hockey related expenses, whether it be providing/shipping equipment to communities, training expenses, necessary gear, general expenses when volunteering
Personally donated money will never be used for administrative expenses, whether it be a business computer, office rent, etc.
Sponsorships, Foundation grants, and corporate donations will be the source of operating expenses, although excess revenue from these sources can also be for use on missions around the world
Tourism expenses not relating to a particular mission fall under my own personal budget, not that of the individual donors

ALL of these practices are what responsible organizations already do, and I just wanted to reiterate them to you.

I hope this helps.

New post is already under construction!

Adam

India Ice Hockey, Part 2: When Business is Fun

2009-03-25T15:57:00.004-04:00

A few days before we were scheduled to leave for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the team arrived in Delhi. They were put up in a hotel in the Pahar Ganj area of Delhi, which if it's a city unknown to you (about 1% of my readers are from India, so I know it is a mystery), it is one of the seediest, dirtiest, grimiest, and hippie-infested areas in Delhi, but it's cheap and accessible, and this hotel was pretty nice. Plus the team is from Ladakh, so in terms of amenities, this is still a big step up.

For myself, I visited the team at the hotel that afternoon, in a suit I had scrambled to buy the day before. I bought the suit for a variety of reasons. The day of purchase, I got a last minute invite to an uber fancy wedding at the Taj Palace in New Delhi of the same family I didn't know whose sangeet - a pre-wedding party - I attended a few days earlier at a beautiful farm house (which is the equivalent of an estate in the U.S.). For the tournament itself, I assumed there would be a few occasions to wear the suit, if I didn't wear it behind the bench - something I was debating about in my mind, as the team had never seen me in the suit.

When I was packing before departure in New York, I consciously decided to leave my suit and dress shoes behind, as my suitcase was already tightly packed, and I was traveling with extra hockey equipment. As it is, I'm historically an over packer, but in this case, I had to cut back on everything because I was packing for two seasons: freezing and scorching. That forced me to frantically buy a full suit outfit (suit, 2 shirts, 2 ties, socks, belt, shoes), on a budget trip...not the happiest day. At home, I have a half dozen suits, more belts and shoes than I know what to do with, and plenty of socks. If only I had brought 1-2 sets, things would've been a whole lot more convenient.

Anyway, I greeted the team at their hotel, in full business dress, because the day before departure for the UAE we had a press conference and photo session planned for that afternoon. They were accustomed to seeing me in 4-5 layers of shirts/coats, 2-3 layers of pantaloons, a wool cap with utterly pointless tassels, and a scruffy tri-color beard (black, white, orange...it drives me insane...now that I think about it though, it's 2 of the 3 colors of the Indian flag...if only my black hair was green!),. Now I showed up (relatively) clean shaven, with gel in my hair (I put gel in my hair once in Ladakh), and in a business suit. This was their first sign that they weren't in Kansas anymore, and I wouldn't let up.

The team received their black and red colored (the alternate universe colors of India) track suits with India Ice Hockey on the backs, as well as their plain green and plain orange jerseys, with "INDIA" on the front and their jersey number on the back. My first issue with these jerseys was that even though I spoke to the printer face-to-face regarding what he was to do with the jerseys, I got back three green "13" jerseys, and my XL/XXL jerseys meant to go to the goalies, had an "A" printed on them for alternate/assistant (it's referred to as either interchangeably) captains, even though I specifically said which number would get the jersey, what size that jersey can be, and the fact that there are rules that prohibit the goalies from being captains.

For the time being though, we had to hurry to The Press Club in the track suits, with sticks in hand, and some equipment bags in stowage (when I see that word, I picture someone saying "storage" with a lisp, like in Monty Python, Life of Brian). We arrived 45 minutes late (partially my fault, partially the teams fault, partially someone else's fault - all for different reasons).

Before the conference officially began, all of the photographers in attendance took photos of the team with their sticks, holding them out, or in a face-off like arrangement. I have to admit, my only main problems with this were that, 1) I have sensitive eyes and ALWAYS squint in pictures, 2) we were outside, and I have sensitive skin, which transforms me from "Powder" to a stocky flamingo, 3) we were outside, I was in a dark suit, it was 80 degrees out, therefore, I was sweating a lot, and 4) my guys lined up awkwardly for their face-off and they didn't even hold their sticks properly.

After what felt like an eternity taking pictures, we went inside and the conference began with myself, the manager of the team - a member of the Ladakh Winter Sports Club, the Presiding Officer of the Ice Hockey Association of India - Colonel Kumar, and the Treasurer, all on stage, with microphones and bottles of water. Akshay couldn't attend, as he had a business trip in Europe.

Colonel Kumar began, discussing the brief history of hockey in Ladakh, and the work we did in our brief training. Then the team manager spoke, pausing in his speech after every second or third word, like he had to formulate the pronunciation of each syllable. He made sure to talk about how great and important the Ladakh Winter Sports Club is to hockey in India, which is true to an extent, while being equally false.

I was introduced as the "coaching consultant" due to technicalities, and began my ad-hoc speech (that's the only way I know how to operate, although my speeches are usually thought out in advance) with one of those deafening screeches the emanate from the microphone when someone thinks he's cool, but looks like a fool instead...yeah, that's me.

My speech was short & sweet (or just short), as I discussed the work I did in Ladakh with the team, and saying that the team would do their country and region proud. I acknowledged and thanked the support we had received from Ladakh, and the promise from the Chief Minister to construct a rink, as well as reiterated ad nauseum the importance of the rink in Dehra Dun being completed properly, as it is imperative to the success of hockey in India.

After I spoke, we fielded questions, many of them directed to me, with the pervading question of "how will the team do?" There was no way for me to know this answer, not because it's a hockey game, and any team can win, but because we were the Indian hockey team, with no experience in international play - that is, playing in an international size arena (100ft X 200ft/30m X 60m), against other teams, and I had no idea what the caliber of those other teams would be.

The press conference ended and then the interviews began. A handful of local media outlets reiterated the same questions I had answered on stage, but this time with a camera and microphone. Being a naturally talented comedian, I made some amusing remarks (in my humble opinion) in one of the interviews, which was going smoothly until they ran out of tape (why aren't they digitally recording?). During the intermission, the interviewer told me he was going to ask me how I expected the team to fare in the tournament, and suggested I make the response funny because people in India needed something funny or ironic to keep their attention.

To his dismay, my response to the question was, "It's hard to say," since it was obviously hard to predict, as I mentioned, and he gave me this stern look of disappointment. It was afterwards that I started to realize that this was nothing more than a freak show to "proper Indians", whatever that means. As I have mentioned, Ladakhis are more like Tibetans than they are like Indians, no matter where in the subcontinent they are from. The cultures are very different, the people look very different, and although having different languages in India is a common occurrence, that was different as well. Add in a sport that isn't even close to being recognized, being played by a group of "foreigners" and coached by an American, and we must've looked like Barnum & Bailey's Circus.

Nonetheless, the coverage was pretty impressive. We took the team to India Gate, a WWI memorial arch, and took pictures of the team again, with some players in full equipment. I didn't notice until we were nearly done with our pictures that the goalie even wore his skates! I couldn't help but get hysterical, as even NHL players don't wear skates in their team picture unless they're in the front row of the shot, and that's on the ice!

I returned to the home I was staying in that evening, and we watched the news to catch one of the interviews. I should've known better (great Beatles song!) than to watch the program, as it would just get me frustrated. And it did.

The clip began with video of brutal hockey fights, and while I'm a believer that fighting is essential to professional hockey, it was unnecessary - if not unhelpful and unprofessional - to use clips of fights to set up a story about a bunch of players from Ladakh, that play comparatively passive hockey, representing India in an international tournament.

[SHALLOW MOMENT]

If that wasn't bad enough, I thought I looked pudgy (I have gained weight on this trip) and sounded goofy (do I always talk that way?) on TV. The first time I watched myself on TV, I was 16, on MTV, and it resulted in veneers for my teeth, so drastic responses are highly possible!

Why was I on MTV? It was because of Britney Spears. She was on the program that day. I ended up beating 2 girls in a Britney Spears trivia contest live on TRL, and received the lamest prize in their history: a doll that she signed, "To Adam, ♥ Britney". I still have the doll.

As if the video side of it wasn't enough, the paper press was no better. Just like the original article (link) that was posted in the Hindustan Times (same link), the newer article (new link) also stated that I am a former NHL player. They also quoted the team manager as saying that the L.A. Kings, an American junior hockey team, had assisted them with equipment donations. First of all, it was the junior team affiliate of the L.A. Kings, second of all, as a high-ranking member of the Ladakh Winter Sports Club, he should've known that, and finally, the paper still should've fact checked! It's one thing to make a mistake, which the first writer acknowledged (to me, personally), like someone's position. It's another thing to post the same error a 2nd time, and then pile onto that completely screwing up facts about a professional hockey team, albeit one that plays like a junior team these days. Either way, it ruins the legitimacy of the paper when they don't do their research.

Go to NHL.com (do you need a link?), and search for "Sherlip". Nothing comes up. Hey, why is that? I've done things! Point is, I'm not now, nor have I ever been in the NHL, and it only takes 3 seconds and a little bit of investigative journalism to confirm something like that. In less than 3 seconds, you can easily find enough proof to see that the Kings are indeed an NHL team. In total, you could spend 10 seconds on the site, convincing the entire English-reading population in India that you know what the hell you're talking about.

It reinforced, rather it convinced me, that this was all a big joke to them.

I only wish we had a talented enough team to prove them wrong, but that's just not the case. I couldn't tell the press what was going to transpire, and I still had no idea what the competition looked like, but I was sure that the team was a long way from being proficient at understanding hockey, let alone playing the game.

I had given out the link to this site to all of the journalists that interviewed me, as I was hoping they would learn a bit about hockey, if not remark about my experiences, from what's been posted. The fact that I am a volunteer is no secret if you visit the website, and it was mentioned on TV and in the papers. I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting them to report it.

I was annoyed at first, but as I thought about it, there was nothing to be annoyed about. In the moment, I felt it made me look like an amateur. When all is said and done, this is a volunteer initiative. It's in the title! I didn't start this to make money, and it's not the motivating factor for the continuation and growth of "The Hockey Volunteer".

At the same time, the desire to make enough money to sustain myself (at the least), is important, and anybody that thinks otherwise is naive, and if they behave otherwise they're taking advantage of the goodwill. This is not an accusation, and it's not targeted at anyone, it's just a statement. I've been fortunate enough to have some expenses covered while here, and some incredible hospitality.

Would I like to be paid for this? Of course. Is it possible? I think so. At the same time, it defeats the purpose of why this all started, and that's what I need to keep in mind. This is "The Hockey Volunteer" for a reason, and it has succeeded specifically because of that reason. Why fix it if it ain't broke? Then again, maybe it could do even better!

For the record, any income earned that relates to "The Hockey Volunteer" is 100% independent of donations. It will come from other projects related to the initiative, but primarily from sponsorships. Grants & donations will be entirely used to help people through hockey, whether it be for equipment, for outfitting a team, or even getting international players/teams to go abroad and enhance their own global hockey experiences.

I want to hear from you! If you think I should keep or change "The Hockey Volunteer" name, please submit your comments/suggestions in the form on the right side of the page. Every submission goes right to my email, and I will read & respond to each submission.

With that in mind, I end this post. Next up is the 2009 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia in Abu Dhabi, UAE!

LINKS TO SOME ARTICLES:

India Ice Hockey, Part 1: Dehra Dun Arena

2009-03-18T13:14:00.003-04:00

Upon my return to Delhi, I made sure that I could go to Dehra Dun to visit the arena under construction. This was scheduled as part of a two week trip around Northern India, combining work with pleasure. I had spent a few nights at an amazing riverside camp up river from Rishikesh (where the Beatles went in 67 when the wrote the "White Album"), where I stayed in a gorgeous tent with a friendly staff and delicious food. While I was there, I did a small mountain hike, and some great river rafting/kayaking. If you're interested in this camp, please contact me and I can put you in touch with the company!

[NOTE: This report on the rink is my actual report to the Ice Hockey Association of India. Being that everything I have written has been personal and from my experiences, with the explicit interest of helping the development of ice hockey in India, I see no reason why this should be censored, as all it can do is put pressure on those in charge to do the right thing for all]

When I arrive at the rink, a few things struck me immediately. 1) That the rink was significantly out of the way of the middle of the town/city, and 2) it is well behind in construction based upon the schedule I was aware of and expecting.

The structure is clearly the outline of an arena, and from what it looks like, the surface itself is going to be constructed beautifully. At least, that’s what it looks like on the outside. There is clearly an inefficiency surrounding the construction that is not only slowing down the speed of the construction – which will raise costs of the rink – but it may also hinder the quality of the construction, which could have drastic effects on the usability of the rink.

The importance of not only doing this rink sufficiently, but doing it perfectly, can not be understated. Being the first international-standard ice hockey rink in India, a lot of money will be wasted if the system interferes. Concurrently, this is the opportunity for India to propel itself onto the global “rink” (as opposed to stage), alongside Asian countries like China, Japan and Kazakhstan. If all goes smoothly (figuratively and literally – e.g. the maintenance of the surface), there is no reason why India can’t become a major player on the global hockey scene. The first step is a quality ice rink.

I have additional questions and concerns about the rink. Immediately upon entering, I was told that the foyer will have a circular rink for children. There are a few issues with this. 1) A rink in an entrance will be susceptible to outside weather, and ice and air conditions will be incredibly difficult to manage, making hockey conditions very difficult as a result. 2) A circular rink is not appropriate for hockey at any age, even toddlers. The shape of the rink must be a rounded-rectangle, or it is useless for hockey. The rink could be useful for children even if it’s 1/3 the size of a standard international rink (60m X 30m), as long as it’s rectangular (with rounded corners). 3) If this rink is taking up such a large chunk of a small entrance-way, I am curious where there will be room for a skate rental office, a pro shop, and a snack bar? These are essential to a successful and profitable ice arena, as they are going to be major sources of income, as well as provide the public with temporary/permanent equipment to utilize, and food/beverages to occupy their time in the facility.

On the other end of the rink, there are locker rooms under construction. I am curious how many locker rooms are planned on the architectural drawings. I couldn’t tell if there were 2 or more, but it is essential that an arena being used by the public have at least 4 changing rooms with ample space. With 2 changing rooms, the teams from the following game will not be able to change until the teams from the current games are done. That leads to massive delays in the schedule, and a lot of wasted time after the ice-resurfacer has driven off the rink. That equals a lot of lost revenue!

While I am confident the cooling system has been expertly built by the Canadian firm, I am not confident that the building itself is being constructed properly. An ice rink needs to have a very consistent and carefully controlled atmosphere. Part of the indoor weather relies upon the construction of the building itself. Since heat rises, then there must be a proper cooling, air-conditioning, and de-humidifying system. There must also be proper insulation in the roof and walls, as well as tightly constructed walls and roof. If this gets completed improperly, not only will you have an inconsistent ice surface, which will greatly hinder on-ice performance and stunt the efficiency of growth and enjoyment of ice hockey in India, it will become exponentially more expensive to operate the facility over time. This is basic revenue and expenses…and ultimately, profits!

In regards to these major issues, I am curious what equipment is installed to manage the air and humidity, and what is on order? I have seen the cooling tanks for the surface, but this is not enough to maintain ice in an arena. Additionally, an ice-resurfacer (aka Zamboni) is required. This machine is a major investment, and should be handled as such. They are expensive, and quality is of the utmost importance, as maintenance for a used vehicle is a major expense in North America, let alone India. From my understanding, a Zamboni has not been purchased, and there has been minimal work done by the parties responsible for overseeing rink construction/maintenance/management to secure one. This will require major involvement from the government, which has also been neglecting the project.

I understand the financial situation for the Uttarakhand government is grim, but there is a general apathy that has been taking place from almost all aspects regarding the arena. The managers overseeing construction have not put enough pressure on the contractors to properly construct the building in a timely manner. Additionally, the standards for construction are not adhering to international requirements. To have Indians with no experience in ice arenas offering their expertise, when Canadians are contributing their “two-cents” to the project, is unjustified. I would defer to almost any Canadian 95% of the time, by the inherent fact that they have seen hundreds of arenas through all different stages of operation. There are no Indian experts in ice rink construction, and to behave in a manner that suggests otherwise is doing a dis-service to the sport, and to India.

There are also concerns that there is not only enough money to manage the facility when it opens, but not enough money to finish construction properly. As identified earlier, this would effectively nullify the whole purpose of an ice rink. The arena must be completed to the fullest extent, or the whole project has been an utter waste of money. Wherever the funding comes from, it needs to happen soon, and with full commitment.

Once the facility opens, it needs to open completely. There is no point in operating a rink for 5-8 hours in a day. A successful ice arena can stay open for nearly 20 hours with fully booked ice slots. I understand that this is India, and ice hockey is barely played in this country, but my mission is to not only fill the ice slots with full bookings, but generate such buzz around this new wonder in Dehra Dun, that there’s a wait list!

The state (AND national) governments need to invest in this facility, because the investment will pay off in the long term! As hockey grows in India, new markets will open up. Wealthier families in Northern India and in Delhi will come to participate in ice hockey. Tourists will also start to flock to a country that can add one more point to its long list of incredible features. This is a program that every department within the government can reap benefits from. Obviously, the sports ministries should be doing everything they can to make this rink a success, but there should be as much interest and support from the tourism ministry, as this rink can become the hub of hockey around Asia, including Russia and China! The health department should contribute to ensure proper treatment for injuries, and assurances of safety for the timid. The education department should offer incentives to students that excel in hockey to provide better education to them, as smart hockey players become better hockey players! The transportation department should offer express shuttle service to the arena (I understand there will be a bus route, it should be promoted!) so that players from town centers and those coming by train can make it to the arena quickly and efficiently. The ministry that handles human services and welfare can provide hockey to the poor, and give them an opportunity to grow in a sometimes restrictive and difficult culture. All of these recommendations can provide a combination of revenue, goodwill, and good public relations, all important when trying to operate an administration.

This is the argument I want to present not only to the Uttarakhand government, or the national government, but to the Jammu and Kashmir government, as well as to administrations around India. Ice hockey is a sport that

What is better than playing hockey in the world’s largest democracy, with such welcoming and friendly and passionate people as Indians! Right now, this is a Ladakhi sport, and if this rink doesn’t get completed and managed properly, it will remain a Ladakhi sport.

Reflections from my time in Ladakh

2009-03-18T12:30:00.000-04:00

[NOTE: I wrote this the 1st time I left Ladakh, not knowing I would return less than a week later. I decided against posting it until I finished all of my posts regarding Ladakh. It has barely been edited since I originally wrote it, and only discusses some of the events that went down on my first tour. Since I discussed everything from my return trip already, there's no need to delve back into that. Anyway, enjoy.]

I’m not one that's known to form attachments – to people, to places (other than New York City), or to things in general (other than the internet). Hockey is among the few exceptions, but as I observed the inverse of a majestic landing into Leh, an overwhelming tidal wave of emotion dragged me under the surf. (I wanted to come up with a hockey analogy there, but the comparison escapes me.)

My face flushed like I had been in the sun, as it had a handful of times during my taxi ride from SECMOL through the desert and winding, mountain road to the airport in Leh.

Leh, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, India has become a permanent part of my life. There is no doubt in my mind about that. With some modest calculations, it became clear that my 4 weeks in Ladakh is the 5^th longest tenure of mine in any particular region of the world (in order, the top four are New York, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal), and the only one not in North America. (Since that time, Delhi has surpassed Montreal, as I've spent 2 weeks in Delhi to date)

Our fates, in many ways, will rely upon our commitment to each other, and our cooperation in our committment to the sport of hockey.

This is an area with incredible natural beauty, a unique blend of religion – in particular Buddhism, tantric Buddhism even – a people that invited me in, and in way that are a bit uncommon for such a newcomer/foreigner who doesn’t speak the language.

Many Asian cultures live by a “saving face” code. That means they care more about looking good interpersonally and not offending others. To offend someone’s reputation in Asia is the equivalent of blatantly stealing someone’s life savings at gun-point in the West. For foreigners, it’s very rare to see the true colors of someone from Asia. There is no doubt that India is a unique country as compared the rest of Asia, and they interpret “saving face” and honesty differently from some of their neighbors, but Ladakh, while technically part of the subcontinent, is a hybrid of Asian cultures (Ladakhi, Tibetan, Kashmiri, Zanskari, Indian) and is not exempt from this attitude.

For some odd reason – or maybe it was all part of the plan – I became entangled in the local hockey culture in more ways than I knew were possible. In the process, I became an ex-officio member of the Ladakh Winter Sports Club; I had no say, could only make recommendations, but was also privy to a fair amount of information, as well as complaints.

Normally, when we hear complaints in the Western World, we feel the infectious nature of the negative energy, like a contagious virus. “Energy” may seem too metaphysical to be scientific, but Buddhism embraces the balance between both, and so do I.

When people come to New York City, you invariably hear that there is a penetrating “energy” that makes the city special. Everything makes up this energy – the people, the buildings, the companies, the arts, the sports, etc. This is why I love New York City. It’s why I consider it the greatest place on earth. As of yet, there is no greater positive energy I have experienced in a particular location, no matter how beautiful, or how clean.

The negative energy stemming from the complaints, as well as actions, of the LWSC members took a toll on me for a few days, but (there is a bright side) as always, it’s very easy to see the good from all of this.

The members were upset at the dramatic events from the National Tournament, starting with the match fixing, then stone throwing, then game protesting, then game boycotting, and finally, when resolution of the issues seemed apparent, protesting the decision. In some ways, they are a part of the problem, but the endearing part of this is that they want to improve. They constantly confided in me how betrayed they felt by what happened - the unsportsmanlike nature of it, but also their personal sacrifices. They sought avenues to remedy the problem in the future, and hopefully they will attempt to prevent these things from happening again.

Their disgust in the action of privileged adults reaffirmed their dedication to impressionable children.

Weighing the evidence I was aware of from all sides, I am happy to continue to work with the LWSC, as long as they retain some degree of idealism and uphold the value of the sport so many people around the world love: ice hockey. My primary mission as “The Hockey Volunteer” is to help everyone that wants to grow through the sport, and I will continue to do so as long as the main organizers are not interfering with the game and/or imposing their personal agendas onto the game.

Ladakh, not just Leh, has won the right of my return for another year, and we can once again trade the gifts that each can provide.

We owe it to each other.

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 10: Saying My Part

2009-03-18T12:00:00.002-04:00

Before I departed Ladakh, the LWSC hosted a couple of parties in my honor. I brought a guest from VIS for the first one, and although I had been adhering to the nutrition plan I laid out for the team, I decided this was worthy of drinking. Who doesn't drink when they're the guest of honor?

I also decided this was my chance to really speak my mind. With some liquid courage in me (although I didn't need any to say what I wanted to say), I tried to reinforce that we need to uphold the best interest of the game. The moment people start letting emotions and politics get in the way of hockey, the game suffers. When the game suffers, everyone loses. If we wanted hockey in Ladakh and in India to grow and improve, we had to behave in a manner that was conducive of it.

Points of interest regarding what I tried to prevent/change included the selection of the team, how to operate and grow the LWSC, how to coexist with the Ice Hockey Association of India (and by extension, their leadership) and even how to select captains.

When it came to the team itself, I was not given the team that I wanted. There's no other way to put it. Although I had assisted in scouting, the participants of the national tournament held some weeks prior organized a selection committee to select the national team, of which the IHAI was only to vote if there was a tie. If I had the authority to change this, I would've scrapped that whole concept. What ensued was negotiations over who would get selected from each team, and people that weren't even on the committee ended up voting. I have heard reliable statements regarding the fact that there were deals for certain players to make it, and complaints when others didn't. The end result was that a team was compiled where almost half of them were not even close to qualified, and I mean that with consideration for local levels of play! This had to stop, and it will in the future.

I also spoke to them about coordinating their efforts in developing hockey. They needed to focus more on the kids, and with the assistance of someone like Henk, they had just laid a great foundation. Now it needed to grow. Ending the barrage of self-serving tournaments and holding more developmet camps would also enhance the level of play in Ladakh, especially as the rink in Dehra Dun (6 hours north of Delhi) was slated to open prior to next winter, increasing competition.

The LWSC had become complacent and took solace in the fact that they were the driving force of hockey in India, which is true. But that's like saying you're the best political candidate in a military dictatorship. You're the only option. That will change once the Dehra Dun rink opens, and I vowed to the LWSC that I am not only there to help them. My mission is to help hockey grow, wherever that may be. They specifically asked me to favor them, and my response was phrased as carefully as possible that I would help everyone, but that Ladakh is where I will help the most. For now.

What they needed to understand is that at the end of the day, being the best at ice hockey in India is not going to get them very far (I resisted making another lame metaphor). It's about being able to play at the international level.

I received complaints about how it's only the LWSC that hosts tournaments, and that the army never does anything like that. All they do is participate in the tournaments that the LWSC hosts. Hockey began in Ladakh with the army, and while they used to be the best players in the region, the level of play is starting to balance out with the civilians. I thought this was one of the most unreasonable and selfish statements yet. I told the members there, with more gusto and enthusiasm, verbatim:
"The mission of the Ladakh Winter Sports Club is to hold hockey events (among other Winter sports). The mission of the army is to fight Pakistan. For you to expect them to hold a hockey tournament, and get upset when they don't, is unreasonable on your part. They're not required to do that. You are."
I think it sunk in.

Their sentiment regarding how to choose captains was just as frustrating. They had asked me when I was going to select captains (1 captain, 2 alternates/assistants), to which I responded that I would have the team vote and see if they chose the right players. They said Akshay wanted me to choose the captain. My response was that just because Akshay wants me to pick captains, doesn't mean I am going to pick them. The best thing for the team was for them to understand who their leaders were, and to give them a collective vote of confidence. They countered with the fact that since they were the Ladakh Winter Sports Club, and they are the ones doing all of the hockey, the only fair thing to do was have the captain be from one of the civilian (J&K) teams.

I controlled my disgust, and delicately informed them that this is the worst possible attitude to exude if we're trying to do the best thing for the team and the program. At the same time, I agreed on a techinicality. In my opinion, the best candidate for captain was a civilian player, and a good candidate for assistant captain was from the army. I said that if the team didn't select these players, I would make an executive decision and over-rule them, but I was confident that they'd do the right thing.

I was proven right. When we took the vote, the players first requested that they discuss who to vote for. I vetoed that motion immediately. This wasn't a political campaign or a popularity contest. This was meant to be their gut instinct on who the best person to lead them was. In overwhelming numbers, they voted for the captain and assistant captain that we all had wanted anyway, and a controversy was avoided.

Their collective opinions of the Ice Hockey Association of India, were also construed. I set out to correct their views, and take a more cooperative stance. I can't speak for the past, being that I was never in India, but I do know that my experience these past few months have been pretty damn good. The IHAI only received government recognition recently, so everything they tried to do prior to that was probably next to impossible. Promises that may have been made, most likely couldn't have been upheld, because there was no footing to stand on. That has started to chang. Now that they have support from the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the India Sports Ministry, as well as someone with experience to play the hero (tada!), there is a much better forecast on the horizon.

That horizon depends on the rink in Dehra Dun. Upon my return to Delhi, I scheduled some time to visit the rink, and see how construction was progressing. The success of ice hockey in India, including Ladakh (whether they know it or not), depends on this rink getting up and skating from the moment it opens.

And with that, I leave Ladakh.

Pictures will have to wait

2009-03-18T11:07:00.001-04:00

Along with the predefined technical difficulties, you can now add firewall to them. As a result, I can't log on to Flickr to upload pictures to my account or access them for the blog. That means you have to read straight through, no excuses!

More posts are coming up soon!

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 9: "I Shall Return"

2009-03-18T00:50:00.001-04:00

I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and I know you will recognize the immense amount of thought that went into this philosophical analogy:

Ladakh is like a Manhattan cocktail...the tall, dark, attractive alcoholic beverage.

Think about it, the ingredients for a Manhattan (traditionally) are:
• Rye
• Sweet red vermouth
• Dash Angostura bitters
• Maraschino cherry (Garnish)

When I look at these ingredients, my first instinct is to back away slowly. Rye is not the friendliest of whiskeys, with a more peppery and dry taste, and vermouth is the equivalent of drinking vomit, in my humble opinion. If that isn't nauseating enough, add in some bitters for good measure. And just when you thought you had the drink figured out, it goes and surprises you with a cherry on top. Somehow it comes out tasting refined, distinguished, and well put together.

The comparison to Ladakh is like this:
[taking a deep breath]
You arrive in Ladakh with grandeur, as you well know, weaving in and out of the mountains. You step out into a tiny airport, with minimal amenities, but you ignore them. You then get harassed by a handful of taxi drivers shouting in Ladakhi, but you're OK with that, because they're taxi drivers. You arrive in Leh, and it's dirty. Garbage is everywhere, which usually includes raw sewage. You don't mind the people walking everywhere in the streets like a bunch of headless chickens, but are more concerned about the wounded canines, the fattened bovines, and the subtle asses (the donkeys). The people show you one face in public, and another in private, souring your impression of them. Nonetheless, they're friendly and hospitable, and marked with an interesting history and culture, that in many ways appears timeless, or rather static.

When you analyze any of these ingredients that make up Ladakh, you find that the cocktail is made with ingredients that don't seem too appealing, yet when all combined, they make up something unique, and even addictive.

Ladakh has a way of overtaking you. It has obvious drawbacks, like the lack of running, hot water, heated/insulated buildings or western toilets, among the other mentioned characteristics, yet somehow that's what you love about it. That's the addiction. Rarely would you consume the individual ingredients of a Manhattan, but when they're shaken (not stirred) together, you learn to not only appreciate and enjoy it fully, but you learn to love every component.

For your information, I've never consumed Manhattan before, but all this talk of one has made me interested.

As a secondary note, not to get too side-tracked, 's apparently an episode of Sex in the City that mentions the cocktail. Episode 90, last scene. I've never seen it. I swear.

We now return to our regularly scheduled hockey blog...

Not even a week after leaving Ladakh, I was back on a plane heading to Leh. This time, my mission was even more focused: train the Indian ice hockey team and prepare them for the 2009 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

It was a bit surreal, stepping off the plane after that incredible descent, retracing all of my steps. The first time around, I was lost, confused, and naive. Now I was entirely prepared, comfortable, and a hell of a lot more knowledgable about Ladakhi culture (although by no means an expert). Getting through the airport was quick, although my luggage wasn't, and I was able to instruct my taxi driver where to take me, although the price was not to my liking. This time around, though, I wasn't staying at SECMOL. The experience was very unique there, but since it was a major diversion in the opposite direction of Leh. My training would be focused strictly in the immediate area around Leh, and if I had my way, at the rink within the town.

That was my first point of business. After I dropped off my bags at the guest house I had previously stayed (where Tashi Angchok lives), I walked the 2km back into the center of town and to the office of the Ladakh Winter Sports Club. With obvious awareness to the difference in situations, importance, and ego, I felt a bit like General MacArthur upon his return to the Philippines during WWII. I wanted to come to the rescue of hockey in Ladakh - and India as an extension - and I felt like a hero just by returning. But like all ego trips, that only lasted for about a day.

The following day, practice began at Karzu/Karzoo (you choose) ice rink, located somewhat in the center of Leh, if you could geographically figure such a thing out in a town with chaotic roads and scattered hills. The rink is on a pond that is submerged in comparison to the road that encircles it, with stone walls about 6-7 feet high surrounding the full rink. In a few spots, there are some major hazards, in particular, the stairway when entering the rink, which would be partially submerged under thin ice (I punched through at the bottom and had a freezing foot), and the corner of the rink where the running water would enter the pond. This constant stream of water collected and made it nearly impossible for that section of the pond to freeze, which then broke down the stability of the entire rink at time.

We agreed to start practice at approximately 8:00 am so that the ice would be as firm as possible, and we could get off in time for the children's clinic that was being run by my friend and resident of Ladakh, Henk, which began at 10:00 am.

Henk held this clinic for 15 days, donating his own time as a volunteer coach, teaching children between the ages of 5 and 15 (approximately). It was an extraordinary sight to see, all of these kids on the ice, day in, day out, and I'm positive his instruction was invaluable to everyone on the ice! I look forward to coaching some of these kids as well, as the Indian ice hockey program develops.

In terms of the India ice hockey team, we began day one a little late, with one of the military groups being delayed through no fault of their own. My policy for team practices was that any time players were late, they had to do "suicides", which would reinforce their determination to arrive on time, something that's not as common in Ladakhi (or Indian) culture.

For your reference, "suicide" is a skating drill that is fantastically exhausting. You start on the goal line, at one of the ends of the rink, and proceed to skate to the nearest blue line. Then stop, and skate back to the goal line and stop. You're not done. Now do this to the red line, in the center of the rink, then back to the goal line. Tired yet? Too bad. Skate to the far blue line and back this time. Do you need some water? You can't have any. Not until you proceed to skate to the opposite goal line, at the far end of the rink, and return to where you started. Ok, feel free to get some air now. Only problem is that you're skating at an altitude of nearly 12,000 feet (3,300 meters), and the oxygen in the air is scarce.

When you live at low altitudes, you can't comprehend what that means, but I can assure you that when your lungs are gasping for every last bit of available air, you learn very quickly the seriousness and intensity of high altitude training.

The clincher to the "suicide" drill is that there was an additional caveat to what happened when I made them do the drill: I had to do it too.

I always hated the drill when I training as a teeneger. I think the term came about because half way through the drill, you start to consider suicide as a better option than skating. At some point, the brilliant idea came to me that I should punish myself when I punish them, being that I'm responsible for the team as their coach. Since Indians and Ladakhis have a (slightly) greater level of respect and reverance for the person in charge, especially since half of my team is from the military, I figured I would add extra motivation to prevent them from screwing up if they saw me suffer as well. Let me assure you, I suffered.

Even though I agreed that the players had a good reason for being late that first day, I still made them skate, and kept my word by skating with them. I thought I was going to die.

Five minutes later, when blood finally returned to my brain, we began with some of the basic drills that we had done prior to my first departure from Ladakh. They had not really improved.

Happy Adam quickly stepped aside, and made way for frustrated Adam. (I'll use 3rd person sparingly). After my first day working with the team the first time around, a group of player told me, "we're not basic". I placated them at the time and told them, "I o, but we need to start from scratch". Unfortunately, in regards to hockey skills and understanding, they were and are basic. I hoped that with the foundation I was providing, that they'd have improved at least mildly to this point in time, and have a greater understanding of the game, but I was proven wrong.

The team couldn't do the basics that we had worked on initially, 2-on-0, 2-on-1, etc. They were still unable to skate strong, pass accurately, or shoot to a spot on the net of their choosing, that is, if they were able to hit the net. For ten days, I watched them miss the net from 10 feet away. For ten days, they lined up improperly for faceoffs. For ten days, players would collide into each other in a drill that explicitly explained who went in front, who went behind. For ten days, shots would go out of the rink, and nobody bothered to get them (we only had 6-8 pucks to practice with!). For ten days, players shot at the net when the goalie wasn't looking, often hitting him in a tender spot. For ten days, players would screw up simple tasks for 45 minutes, even after it was explained to them in English and Ladakhi...TEN times! For ten days, I ended up yelling way more than I am comfortable doing.

That's not to say we didn't have fun and didn't improve, but I was dealing with a team that was not contributing the attention, effort and brain-power required to be a successful hockey team. I wasn't seeing the determination and character that a national hockey team should have. At the same time, what could I expect? These guys were in a tough position. For years, they had been playing a style of hockey unique to their corner of the world. They didn't know anything otherwise. Then the best players got selected to represent their country in an international competition. How would you feel? Proud, maybe even cocky? How about equally scared and insecure? Add in an international coach that is more talented than you (there's no other way to put it) and is obviously not happy with your progress, and you can include embarassment and shame to the list.

I tried to counter-act that with on-ice games, like skating, passing and shooting competitions (the losers did suicides, including myself...again), and humility on my part. The only reason I went back to Ladakh was to help them get better. They are the team. They are the ones representing their region and their country. I'm not even getting paid! My disappointement was an expression of what I felt they owed to each other and those they were playing for.

I wanted to borrowed Miracle from SECMOL so that I could not only familiarize the team with the incredible and inspiring story of the 1980 US Olympic team, but also show them the potential parallels if we could band together and prove everyone wrong. Also, this was the first opportunity for them to watch people play hockey. Even though it's a movie, it's possibly the best hockey movie in regards to the hcoeky skills on display (if not the best hockey movie overall...don't attack me for that!).

Speaking of SECMOL...whatever my frustration at the level of performance out of the team during the week and a half of practice, multiply that by another ten when it came to SECMOL. If you can recall from the first time around, the SECMOL players were passive in how they approached attending the 3-day clinic, and although it wasn't entirely their fault at that time, they showed early signs of not having the mental toughness and passion required to represent their country. This time around, things were no different.

My announced return came only 2-3 days before I arrived. I won't say that's an eternity, but it's certainly enough time for word to spread. I am confident that the Ladakh Winter Sports Club DID NOT reach out to the SECMOL players, and they kept up their rhetoric regarding the SECMOL players not reaching out to them. Other than that, how would they know I was coming back? I give them a pass on that one, but not to the LWSC. After day one of practice, there were some announcements on the local news regarding the team. At that point, SECMOL was assured practice was on, and I received a call that night. In my chat, I instructed the two players to be ready for the army bus at 7:00 am, to ensure they would all arrive on time, and was guaranteed that would be the case. The next morning, no SECMOL players.

Obviously, I was annoyed. These guys were hurting the chemistry of the team by not being there, and insulted the work that was being put into developing the program. I received a call 3/4 of the way through practice, in the middle of running a drill, notifying me that one player didn't come because he couldn't get out of work...at SECMOL. He was responsible for teaching a class that day on campus, and didn't have enough time (from the previous evening) to reschedule it. If he really wanted to, he could have...I'm positive of that. In response to his last minute decision not to go, the other player decided he wasn't going either, as he would have to walk 3km (1.5 miles) to the road, at dawn, and await the arrival of the army bus. Since nobody communicated any of this to myself or the army players, they were left waiting for 20 minutes for players that never showed.

I called SECMOL a few hours later, and discussed the importance of showing up, to which the response was that since the players couldn't afford to pay to participate, they didn't have the motivation to play. I can understand the frustraion of having to pay to play for a tournament of this nature, but unfortunately the India hockey program is at its infancy, and there are no funds available. I explained that the players should still show up to show their support, but to also improve their own hockey skills. I also enquired into whether SECMOL could pay for the players to participate, as it seemed like a great way to give their students a chance to really move up in the world (I perceive a school as trying to help its students any way possible, but maybe that's my idealism coming out once again), as well as great recognition for SECMOL itself (they could put it on their website, touting that two SECMOL students are on the national team, and use that to solicit more donations, support and volunteer), and was quickly met with a curt, "we don't have any money!" I decided it was time to go to SECMOL and present my case.

I returned to SECMOL that evening with Tashi and his new group of fifteen VIS students, replacing the half-dozen or so that had been there a few weeks prior. I felt like the resident Ladakhi expert when I met these (mostly) high school kids. Earlier that day I had shared with them some of the good and bad of Ladakh, but knew that most of it wouldn't set in until a month or so into their stay. Fortunately, their trip started as Winter was winding down, and as the season changes, Leh opens up to the outside world. I was there for the Winter, and we already discussed those hardships.

When I arrived at SECMOL, I had a few points of business to take care of. Firstly, I needed to speak to the players to explain why their presence is so important. Secondly, I wanted to speak to one of the folks in charge, to explain why I felt SECMOL should support them. Third(ly?), I wanted to grab a few hockey movies that they had in their posession (like Miracle) so that I could show it to the team, and lastly, I wanted to get my skates sharpened by one of the departing VIS students that sharpens skates when he's in Vermont. All of those were accomplished.

As expected, the players showed up the next day with the army, and for a week or so, practices progressed, if at a tortoise's pace. I tried my hardest to improve the basics, while implementing the most beginner of strategy. Off the ice, we discussed the concepts and reasoning behind how you position yourself on the ice, and how to work together as a team. I showed them Miracle, which they were absolutely loving, but we had to stop the movie in the middle because the DVD player started to smoke...really. Two days we concluded the movie, and the guys were on the edge of their seats as USA defeated USSR and Finland.

I spoke with them at length regarding my frustraion with their lack of focus and mental discpline, and went into a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis. Needless to say, Strengths were not our prominent category, but we found a few, and agree to magnify those aspects of our game, and obviously improve the contrary.

I also drafted up a document entitled, "So you want to be a hockey player...", reviewing and outlining all of the things that only partially lay out the things one would have to do to support their hockey career, such as cutting out certain foods, alcohol and tobacco, doing relevant exercises (like yoga), and carrying themselves in a manner that honors the traditions of the game.

It was relative smooth sailing, although frustrating nonetheless, until we started to run into a few unfortunate events. Among the most significant was the weather. Every evening, the temperature would make it down below the freezing point, but during the day, it would rise a few degrees over. We kept our practices early to combat this, but the problem intensifies with time. At high altitude, the sun is much closer and stronger, and when the ice melts a little on day one, it accumulates a little bit every day (when the weather is consistent). This was the pattern for almost the entire duration, with the ice becoming worse every day.

Because of the weather conditions, the playing surface of the rink suffered. In many damaged areas, I used cones to detour to the team so that they wouldn't fall in. There were holes in some spots as well, which I surrounded with cones, although that didn't stop a handful of pucks from going into the pond through those tiny holes. At one point, when 2 players collided on the drill that should be collission-less, they both fell, lost the puck, and it went scurrying into one of the holes on the surface, like it had an instinctive desire to go swimming. I was more pissed about the puck than I was about the players colliding stupidly.

When the team stood in one spot, the ice would begin to crack, sounding like a whip. The prospect of falling into the cold, dirty pond, in chest high water (I assume), was not on the top of my to do list. If for anything, I was more freightened about the garbage than I was about getting out of the water or catching hypothermia.

It drama came to a climax near the end of my stay in Ladakh, when we were doing a skating/passing drill (something we still hadn't perfected). One of the SECMOL players fell, and was in obvious pain. I skated over to him, and his mouth was open and he was writhing on the ice like a snake. I knew immediately, this was a seizure. Players came over and held is body, stabilizing his head and taking off his skates. Some massaged his feet (to this day, I'm not really sure why, although I assume it was increase blood flow). His eyes went into the back of his head, and he was foaming from the mouth, until he lost consciousness.

As the team stood around, the ice began to crack, to which I shouted to clear the area, and call a doctor. Nobody did anything. I repeated my request/command, and just now do I recall that I may have told people to "call 911!", which would explain their lack of response, since 911 is not the emergency line in India. Eventually, a player pulled his car near the rink, and a group of players picked up their teammate and hoisted him over there head, 7 feet high, to get him over the wall surrounding the rink and into the car, and to the hospital.

An hour or so later later, we got confirmation that it was indeed a seizure, but that he was ok, albeit dazed and confused. Initially, my assumption was that he had caught a rut in the ice, fallen, hit his head, and gone into a seizure. What actually happened was that he went into a seizure while skating and fell, but didn't hit his head (or hit it lightly). They were keeping him for 72 hours for observation and more tests.

Because of this happening, and my concern for safety (a foreign concept in India - and China for that matter, but you'll have to request those stories from me another time), I ended practice early, and instructed the players to remove the nets (which were usually left on the rink 24/7), and shut down the rink for the day (if not for the season). I spoke to Henk, and suggested that they cancel their youth clinic for the day, and he agreed. Apparently, the LWSC didn't.

I voiced my concerns (forcefully at times, sarcastically at others) that it's not worth risking a serious injury for one of the kids, and was met with disregard. The parents had paid, so the feeling was that the kids should skate. I suggested that they return the money for one day. Even if all went well, it's not worth taking a chance, because if tragedy does strike, it would be catastrophic.

This became a pattern.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Almost there...!

2009-03-17T15:32:00.005-04:00

I'm proud to announce that 3,000 words in, I'm almost done with my next post! It's currently 11:30pm where I am, and these past few days have been long and tiring. This massive post will go live within the next 12 hours or so, and it will be followed in quick succession with the continuation (and then some).

By the time Friday rolls around, I PROMISE you, all of these posts will be up to date.

No excuses.

Until then, good night!

Some additional technical issues...

2009-03-16T09:12:00.003-04:00

The last time I had a techinical complaint, it was due to being in Ladakh, the bain of technology, as well as some hardware malfunctions.

The complaint has intensified slightly this time around, as my computer has completely failed me (the monitor on my laptop displays pure static, and I can't get rid of it), and my camera (photo/video) has also crashed.

As of right now, that leaves me computer-less and camera-less, both of which are essential to allow me to report to you all of the amazing things that have been going on with "The Hockey Volunteer" initiative.

Nonetheless, I'm in a beautiful hotel right now that allows me to write a bit more, but as you'll come to find out in about 2-3 posts from now, I don't have all the time in the world to be on the computer.

I assure you, there is a post well under way, and many more coming, and I'll find a way to get you more pictures and video.

Thanks for your understanding and patience.

P.S. If you know someone in UAE or India will to donate a camera or computer, please let me know!

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 8: Departure From Ladakh

2009-03-05T06:13:00.004-05:00

When I left Ladakh for Delhi, I believed there was a good chance that I would be accompanying the team to Abu Dhabi as their coach, but nothing was finalized. My plane ticket out of Ladakh was confirmed in advance of my arrival to coincide with the approximate melting of the ice and allow me to see some sights in such an incredible country as India (their official tourism slogan/campaign is "Incredible India").

Upon my arrival, I went right to the office of Akshay Kumar, General Secretary of the Ice Hockey Association of India, and gave him my progress report on how the team is looking, as well as an update on hockey in Ladakh (although he's been up there many times, including twice during the start and finish of the National Tournament). Akshay updated me on his progress garnering support for the national team, as well as the numerous uphill battles he was (and still is) fighting to raise funding for the team.

Due to a lack of funding at the present, all players selected to play on the national team were required to pay for their passport, airfare, and equipment in order to be able to participate in the tournament. This is obviously a huge expense and burden for the civilian players, as the military players get all of those things covered by their respective branches.

I spent a few days catching up on work that had been heavily delayed. While I was in Ladakh, I stayed at SECMOL 90% of the time. SECMOL is located approximately 20km (12.5 miles) out of the center of Leh, in the middle of the desert...literally. The whole area is barren and rocky, and to go back and forth between SECMOL and Leh was getting incredibly expensive in taxi rides. That being said, I was spending most of my time in Leh as it was, due to all of the hockey tournaments that were taking place. To make matters worse, telecommunications in Ladakh went down, smack-dab in the middle of my residency in this remote region. An already poor telecom network was effectively wiped out by massive snow and avalanche in the mountains, destroying the cables in the process. Sources tell me that this is something that could have been prevented if BSNL (the major telecom company in India & Ladakh) had followed up on the concerns of some of their employees. So factor in the travel, the busy days of hockey, and then a technology failure, and you can understand why I was backlogged with work when I got to Delhi.

One of my first tasks was to write up some of the past occurrences, as well as upload pictures and videos to Flickr and YouTube, respectively. The picture uploading went somewhat smoothly, but uploading my videos to YouTube was a royal pain in the arse. First, I am a terrible videographer. There's no other way to put it. Second, my camera is worse than I am. I purchased it on the day of my departure, and while it is incredibly cost-effective, portable, and convenient (it switches between high-res photos and videos with a flick of the finger), it isn't easy to maneuver, the zoom is awful, and it doesn't do well in many lighting conditions (is it really high res?). Third, I had to go through a boat-load of raw video, mostly of random clips, no set-up/narration, unsteady camerawork and general stupidity on the part of the director/producer – me. Fourth, whenever I would attempt to upload videos to YouTube, my connection was too slow and fragmented to successfully post. Fifth, my computer began it's systematic failures in every conceivable way, reminding me that my terrible technology karma will follow me to all corners of the planet (I've now had 2 high-capacity iPods stolen/lost on vacation, including my newest one in Ladakh). I ended up spending a few days fighting and pleading with my computer to work, whether that meant just turning on, or connecting to the internet consistently, or having screen resolution that wasn't reminiscent of a 1930s television screen.

With all of that drama off my chest, I am proud to announce that I have just enough video posted on YouTube to be content in sharing it with you. I will endeavor to continue uploading videos consistently, and I promise not all of them will be terrible. Check it out here.

In regards to the pictures, I have been posting links to the photos that have been taken of hockey in Ladakh by myself and others. You can view my pictures on Flickr, as well as pictures taken by Russ Taylor of nomadruss.com, Ashley Morton of VIS (Vermont Intercultural Semesters), and Akshay Kumar during the 4^th National Ice Hockey Tournament.

To be honest, I was really looking forward to my time in Delhi. Obviously I wanted to catch up on my work, and it was among the most time consuming aspects of my time in Delhi, but I wanted to do some sight-seeing. When I was in Ladakh, I did very little sight seeing. As a matter of fact, I missed a few festivals and events that were going on while I was there just so that I could write and be at the hockey games. Not that I minded. But I was also going from a freezing, high altitude climate to what I consider Summer-like conditions, where I could shower as much as I wanted!

I got to see a couple of sights, but briefly. I took a cycle rickshaw around the famous mosque in Old Delhi, and then stood outside the Red Fort, but never went in. One of the days, I attempted to walk to the National Museum, and ended up walking in the wrong direction right back to Akshay's office. I stepped into the office I had left just an hour earlier, and then turned around and properly made it to the museum (which I breezed through in 2.5 hours) and took a picture in front of India Gate, a WWI memorial arch. That was it on the tourist front.

The rest of the time in Delhi was devoted to catching up on work as I mentioned, fighting/begging my computer to work, and then going on a scavenger hunt to find a reasonably priced MacBook…which has yet to be purchased. My repetitive failures with PCs have finally enticed me to make the switch. I was a loyalist since we bought our Windows 3.1 system in the early 90s with Prodigy and AOL 2.0, but I'm ready to make the leap!

Another portion of my time in Delhi was spent discussing with Akshay the prospect of traveling to Abu Dhabi to coach the Indian team. There has not been any formal coaching for these players, save for a random clinic that lasted for a few days every other winter. This was our opportunity to start to change the system, and give a lasting coaching presence to these players that were full of passion but no formal instruction or understanding of the way the game is played. Ultimately, it came down to finding the money to cover a few expenses, which got worked out.

Once Akshay confirmed that he could cover the change fee for my flight back to America, as well as some other expenses, we officially agreed upon my becoming the head coach of the national team until I could find a suitable replacement. Part of my mission is not just to be the coach, but to be the consultant in developing the whole Indian Ice Hockey program, training coaches, referees, players, and developing the program at all levels – youth, girls, adult, professional, etc. There's a lot of work to be done, starting with returning to Ladakh to return to the team and prep them for the Asia Challenge Tournament taking place in Abu Dhabi!

And that's exactly what happened. Akshay confirmed me a one-way ticket back to Ladakh, just five days after departing, with an open-ended date of return. The purpose is to give the team a crash-course in international hockey, and depart Ladakh (again) when the ice conditions become unbearable and/or I feel I have achieved everything I could in the short amount of time available.

The night before departure from my comfortable accommodations in Delhi, I made sure I had an extra long shower and stayed up extra late chatting with friends online, because I was going back into the year 1000, where technology was nonexistent, along with running hot water and air conditioning/indoor heating.

There are a lot of things we take for granted in life, and going to Ladakh is a stark reminder of that. When you don't have any comforts, you learn to re-appreciate the simpler, yet more important, aspects to life. Coming to Delhi for 5 days brought back those comforts and now I had to leave them. And you know what…I could care less. I get to go back to Ladakh and get to work as the head coach for the team, with so much yet to be accomplished, and I couldn't be more enthusiastic and determined to make this into a success for Ladakhi and Indian ice hockey!

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 7: Training the Indian National Hockey Team

2009-02-26T23:08:00.002-05:00

At the end of the 4^th National Ice Hockey Championship, I had agreed to train the selected players that were to participate in the 2009 IIHF Asia Challenge Tournament, being held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in mid-March. I had already been familiar with the players after watching them play in the National Tournament, and my scouting report was provided to Akshay Kumar of the Ice Hockey Association of India for his selection committee meeting. I had been watching these players for a solid week, and knew that there was a passion, and a potential to vastly improve. If only for three days before my departure back to Delhi (and around India) I was given the opportunity to lay the foundation of an international style of hockey.

Although I had spent a lot of time talking to the members of the Ladakh Winter Sports Club about my departure date, and my desire to train the team, it was incredibly last minute when I was notified we'd begin training just a few hours later in the day.

Our first session was scheduled at 4pm, the same day I had begun my intensive training at SECMOL in the morning, and classroom instruction in the evening. SECMOL is 20 km outside of Leh in one direction, and this rink is about 10 km outside of Leh in the other direction. As a result, a ride was arranged on day one to bring me to SECMOL to get my equipment, to the rink, and later back to SECMOL. The rink was on the banks of a river, although I'm not sure if it was the Indus or the Sindhu, and was the practice rink for one of the military teams. In order to make it to the rink, you had climb over a stone wall, and then navigate down AND up some rocky dirt paths. The players' bench - and I use that term very liberally - was a couple of boulders and trees, although most people just got changed on the ice immediately outside of the rink.

The team was comprised of about 12 players from the military teams, and the remaining roster was filled by players from the local teams, two being from SECMOL (including "formerly selfish"). 6 players were placed on reserve. A couple of players were in Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu & Kashmir, studying in school, and were not able to attend. Only a couple others were also absent.

The surface was brutal. There were speed bumps all over the rink, and they were damn effective, because very often people would come to a complete halt and face-plant into the rink. I speak from experience. On day one of training, I fell four times, twice without my gloves, which are relatively imperative to alleviating the impact of falls. No matter, I had the team (sans a few players – including those from SECMOL that were unaware they had made the team and that there was even a practice that) work on skating drills – in particular, their stopping, cross-overs and backwards skating.

Pond hockey has a yin-yang relationship. Using this analogy, there's a "good" and an "evil". On the side of the good guys, you have freedom: free ice, freedom to play how you like, freedom to have fun. This is obviously great for harnessing passion, and learning how to have fun in the game. You play because you love it and you can. On the (New Jersey) Devil(s) side, you have a pond, with no boards, uneven surfaces, the risk of falling in, and no rules. You lose pucks twice as fast as you would in an arena (pucks are like socks…even when you know the full schedule of where your socks have been, somehow you lose them all the time. Same thing with pucks…even in an arena, you shoot pucks out of the rink and tend to lose them regularly), and the risks of playing on an unreliable surface, with no rules, no referees and no support has not only life-impacting ramifications, but more importantly, it can stunt your hockey growth!

Playing hockey in an arena may be expensive, limited in time, restrictive in its rules and the way it's played, etc, but at the end of the day hockey is played in an arena. Nothing can replace that training.

Long story short, the pond severely handicapped the Ladakhi ability to power skate. As you have learned in earlier posts (you better have read each one!), ice conditions can sometimes be like skating on broken glass, or in this case, with the speedbumps. These hindrances affect the natural skating style, forcing players to skate timidly and focus on their feet. Obviously hockey is a sport that runs on an alternative mode of transportation (has anyone researched ice skating as a source for alternative energy?), but the skating must become second-nature so players can focus on the game going on around them. Being a mediocre ice skater will end up getting you injured, as you tend to spend more time looking down and can get your ass handed to you in one of those moments. Needless to say, nobody wants to see that happen. Neither do I, but there is no alternative in India currently. Outdoor pond hockey is the only way to go. So we fought through the detours and continued training.

After our skating drills, we got into shooting. Immediately I set out to change the mind-set when the players took a shot. I put a moratorium on slap shots until a wrist shot not only became second nature, but became adequate enough to score on a comatose goalie. If you know an obsessive hockey player, and I'm no exception, then you know that they are very emotional and protective about their sticks. The hockey stick is an extension of the body, and it must operate as such. A player should take the utmost care of their stick, because mistreatment can result in breakage on the ice in the middle of a game, always when you're about to take an important shot. Karmic retribution.

After 20 minutes or so of continuous shooting, we got into face-off alignment. In an attempt to radically change hockey in Ladakh, I showed every player specifically where they needed to be on a face-off at each dot on the rink. Once the centers got to see their wingers lined up properly next to them, and their defensemen behind them, they quickly understood the logic of trying to win the puck backwards on a face-off. Mission accomplished! (Hey, I'll take it…beggars can't be choosers).

After the on-ice training, I had the army drop me off at SECMOL so I could teach my off-ice hockey class (see previous post).

Day 2 began mid-day this time, instead of 4pm in an attempt to get better ice. The army players picked me and the two SECMOL players up from campus, and brought us to the rink on the opposite side of Leh. Although we tried to outsmart the weather, we failed. If anyone spent too much time in one particular spot for too long, they'd find that there skate was an inch into the ice, and partially submerged in water. Skating drills? I think not. As a result, more time was spent shooting from different angles quickly to train the goalies to move laterally in the net, play their angles, and practice going down and getting back up.

Needless to say, without formal training for the players, there was no formal training for the goalies. The butterfly (a particular style of goaltending that relies upon speed and flexibility in covering as much of the net as possible, while covering your angles) was completely foreign to them. Not being a goalie, I tried my best to explain what a butterfly position looks like and why it's effective. The trouble is that with no equipment and average flexibility (on a good day, after yoga and a massage), I can't get into a butterfly position. I thought I was going to tear my groin. It was worth the sacrifice though, if I could at least make a slight improvement in their abilities in net, especially since my groin is out of commission while in India as it is (too much information?).

After shooting for a solid 35 minutes, we worked on screens and deflections, something they have never utilized. I wanted to lay the foundations of how to position oneself in front of the end and cause absolute chaos. As a center, I got more pleasure in helping a teammate score a goal due to my screening the goalie than when I scored the goals myself. Sure, you take a few shots to the spine or calf, but even that is part of the fun. We ran a drill for the full team where all players would fight for positioning in front of the net, and either I or a defenseman would shoot at the perfect moment for a screen, deflection or rebound. Some did this perfectly and stood their ground in front, others did it perfectly by clearing their man in front, and others took themselves 8 or 9 feet out of position in an attempt to get open. Obviously since this is a drill to fight for positioning in front of the net, they failed.

For day 3, my final day with the team before my departure to Delhi, we decided to hold a morning practice. 9am. This effectively meant I couldn't coach the SECMOL group that night, something I wasn't happy about, but in the grand scheme of things, training this newly formed Indian team is obviously an honor and incredibly important.

The ice was a bit better, although still nothing to rave about, so skating drills returned. After some brief shooting, passing and stick-handling drills, we got into the real meat. We started with a 2-on-0 drill. If it sounds simple, it is. For those of you that don't play hockey, here's the brief-over: two players start from opposing corners on the same side of the ice and leave the zone, criss-crossing as they return back into the zone. They make a short pass as they approach each other, with the player receiving the puck crossing in front of the player passing the puck. Other than the obvious reason for doing this, not running into each other, the logic behind this is that you want the player with the puck to enter the offensive zone immediately so as to not go off-sides. Granted, this is a drill that requires players to go back into the zone they started from; a situation that is unrealistic in a game, but it reinforces the concept of pass and go behind, and stay onsides. Also, it's hockey. You never know where the puck will take you on the ice. Sometimes you skate laterally. In that case, this drill is perfect practice.

It should still sound like an easy drill. Apparently not for Ladakhis. The players consistently failed to pass properly, and to make matters worse, they were going off-sides and running into each other! Communicate! I tried to reinforce that the drill isn't about skating to the top of the zone and just giving the player the puck. You can pass as much as you want before and after, but make sure that you pass at the top of the zone about 10 feet from each other. We attempted this drill for about 30 minutes, and would've done it longer until we consistently got it right, but the tea was getting cold. So we took a break.

When tea time was over, I really complicated things by making it a 2-on-1 drill. Now the defenseman would start near the net and pass to one of the players leaving the zone, then they'd criss-cross, just as before, and come back into the zone against the defenseman. Although it was filled with countless mistakes, mostly going off-sides or making an ill-advised pass, they managed to run this drill more efficiently than when there was no defensive opponent. Go figure.

Other than day three's tea break, there were no water breaks throughout these two-hour long practices. It's not that I was overworking or punishing them, quite the opposite. I felt that with the level of drills we were running, and the limited time available, there was no point in wasting a water break when everyone appeared fresh. But maybe that was just their cultural tendency of respecting authority that kicked in. Either way, being the last practice, I didn't want to leave without getting into some sort of team situation.

I attempted to introduce a 3-on-2 drill that would develop multiple skills at once: defensive pair passing to one another, offensive players coming back into the zone, all 5 players breaking out in unison, the forwards coming in on attack with a 1-man advantage, hence 3-on-2. Before I could really get this drill up and running, we ended practice. Time had run out, and this drill would require another hour that was unavailable.

For now, my training with the Indian hockey team had come to an end. They needed to be ready to play for the Asia Challenge Cup, and I was leaving Ladakh with a strong feeling that more training was imperative.

We needed to work on skating, shooting, passing and positioning. Minor details in a game reliant upon skating, shooting, passing and positioning. Or as they say in Miracle: "Pass, shoot, score." But hey…we have passion! Hopefully we can work on some of these things before time runs out.

Words of Wisdom & the Importance of Karma

2009-02-18T02:32:00.006-05:00

"Karma"

In case it wasn't obvious already, my previous post was a bit more personal and philosophical than its predecessors. I had toiled over whether or not I should remove/edit this post many times, and after a handful of discussions, analysis, and reflection, decided to leave what I wrote as is.

This blog is a reflection of me in the moment, and this project is as much about the people I am sharing happiness through hockey with, as it is a journey of self discovery, reflection (there's that word again), and confidence.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you a few quotes that have been incredibly important and helpful to me throughout this journey (and prior), as well as the story behind the inspiration.

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander tim, for that's the stuff life is made of."

- Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin has been a long-time hero of mine - someone I consider the quintessential American (I wrote a paper on this topic in college). I stumbled across this quote not long after departure from NYI, at a time when I was looking for inspiration and motivation. Along comes a quote from one of the most important men in US history (if not world history) that promotes making the most of your time and working hard, and it immediately motivated me to get to work and not let the comforts of normalcy get in the way of opportunities of the present and the future. This quote is pure Carpe Diem - sieze the moment - and doesn't conflict with the philosophy of karma. In fact, it works side by side, and in my opinion, it says that our fate lies in our determination, focus and intention. If all of those are positive, good things will come, and what can be more karmic than that!?

Ikigai: That which makes one's life worth living

- Japanese word/philosophy

I am still trying to figure out where I saw this word and it's translation. What I can tell you is that in the research I've done, there is a true sense of "Ikigai" in Japan, but there is also a fascination with it. Studies have been conducted on whether ikigai is a major motivation in Japanese (and other) culture - but I didn't read the results, because quite honestly, I don't care. For me, ikigai absolutely rang true and vibrated through my soul. When I talk about passion, my impression and opinion is that it is similar to what the Japanese consider ikigai. Passion is pursuing and enjoying that which makes one's life worth living, and hockey is that passion for me (as you well know by now). It was just one more karmic indicator that I was shooting at the right net.

(side story: I was playing in a men's league game about 1.5 years ago, and had joked with my new goalie earlier in the season that I have a tendency of deflecting shots towards my own net when I'm playing defense...not intentionally, of course. We were teasing him and saying that at some point in the season I would score on him - not realizing that this would happen. In that game, the goalie passed the puck me on the boards in the defensive zone, and I was facing the goal line on my end of the ice. For some odd reason, I felt I needed to get rid of the puck quickly, and tried to shoot it behind the net, around the boards. I missed. My target, that is. Because I shot the puck into my own net from 15-20 feet away, as the goalie was skating back to his crease. Confused, I slammed my head (in a helmet) against the boards, trying to figure out what I was trying to accomplish and why it went so wrong. We won the game by a lot, and it's only men's league, so in the end, who cares? But my prophecy came true - which is an indicator of "The Secret", something that also ties into karma. I scored on my goalie, as blatantly as if I was on the opposing team!)

Continuing on...

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thought break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormany forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be."

- Patanjali (Ancient Indian organizer of Yoga Sutras & Philosopher)

This quote floored me! For some time, I had been preaching about passion and idealism, and then I stumbled across this quote - while in Delhi. The office that I spend a lot of time at in Delhi is next to Patel Chowk Metro Station in Central Delhi, the station that houses the Metro Museum. On my first day, I walked through this exhibit briefly, and figured I had seen everything that needed to be seen just by passing it. A few days later, I made plans to meet a friend in the station, and ended up waiting for about an hour inside the station. So I decided to really take in the full details of the Delhi Metro. Around 40 minutes in, I stumble across this quote, which had been used to motivate the developers/construction workers/employees of the system. It felt as if it was written for me! In just one paragraph, written at some point in the past by and Indian I had never heard of, the human condition - my condition - was on display for all to see. For me, "The Hockey Volunteer" is my extraordinary project. It is my calling. We all have that in us, and when we find it, everything changes. Our lives change. We become focused, determined, resourceful, energized, and ultimately: happy. Talk about karma!

Back to relevant updates shortly.

Until then, make sure you check out pictures of hockey in Ladakh (and tourism in India, if you're so inclined). I have also posted new pictures on Flickr taken by others in Ladakh, including some pictures by Russ Taylor (nomadruss.com). Please check them all out. Don't forget Akshay Kumar's pictures from the 4th National Ice Hockey Tournament.

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 6: Coaching at SECMOL/Founding “The Hockey Volunteer”

2009-02-14T23:45:00.003-05:00

You may or may not know, but my original motivation for coming all the way to Ladakh for hockey was to work with the students at SECMOL (Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh). This had come about after a random email sent my way from my friend and former colleague Angela Ruggiero of Team U.S.A. Hockey involved SECMOL, and I decided to research a bit what it was about. The more I read, the more I was compelled to help.

SECMOL is a non-profit that has a campus about 20km outside of Leh, in the middle of a mountainous desert, on a cliff overlooking the Indus River. It is in an absolutely gorgeous scene. These days, SECMOL exists to provide children from around Ladakh, mostly those from less fortunate families (in an area that is already very humble compared to life in the West – "Things we take for granted…"), and provides them with a rounded education, teaches them practical responsibilities, and allows more than enough opportunity for fun and constructive interpersonal interaction.

Throughout the year, high school students from VIS (Vermont Intercultural Semesters) come to Ladakh and spend some time at SECMOL teaching the students English, working on school-work for credit, and providing the SECMOL students and staff with an opportunity to learn about life and culture in America – in particular, Vermont.

The campus is solar powered, and after a handful of ventures into educational services, liberal magazine printing, and childrens' books, solar paneling is among the few remaining business that allows SECMOL to make revenue independent of donations and the fees collected from students and volunteers. On their website, there was a request for a hockey coach, and like a slap shot to the temple, I was overtaken with a swelling of emotion by the calling that had come out of nowhere, or had it?

Around the world, there are handfuls of people that believe in fate, or the edict that "things happen for a reason", and others in the philosophy of karma – that what we do has a direct impact on what happens to us (simply: cause and effect). For many, The Secret was powerful source of inspiration to really focus on our dreams. Malcolm Gladwell would argue that it's the situation unto which we were afforded in life, mixed with a fair degree of randomness, hard-work, and luck, that lead to our outcome in life. Others take the "more practical" route that we make our own opportunities, and that randomness has nothing over good 'ol sweat, blood and tears.

For some time now, many of these philosophies have resonated for me, some of them conflicting or harmonizing with each other, and when my tenure with the Islanders ended, I knew that the time to test my character and put my dreams into motion had arrived. All of my life's experiences to that point had provided me with a foundation to grow upon, and when this email came my way from Angela, I had already identified many of the things important to me to live a happy life: traveling, playing hockey, drinking tea, doing good for others/generating good karma, meeting interesting people, forming lasting connections/friendships, never working a "9-to-5" again, being my own boss, finding a path to enlightenment (seriously). These are things I consider passions that define me, some are simple, some are complex, but all are important. With the pursuit of passion, there is still a business plan, and a desire to make money, but never the motivation to put money before happiness. The opportunity to travel to Ladakh, a Buddhist (Buddhism is based upon compassion, doing good for others, and the pursuit of enlightenment) region in the Himalayas of India, one of the world's most unique countries, where ice forms naturally and hockey is played with passion, where I could drink endless amounts of tea, and do things the way I feel are important in life and in business was too much to resist. This email regarding SECMOL opened my eyes and provided me with the path to follow through on my pursuit of happiness, and so became "The Hockey Volunteer" initiative.

In my first day of emails with SECMOL, on December 8, 2008, I had enquired into how much my trip would cost, and promised that I would make it to Ladakh the moment I had raised the appropriate funds. The cost to make it to India and survive for 1 month on meager conditions was $2000. The cost to stay longer and still live pretty modest, $3000. If I was to bring hockey equipment, $4000. My goal was to raise the money before the ball dropped and 2008 had ended, and I set out on utilizing the digital world as my primary resource for fundraising. Being a card-holding member of Generation Y, and someone that has always been keen on utilizing computers and new technology, this was something I had a passion for, and had experience with when I could say "I'm Adam Sherlip, and I'm an 'Islander'". Unknown to everyone, up until now, is that I vowed to myself that I would plaster the internet with this program for the sheer point of proving that it could be done, and that technology could be used to make a difference in peoples' lives if we truly allow it. I was never given the opportunity to utilize new media/digital marketing the way I wanted previously, and this was my opportunity to prove my old bosses wrong. I wouldn't call it vengeance, or anything of similar harshness, but rather the opportunity to prove to myself and to those that had doubted my expertise and/or idealism that both could succeed, simultaneously.

Now at this point, you may be thinking this is about ego, and I want to vow to you that my only boost in ego is when I see the difference I have made in the lives of countless people to date, using hockey as my tool. That's it. I feel good, when I've done good*. The rest is fluff. Yes, it's important to have motivation. Yes, it's important to have dreams and goals. But none of that compares to knowing that your services are not only needed, but they are requested and appreciated.

On January 12, 2009, just over 1 month from deciding the path my life would take herein, I departed for Ladakh, by way of Frankfurt, Germany and Delhi, India. I differentiate between Delhi, India and Ladakh because this is truly a world unto itself. During the Winter, Ladakh is cut off from the rest of the world, including it's neighboring regions: Zanskar, Jammu and Kashmir (the name of the state). With me on this initial voyage was a bundle of 14 hockey sticks, 2 pairs of skates, some pucks, my gloves, and 2 sets of netting. I was told that lefty sticks were called "righty" and righty sticks were called "lefty", and that what I know as lefty sticks was in high demand. As a result, I brought a half-dozen of my old lefty sticks, and received donations of another half-dozen sticks from a local Play it Again Sports on Long Island, of which only 3 were righty, and two of those were for children. Originally, my plan was to receive a donation or purchase two sets of hockey goals that came with large backstop-netting, so that wide shots would stay in the rink. In the meantime, I had discussed with SECMOL the proper size of the nets, and when they notified me they had welded some pipe to regulation size, I was able to purchase netting to line the pipes. The morning of my departure, I rushed out to a sporting goods store the moment they opened, and purchased lacrosse-style netting, against the recommendation of the people in the store. I then went into the neighboring hardware store and purchased 1 large bag of industrial strength ties.

Both pairs of skates were mine from the past, and along with the rest of my equipment, the plan was to leave everything behind. It's very Buddhist not to hold on to possessions, and since everything is replaceable for me, and difficult to get for the Ladakhis, it seemed like the best option. That, and I would be able to lighten my load for when I began my travel around India.

As you know from my first post here in Ladakh, my child-like tendencies took over and I had jumped onto the rink within a couple of hours of arriving, stupidly taunting the altitude to prove that it could debilitate me. Prior to the headache that REALLY felt like a slap-shot to the temple, I was told that the sticks I called lefty are also called lefty in Ladakh (shocker, I know), and that they had actually needed righty sticks, as over 90% of the players shoot from the right side. Damn.

In that first session on the ice, the mid-level players, many female, were on the ice playing around with one of the instructors from Vermont. She quickly deferred to me, and I showed everyone how to take a proper wrist shot (naturally, I missed the net on one of my first attempts, but no matter), and then worked on some puck-handling drills before getting into a scrimmage. This was my only lesson for the better part of two weeks.

The oldest boys' team was participating in a local tournament, the same tournament I identified as having a SECMOL player dominating his competition on selfish play, and while they were competing in the late rounds of the tournament, the rest of us traveled to the opposite side of Ladakh to participate in a tournament in Chiktan/Kargil, co-sponsored by SECMOL. At this point, I was made aware that there was more tournament play upcoming when we returned to the Leh area (the capital of Ladakh), and that many of the top players would be involved in that tournament too. We agreed that my instruction should begin after the tournament ended. The only other interaction with hockey at SECMOL was in the scrimmage we organized between our American team and the top boys' team, in which we absolutely demolished our better conditioned/acclimated opponents on the backs of our superior passing (and speed and shot accuracy). As we played out our drubbing, I made a point to call out the selfish play of the "all-star", and noticed his game (along with the rest of his teammates) morphing into a cone-like strategy of stand and wait for the puck to come.

Again, based on earlier posts, you know that the tournament I speak of was the national tournament, and I had become heavily involved in everything around this event, including the drama, unfortunately. In the middle of the national tournament, was the Canadian tournament, and when all was said and done, 7-8 days were devoted to these two conjoined hockey happenings. During this period, I was practically unseen at SECMOL, waking up early to head into Leh, staying in town all day, and returning late at night, if I returned at all. Although we had discussed that my lessons would begin when all of this ended, I was starting to feel like a man who wasn't living up to his word. I had come to Leh for SECMOL, and was seen dealing with an organization that has had strained relations with the embattled NGO: the Ladakh Winter Sports Club.

I had to be repeatedly reminded by my friend Henk that I was in Ladakh for hockey, and based on my discussions with SECMOL and my contribution to the rest of Ladakhi hockey, I was upholding my initial goal: to share happiness one puck at a time. Phew, I was getting worried.

As the tournament was winding down, I organized an off-ice hockey class at SECMOL to go over the basics of hockey. Just like with the local referees, this class was focused on discussing penalties, off-sides, and icing. The group was engaged for an hour, working through my English, a translator, and "Slap Shot"-like demonstrations of how to commit the penalties, as well as the signals for them.

At the same time, I began working with the most advanced players from SECMOL in private sessions (which ended up quickly becoming public, because many of the other students would force their way in), including the player previously identified as selfish. He had performed relatively miserably in his earliest matches in the national tournament, and I attempted to reinforce what constitutes quality hockey in North America. Our time together wasn't as productive as I would have liked, as he had a hard time understanding the concept of a snap-shot (something I didn't want to get into, but one of the Vermont students had introduced it), as well as how to break out of the defensive zone and find the puck. People used to say that Wayne Gretzky would always "have the puck find his stick", but in reality that means that Gretzky was smart enough to understand where the puck was going, and make sure he was there. These were the things I was trying to teach him, as well as how to make close passes while moving in all directions.

The conditions of the ice at this point in the training was less than forgiving, and at one point I caught my skate in a deep rut, and fell backwards on my lower back, an area I severely injured in a hockey when I was a teenager, that gets easily aggravated and affects all movement in my body when it flares up. Fortunately, this pain subsided quickly, and without any intense spasms.

When the tournament ended, I was able to really get to work with the SECMOL players. In the late afternoons, as the sun was setting, I dragged "formerly selfish" out onto the ice, along with a few of his teammates, and we worked on honing some of the intermediate skills, like deflections and breakouts. In the mornings (yes, I'm going backwards), I spent a couple of days instructing the less advanced groups, working on passing, skating (in particular, backwards), shooting, and 2-on-1 drills. In the evening, we went back into the classroom for a few more lessons. You already know day one. Day two discussed face-off positioning, and day three was about zone-play, including break-outs. Afterwards, I gave the group an overview of the NHL, including listing all of the teams and showing where they were on the map. To my disappointment, these so-called hockey fanatics knew nothing about the NHL, or about North American geography. To my further disappointment, I forgot one NHL team, and not until 4 days later did I remember which team I had left off out of the hockey geography lesson: sorry Colorado Avalanche fans!

All of this training with the players at SECMOL was in my final scheduled days in Ladakh, but as you will soon find out, this intense period of hockey overload and instruction at SECMOL was only a sliver of what was going on.

It only gets better!

*I have made a conscious decision to ignore the foundations of proper grammar here, and use "good" instead of "well". I think the term "I've done good" is much more representative of something that feels inherently decent and morally right, whereas "I've done well" seems mediocre and impersonal.

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 5: The Red Coats are coming! Er, uh, I mean the Canadians are coming!

2009-02-13T08:10:00.004-05:00

This posting is in conformity with the rest of this blog, but the post is easily modifiable for a newspaper article. Pictures will not be posted to this article until at least February 19, due to poor internet in Ladakh. In the meantime, you can check out pictures on my Flickr account: Anyway...enjoy...

In my apparent ego-centrism, narcissism and ignorance, I wrongly assumed that I was the Christopher Columbus of ice hockey in Ladakh. “I have discovered hockey in Ladakh,” I said to myself in my head, but like Columbus in regards to America, many had come before me. Obviously, hockey was being played in Ladakh, and has been for some time. It became logical, seeing as all you needed was some ice and hockey equipment. People that came here for hockey over the years brought it with them, which solved that riddle.

So many sports stories begin with who beat whom and which player performed the best. We hear about the rivalry of sports and see the behavior of fans as crude, ignorant or violent. But what gets lost in the shuffle is how sports can bring people together.

For almost a decade now, members of the Canadian High Commission (Embassy) in Delhi have been coming up to Leh, Ladakh in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. They have been participating in a friendly tournament, the Indo-Canadian Friendship Cup, with local hockey teams, and have been bonding over the sport of ice hockey in the only region in India where ice forms naturally.

This was news to me. At the onset of the 4^th National Ice Hockey Tournament, I was informed that a team of Canadians was coming. I had seen a sign around the rink thanking the NHLPA for their support of Ladakhi hockey, but was completely stunned to learn that a bunch of players would come up from Delhi when it’s a beautiful 70°F (approx 23°C), year in and year out, tough out altitude sickness, and share their happiness as well!

Furthermore, the national tournament stopped. Completely. Play would resume once the Canadian team left.

Tony Kretzschmar, who used to work for an engineering company in Delhi, has been participating in the tournament since its inception. He now works in Shanghai, but set aside time in his schedule every year to visit one of the most remote regions in the world.

For your benefit, here is a full quote from Tony:

"I have had the distinct privilege of seeing the game of hockey develop in Leh since 2001. When I think back to the way they use to play back then, using field hockey sticks, old rusty skates, very little equipment, and even less understanding of the rules of the game, I feel a great sense of pride in seeing the teams play today. The progress has been heartwarming, and it was nice to see the games against Canadian teams not only resulting in Canadian domination...they actually beat us a few times in the championship over the years. However the goal of our annual Canadian team visits is not to win, it's more about hockey diplomacy and developing the game for the benefit of the children. The social aspect has grown out of what started out as a high adventure pure sporting initiative. I must say this is truly what brings me back and drives me to work on connecting the many folks around the world who want to help."

The games are always close in these competitions. The Canadian (and a few American) players don’t have much opportunity to play hockey while stationed in India, and their brief trip into an altitude of nearly 12,000 feet (about twice that of Denver, or three times that of Calgary) make it nearly impossible for the players to over-exert themselves. Air is thin, and breath becomes short.

Manitoba native Casey Guenther, a teacher at Woodstock International School in a relatively nearby state of Uttarakhand (nothing is nearby Ladakh in the Winter), was one of the top players on the Canadian team. He and his wife had visited Leh in the Summer of 2008 and “…fell in love with the place, but it’s the first time [coming here] in Winter.” A tall, lean player who looked to be in good shape, Casey, like so many others, had a hard time with the altitude. “Besides not being able to breath, it’s good. [My coming back now. It’s great. Hard to breath, but it’s fun.”

Over the years, the relationship between the Canadian High Commission team - only partially comprised of High Commission staff - has intensified. Each year, the team has donated equipment, and has increased awareness in Canada that has resulted in more equipment and resources to the Ladakh Winter Sports Club, including a skate sharpener, although I was informed that it took years to get this up and running, as it was a 110V North American style plug, and the converter needed was in Delhi. For a long time, nobody ever bothered to purchase it and bring it back to Leh.

Ego aside, I was delighted to hear about the Canadian team coming, and I made it a priority to meet the folks involved and get some good pictures, video and interviews. As usual, I quickly got absorbed into everything, and had met one of the members of the High Commission prior to the full team arriving and we had a nice chat over lunch. Once the tournament had begun, I made it over to the rink and struck up some conversation with family members of the team. They informed me that this was far and away the largest group to come up for the tournament, 47 – most being family & friends of the team.

The fans are active participants in these games. The crowd, expectant of fun hockey matches, was large and loud. No matter which team was with the puck, a deep roar would sweep the sunken, stone-lined rink whenever a top player on either team would touch the puck. Envision Alex Ovechkin on a shorthanded breakaway with 1 minute left in the 3^rd period, in a tied playoff game 7.

Although many of them were admittedly out of shape, and all of them were having difficulty breathing, the High Commission team was able to hold off the J&K teams in consecutive competitions on Day 1, a Saturday. This was when I got most of my interviews with the team, and a handful of their players, including, Ken Macartney, the Deputy High Commissioner. “This is my third year in Ladakh,” said Ken, “and it’s fantastic…one of the most beautiful rinks in the world.” For Ken, it brought back nostalgic sentiments. “It’s a reminder of small town Canada. It’s a great experience and we look forward to it at the High Commission and in the [participating] Canadian community.”

The temperature had become increasingly warm during the days of these matches this year, with mid-day temperatures reaching about 1-2°C/33-35°F. As you know from your science classes from the days when you received some variety of education, ice melts at 0°C/32°F. The same is true at high altitude, where the sun shining down on a pond that continues to receive running water and is surrounded by heat-absorbing rocks brings the temperature above freezing. As the ice gets cut up in these conditions, it becomes increasingly dangerous. This is similar to what our American team dealt with in Kargil (Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 2 - Kargil Tournament).

Just like when the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir attended the finals of the 4^th National Ice Hockey Tournament, the Karzoo Ice Rink just a quarter mile away from the Main Bazaar (Main Street) of Leh began to sink under the weight of 2-3 times the normal capacity. Often times, a whole group of people had to pick up all of their gear and belongings, and shuffle off to a different portion of the rink. That is, until that section started to sink.

Last year, it was quite the opposite. Depending on your point of view, the weather was either great for hockey, or way too cold for civilization. Canadian goalie Sarah Finall, an employee of the Canadian High Commission, participated in her first tournament last year upon her posting to Delhi. According to Sarah, “this whole experience is fabulous, even though it was minus 30°C (about -25°F) last year and I nearly died!” Her sentiment regarding the experience of hockey in Leh and the hospitality of the Ladakhis was consistent throughout the group. “It’s something you don’t want to miss,” stated Sarah, “it’s so amazing. The Ladakhi people are so great and welcoming.” The altitude was just part of the experience for Sarah, “What an experience to come up and play hockey at this altitude!”

Rumor had come my way that there would be a banquet at the “Only star hotel in Ladakh” (think about that for a second), and while I had assumed that I would be able to attend that event, I was never given a formal invite, so a local friend, Henk Thoma (no, he’s not Ladakhi…he’s a Dutch transplant that I’ll tell you about in a future post) and I went back to SECMOL and watched their “State of the Campus” address. Each student was responsible for a particular responsibility at SECMOL, including management of the library, collecting money, ice-rink maintenance, and milking the cows. The judges of their presentations critiqued their poor presentation skills, and although most of what I said was under my breath to Henk, I was very disappointed when the winning presentation had endless typos and poor grammar. Especially since one of the presenters was a European that was there teaching English. Nonetheless, afterwards, the group got to relax and get to one of their favorite activities: singing along with Ladakhi music and dancing in a way reminiscent of MTV's, “The Grind”, circa 1994.

The next day, the final match between the Canadians and an All-Star J&K team commenced. But due to continued poor weather (in hockey terms), the game was called at the end of the second period with a tie-game. The fans in attendance were disappointed at the outcome, but when safety is concerned, I err on the side of being conservative (well, sometimes I do), and after a few injuries sustained to the players on the Canadian team, they felt it was in the best interest of self-preservation to stop the game.

After the game, I went into the office where the Ladakh Winter Sports Club camps out, and on one of the tables was my formal invitation to the banquet that was held the night before. As I spoke to the LWSC members during the day, they had asked why I wasn’t in attendance. “I didn’t know I was invited,” I replied. One of them told me that when he saw me walking in the Main Bazaar, he assumed I was heading to the hotel, even though they apparently had a car to take me. Oh well. That evening, it was more than made up for, and entirely on accident.

The previous week, when Akshay Kumar of the Ice Hockey Association of India had come to Leh, Henk and I met him at the same hotel for dinner, and we were both very impressed, as we were both accustomed to the traditional amenities of Leh and throughout Ladakh. Granted, I’ve only been here for a handful of weeks, but Henk has been living in Leh for over a decade. We had decided that we were going to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at the hotel and enjoy something different than rice and daal (lentils).

I guess in the back of our minds we knew there was a chance things would play out as they did. Upon our arrival at the hotel, we immediately ran into some of the folks from the Canadian entourage and the Ladakh Winter Sports Club. We were quickly invited into their banquet that was about to begin, and while I’m sure a handful of people were wondering how and when we got ourselves into this dinner, it was an innocent coincidence.

Fortunately, Henk and I already being familiar with the Ladakh Winter Sports Club and my previous interaction with the Canadian group, we easily interacted with everyone at the party. For me, this was one of the most significant and impactful moments of my trip to date. Everybody from this group was incredibly warm and kind-hearted, which immediately cancelled whatever apprehension was in the back of my mind, being a stranger and an American (it’s easy to feel judged on a hockey-level by Canadians). The hockey talk was enlightening!

I heard stories from all different people about the prior support that Ladakh has received in ice hockey, and it’s plenty! The first Canadian team played in Leh in 2001, opening the eyes of the population to the North American style of the game. Within a few years, Canadian press had covered hockey in Ladakh and India in a handful of specials, and a couple from Canada produced an award-winning documentary: “Hockey Night in Ladakh” to showcase the passion for the game in Ladakh.

In 2003, the NHLPA Goals and Dreams Foundation donated 50 sets of equipment to the Ladakh Winter Sports Club. Coaches from New Zealand came in 2004 and spent a month teaching ice hockey and figure skating. In 2005, money was set aside to start the construction of an indoor ice hockey rink in Leh. That rink has yet to break ground, but after this year’s national tournament, the Chief Minister f Jammu & Kashmir pledged twice as much money and vowed that the rink would be completed.

The Los Angeles Kings Junior coach also came in 2005 to coach, the same year a skate sharpener arrived, and the following year the Kings brought a Ladakhi team to Los Angeles. The coach of the team Ladakhi team was initially denied his visa to America, but after some maneuvering was able to get his visa and accompany his team to the States. He never returned to India. He’s somewhere in California, most likely the Los Angeles area, and is married to an American woman.

Beginning in 2007, the Montreal Canadiens have been supporting Health, Inc., a non-profit operating in rural Ladakh. They held coaching clinics in Ladakh, as well as donating equipment.

To find out all of this was overwhelming, but in the best of ways. I could not be more delighted to see how much support has been given to Ladakhis to improve their hockey, but there’s a flip side.

The longer I stay in Ladakh, and the more people I talk to about Ladakh, the more I have learned about the negative aspects of Ladakh. Sure, the people are very welcoming, and I have been treated with nothing but the utmost respect. At the same time, there is a pattern of staggered support - usually one season of coaching or donations - given to a culture that has their palms wide-open, and as a result, very little progress has been made. For nearly a decade now, people with the best of intentions come to Ladakh, fall in love with initial impressions and gorgeous scenery, and do what they can to help the people. The fact of the matter is that Ladakh is an area that receives a disproportional amount of government support because it’s a border territory, so the people need to be kept happy…or at least content. It has a large population that is uneducated and out of work, corruption is prevalent, and because tourism is the staple industry, Westerners are relied upon for their good graces and deep pockets.

At the end of the day, I am not here to fix a culture, nor do I want to. I’m also not blaming anyone, as I have also developed a love for Ladakh. That being said, I DO want to change the hockey culture here. The passion and love of the game that I felt from the Canadian group was as palpable as that of the Ladakhis, and I vowed to all of them that my only goal here is to tap into the passion for the game and help it grow. I voiced my desire to work with the Canadians next year, and hopefully join their team, and I know they are interested in holding their own hockey clinic here next winter, something that would break with a pattern of coming up for a couple of days, playing a few games, throwing some parties, and going back to life in Delhi or abroad.

I would like to see everyone involved in Ladakhi hockey to have a more focused, cooperative plan, this way we don’t take baby steps each winter, and see all of our work done for naught. Instead, with our sustained support, we can take giant leaps year-round. If we work together and strategize, we can do so much more to improve the quality of hockey in Ladakh, like training local coaches to train the local population.

Since my passion is hockey, I would do a disservice to myself, and everyone involved in the sport, if I didn’t share my concern and ideas for how we can share our mutual love for the game. The promising part is that I know everyone I’ve met here feels the same way about the game as I do, and with our mutual passion, anything can be accomplished! I can’t wait to get to work!

Technology Issues

2009-02-07T05:35:00.003-05:00

There have been a number of factors that have hindered my timeliness for posting, among which is major telecommunication issues in Ladakh, and major computer issues for me (separately). I am doing my best to get what I write posted, as well as upload photos and videos. I have begun posting raw videos from the beginning of my trip on YouTube (link coming soon, as I want to build up a bit of a library).

I will continue to fight through my technology issues (including a stolen iPod, failing computer hardware, lack of internet/slow internet when I connect), but please bear with me.

Thanks for your understanding!

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 4: Indian Hockey Drama

2009-02-07T04:16:00.005-05:00

The 4^th National Ice Hockey Championship was held in Leh because it's possibly the most populous city in India that can sustain ice in the Winter. The Ladakh Winter Sports Club (LWSC), based in Leh, was tasked by the Ice Hockey Association of India (IHAI) to facilitate this tournament, which included 3 local military teams, 2 local Jammu & Kashmir (aka Leh) teams, 1 team from Kargil, and 1 ex-military team, which included 10 players from SECMOL (no, they are/were not in the military).

The drama began before the tournament, when the SECMOL students were not allowed their own team. To make matters worse, they were placed on the J&K teams, without their knowledge, even though they had agreed to play with the ex-military team. This was not seen positively by the LWSC, even though the players were at no fault. They were upset they weren't allowed their own team that had just participated in a tournament in the same rink, run by the same organization, but other teams that played in the prior tournament, including the champs, were also not officially invited to participate. That being said, every player was eligible to participate.

My presence was requested by Akshay Kumar of the IHAI to assist the head official in keeping score until he got used to the system, ensuring the referees were living up to the lessons they swore they understood, and to scout out the best players to be invited on the Indian Ice Hockey Team when they travel to Abu Dhabi, UAE for the 2009 IIHF Asia Challenge Cup.

The first day of play was freezing, and after recording Akshay and a local government official making their speeches, I sat somewhat idle for the next 3 hours, until my toes were M.I.A. I had to go on a rescue mission just to ensure they were still with me. The head official took to the score-sheets pretty well, although I provided the tally of who scored and who assisted, as the referees never skated over to us during game-play. Speaking of the refs, apparently I was speaking a different language, because they did not do half of the things I spoke to them about – things they swore they understood fully.

Game-play for the first 2 days was good. Many players stood out, including a handful of goalies that were surprisingly competent, and many games ended with very small goal differentials. One thing was clear though, the military teams were far better than their competition. The biggest factors in the success of the military teams are the inherent teamwork mentality of the military and their conditioning. They are used to working together, supporting each other, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of their comrades, and they could skate all day. The local players didn't know each other, didn't have a teamwork mentality, and were not nearly as conditioned, although many were very capable.

On day 1, icing was being called somewhat often, and my pride was growing, but as the day progressed, off-sides were being called improperly, and my pride settled back down. When players skated off-sides, this was called. It's the easiest of the calls, and if they didn't get that right at least 90% of the time, I would probably have started crying right there. When it came to passing off-sides, the referees were calling this as well…so far, so good. The difference here is that instead of a face-off outside of the zone you transgressed, the faceoff should be even wherever the pass originated from, or even with the face-off dots in the vicinity. OK…I can accept this error, and this was already improvement, so beggars can't be choosers. When there was a delayed off-sides - that is, some players in the offensive zone before the puck – the play was called off-sides, whether the puck was shot in or not, whether it hit the net, or not. I know, I'm nitpicking, but this stuff matters to me, especially since it's part of the basics. If India wants to compete on the international stage, I don't want them to look foolish not understanding off-sides rules…that would be embarrassing.

The matches were exciting, as many of the teams were even, and the support I provided to the Ladakh Winter Sports Club, the referees, and to the Ice Hockey Association of India left me feeling confident that I could skip day three and do some writing about the previous events. Bad idea on my part.

Day three began with super drama. In a classic unsportsmanlike move, two of the military teams arranged to fix their match to help each other make the playoffs and prevent other teams from making it. In their opinion, the more goals each team scored would help them advance into the semi-finals, so each team scored about 20 goals in their head to head match. In prior games, the most goals scored were 8, and that was when there was a far superior team. Two somewhat equal teams will not score 20 goals against each other in that type of setting. In response, two of the local teams arranged their match similarly, with the better of the two scoring 32 goals, and the lesser of the two scoring 16. One of those teams had children of people in the military, including some players, and they pulled their children out of the games. What's unclear to me is whether these players were pulled out of their game by parents of the team that had fixed the previous match so that they could fix this match also, or if the players were pulled out by parents from the other military branch in protest. Either way, one of the teams ended up playing a game that day with only 3 players and a goalie.

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. Somewhere in this melee, players from the Army started throwing stones onto the rink because the responsive match fixing prevented their team from making it into the playoffs. Nobody was hit or injured.

I had left on day two feeling confident that things were OK at the tournament, but came into a bunch of controversy when I arrived at the rink late on day 3. Had I been there, I absolutely would have been up on the rink shouting, as I was prone to do when referees missed an icing, off-sides or penalty. If I was present for blatant match fixing, I would've made sure that the offenders be stopped on the spot – regardless of the fact that I am not an official of the Ladakh Winter Sports Club.

Instead, the LWSC didn't do anything to stop what was going on, and expected a referee with no training, that was playing for one of the teams in the tournament to stand up to a crowd of soldiers and tell them to play nice. I have the U.S. Embassy to back me up, or so I believe; they have a broken hockey stick.

The team from Kargil, along with the military team not involved in match fixing, and the ex-servicemen team all filed protests with the LWSC, which went to a board of review that was overseen by the D.C., the highest ranking official in the region of Ladakh. At the same time, the captain of the ex-servicemen was practicing what not to do in interpersonal communication by not telling the SECMOL players of the details, and the fact that there was a review panel. He also didn't communicate information about the game they were scheduled to play on Day 4. From the best of my understanding, there was discussion to boycott the game that was mutually agreed up by all players of the team, but it seems like they had different reasons. One thing is perfectly clear to me, none of them knew enough to make an informed decision, and this is the fact that bothers me the most.

[Disclaimer: What I'm about to present is an opinion based argument that may offend some of the involved parties (if I haven't already done so). It's meant to be nothing more than a reflection of what I saw, and I if additional evidence is presented to me, I will happily (or not so happily) amend my argument.]

There is no doubt that match-fixing is a terrible thing to do in a sporting match, especially a sport that I argue has a higher set of morals and ideals. The teams assumed that running up the score would enhance their chances of advancing in a tournament, and when I explained to some that in fact it's goals against that is counted first, then goals for, then goal differential (difference between goals against and goals for), the reaction I got was, "…well then the teams would have just played to a 0-0 tie". Maybe that's true, but the attitude on this respect is defeatist. The reality is that there are a few players on practically every team that are capable of committing an unsportsmanlike conduct in a sporting match, no matter how much we try to groom them and assume everyone is a perfect person and player. Throwing stones onto the rink is not only unsportsmanlike, but it's incredibly dangerous, and everyone is fortunate that nobody got hurt. There should be a sign that says: "Common Sense: Don't throw rocks on the rink when frozen, as it can cause cracks." As it was explained to me, nobody was aiming for any players, they were just throwing rocks in disgust. Well I guess I can understand their frustration, but it began with their comrades fixing a match.

The ex-men (their nickname) boycotted their game on Day 4, something I was unaware of until it was happening, and totally unsupportive of. The argument from their side, through a non-hockey representative, was that they shouldn't play in a tournament that has no discipline, control or sportsmanship, and in that regards, I agree. There are few things more disheartening in sports than a lack of control and respect. But the game must go on. Mental toughness needs to set in and take a hold. Especially in a sport like ice hockey, that requires an immense amount of mental discipline.

At the same time, the members of the Ladakh Winter Sports Club were greatly offended by the boycotting of their tournament by a team that was already embroiled in apparent controversy (between the girls not being able to participate in the previous tournament because they were co-organizers of the tournament in Kargil, and the boys not playing on one of the J&K teams, although they weren't aware of it until later on). Despite their mismanagement in the breakdown of order and discipline in their tournament, I agree with the offense of boycotting the game for a few reasons:

As stated previously, participating in a major sporting event in India is resume-worthy, and provides a greater competitive edge when looking to advance in a country that is notoriously difficult to thrive in when the odds are stacked against you. Boycotting the event would hinder the chances of these players ever receiving such a promising opportunity of advancement again. I'm not suggesting that they just sit back and let corruption thrive, but sometimes we have to choose how much "fight the man!" we should put out there.
No matter your disgust, "the game must go on". Play through protest, but don't abstain from play. You can't win an argument in sports if you walk away…which really is a lesson in life as well. As it is, the game was a semi-final match. Boycotting the game, which led to a 1-0 forfeit loss, also removed the chance of winning the tournament. Which leads me to…
In order to make an educated, rational decision, you must know the facts. It's very easy to sit back and play the role of victim (or hero), especially when the past predicates this reaction. If we blindly act harshly, without addressing the LWSC members to find out exactly what is going on, you fall in the category of "poor judgment". To wait for an organization to publicly admit fault and/or cast blame on transgressors
before playing is not the best way to a speedy and appropriate solution.

The following day, the panel made its decision. They acknowledged that dishonorable intentions were at play, but without hard evidence, they felt there was nothing they could do. They recommended that people caught throwing rocks and/or taking their children out of the game personally be suspended from tournament play (and all of the respective privileges) for 1-2 years.

I received minutes of the report around 1-2 days after the meeting of the jury, a meeting I wish I was called into to present the rules and precedence to the panel. That obviously didn't happen. I was also told that there were players willing to testify that teams blatantly set out to fix the match, but that they weren't able to present their argument. This team had sent official complaints to every administrator and public official responsible for hockey in Ladakh all the way through to Delhi. Obviously that made the situation a bit more complicated, when the Sports Ministry chief gets a complaint about a tournament he probably only knew vague details about.

The ex-men team showed up the next day after I gave a stern (and initially misunderstood) lecture over the phone about how boycotting only makes the situation worse, in all aspects, and it is intensified by the situations that SECMOL has been involved with over the winter (and past years…visit the SECMOL website for more details on that). I didn't want to see anyone lose out, especially since the captain of the team was not present for much of the proceedings, and blindly made decisions without communicating with the SECMOL group.

The players accosted me, and then Mr. Kumar, and demanded that they play their original semi-final match that they had boycotted the day earlier. Both of us were in agreement that this was a lofty demand, considering the circumstances, and after Akshay spoke to them and told them they should've appeared yesterday, there request was denied.

In the end, the ex-servicemen team played in the Bronze Medal game, and after competing in the first period, there defeatist nature set in and they fell apart on the ice, with an obvious lack of passion and motivation. My message didn't get through. If there is any time to tap into passion and mental toughness, this was it, and they failed. I realize they were distraught and frustrated, but I like to take that aggression out by playing strong, smart hockey, not by laying down on the rink and letting people skate all over me. That's not the hockey way.

The final match was scheduled for the following between one of the accused military teams and one of the accused local teams, but not until the chief guest showed up, naturally. Whereas the chief guest to inaugurate the tournament was the CEC (Chief Executive Counselor – a decently high local official), the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, the equivalent of a governor in the United States. Unfortunately, fog delayed his takeoff from Jammu (the winter capital of J&K…the summer capital is Jammu), so the game didn't start for a few hours. The issue with this is that over the past few days, the weather became a bit warmer than normal, and by noon time, the ice started to melt and fall apart. The decision was made to start the game without the CM and the game started with a predicted lack of control and discipline. Just as in the NHL, once the advanced play began, whistles get put away. For the whole game, 1 penalty was called, when many, including a penalty shot, should've been called.

Before the 3^rd period began, we got word that the CM had landed, and was on his way from the airport, so game-play was halted. As the crowd waited, the players lined up at the end of the rink, waiting to meet the youngest Chief Minister in Jammu & Kashmir history, the son and grandson of former Chief Ministers. With two teams and a handful of delegates all waiting in the same area on the rink, the ice started to crack and the pond water began to creep up onto the ice surface. This is something we had become accustomed to, so we quickly shifted everyone to a (temporarily) strong section of the rink, and the speeches commenced. First the CEC made a speech, then Akshay Kumar, both in Hindi – so I assume they were speaking about me exclusively, even though I couldn't understand any of it.

The game continued with intensity, and ended in a 1-1 tie. Having experienced this already in the semi-final match that played, the 5-minute overtime played through and the game went to a shoot-out.

Because of the primitive zamboni – straw and wood brooms – only one side of the rink was used for the shoot-out. The rink had a crowd of nearly 5,000 fans, and the energy was palpable. When space ran out around the rink, fans piled into nearby roof-tops, like Wrigley Field in the summer. When roof-space ran out, children went under a platform that held mid-level guests. All you could see were faces sticking out, barely able to see the game. When space under the deck ran out, people started claiming trees. Dozens of people piled on the apparently sturdy trees around the rink, some holding as many as 50 people. One guy climbed about 20 feet high in a narrow tree that he must have reserved, because nobody else went in the tree. I was told by a local that the people will urinate while in the tree just so they don't lose their spot. Whether or not it's true, it's believable.

The game ended with a 2-0 shootout win for the military team. They figured out the secret to scoring on a breakaway: lateral movement…especially in Ladakh, where the goalies sit back in the net and have a hard time moving side to side. The military crowd went crazy, and the roar was deafening. I felt like I was in an NHL arena during a playoff game!

The Chief Minister made a speech after the game, promising (as past politicians have) that he would increase the funding for sports in Ladakh, in particular ice hockey. Ladakh, being a "tribal region" on the border with Tibet/China and in a state bordering Pakistan, is vitally important to the Indian government. But they have their issues. Employment is low, and tourism is the main industry keeping the area sustainable. To increase the resources for ice hockey in Ladakh puts people to work (hopefully not to construct the new arena that was supposed to be built 8 years ago), and provides a greater incentive for hockey tourism, which will absolutely grow.

As I have stated many times, hockey can improve the way of life for people. Sometimes it's nuanced, like the lessons we can learn from the game, and other times it's blatant, like when people can put it on their resume for a better career or get employment from the growth of the industry.

For me, I agreed with a local friend when he stated that this drama was good for the long-term advancement of the game. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if I was in attendance that day, and maybe I could've helped the resolution if I was in the loop throughout, but at least I feel confident that my advice is in the spirit of the people and the game. I instructed them on how to handle these ordeals, and I hope they listened. Drama, politics and unsportsmanlike behavior will happen in hockey. But through it we learn, improve and grow. The game will change, and so will we.

What I didn't yet mention was that at the end of his speech, the Chief Minister walked directly towards me (surround by his entourage), and thanked me personally for my assistance in the hockey community. We had a brief chat about my time in Ladakh, and I affirmed to him that I would continue my support for Ladakh as long as I could.

Additionally, a reporter from the Hindustan Times covered the event and hockey in Ladakh & India in general, which came out yesterday (from this post). In the article, I am quoted and listed as a former NHL player, something I have adamantly avoided claiming, no matter where I am. I could list the amusing occasions where I couldn't avoid being perceived as a player, but this is already almost 3,500 words, so I'll spare you…for now. Nonetheless, please check out the article:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=RSSFeed-Sport&id=526bab72-3d59-4340-a772-3e2add612d85&MatchID1=4922&TeamID1=4&TeamID2=2&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1244&PrimaryID=4922&Headline=Rink+Panthers

Condensed URL: http://is.gd/iIu9

Also, be sure to check out not only my photo gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34781538@N08/sets/72157613464001176/ but Akshay Kumar's photo gallery as well: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/sredir?uname=musifat&target=ALBUM&id=5297393326109710529&authkey=5A0yKadN1XI&feat=email

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 3: Slap-shooting Idealism into Practice

2009-02-03T04:22:00.006-05:00

The reason why we rushed back from Chiktan to Leh was that we scheduled a hockey game against the top SECMOL team that had missed the Kargil Open to participate in the CEC Cup in Leh, a prominent tournament hosted by the Ladakh Winter Sports Club. As you know already (PART 1), this is the same tournament that had the SECMOL team dominated 15-0 in their first game, but they were able to rebound very well on the backs of a few players and make it to the finals. If they hadn't made it to the playoffs, they would've joined us in Chiktan/Kargil.

The night we returned, we went straight to Leh and stayed with some relatives of the aforementioned Tashi Angchok…what an amazing guy, by the way! Once again, these folks were incredibly warm and friendly. As common in Leh, they had specifically built small guest rooms on their property, which had a double and a triple room with non-functioning western-style bathrooms. Hey, it's the thought that counts!

Dinner and breakfast at the house were delicious, and as with all of the families I have met so far, their children were adorable, and cared for in the most heart-warming ways!

After breakfast, the Vermont, USA triumphantly returned to SECMOL, with the trophy that had "Winner, Men's Final" written on it (as stated previously, one of our players was a woman…still is, as a matter of fact). We played against the top boys team that had remained behind, this time without our 3 Ladakhi's (although we borrowed a new Ladakhi goalie), and absolutely dominated them through our passing. At the end of the day, 5 non-acclimatized Americans that know how to pass, skate and shoot, can dominate any number of Ladakhi's that can't.

It also allowed me to really notice the hockey deficiencies that I need to work on with their team, and in particular the players with the most potential.

That evening, we returned to Tashi's to watch the Obama inauguration (yes, this is delayed by about a week…it allows me to set up stories). Our hosts prepared a special feast and we went into the Leh Bazaar (Main St.) to pick up snacks, beer and juice (Vitamin C is in high demand here during the Winter). Watching everything from Leh, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, India is one of the most unique things I ever could have imagined for such an important moment in American history. Myself, 4 folks from Vermont, and Tashi huddled up in a small room around a heater and TV, snacking silently, late at night, watching everything unfold. At 11pm, in the middle of Obama's speech, when the power of Leh got turned off, our generator turned on, but not before missing about 2 minutes or so of the speech.

The reason I bring up President Obama is that in no small part, what is happening at home has contributed to what I am trying to do abroad. The pride I felt after Election Day in the fact that change is possible - and hopefully coming - motivated me to do my part. I have been an idealist for some time, and while you can't live each day in a state of disillusion and think the world is a perfect place with friendly people, that doesn't mean we can't strive to contribute to the improvement. The election, and in particular the inauguration, was reinforcement that when people work together to make a difference, they can achieve anything. I want to work with people that love hockey, care about the ideals (the base of "idealism") of the game, and want to improve the lives of children in India, as well as children around the world, utilizing a sport that can be so empowering.

As in China, where hockey has given the children more opportunities for a better education, or play hockey professionally in Asia, if not represent their country in the Olympics, the same is true in India.

In a country where there is still rampant corruption, an immense population (1.1 billion and growing faster than China's 1.3 billion), and an underlying current of tension stemming from religious and/or cultural factors – the caste system still exists in some ways, and there is a major difference between rural and urban populations – participating in a major hockey tournament in India is something to put on your resume and receive a distinct competitive edge when looking for jobs, such as in the military (a very desirable job here).

Before the 4^th National Ice Hockey Tournament began, Tashi wanted to introduce me to someone. Before he could say anything, I knew what he was referring to. Before I departed on my journey to Ladakh & India, I reached out to Akshay Kumar, General Secretary of the Ice Hockey Association of India. We had a brief conversation, and vowed to meet when he was in Leh. Since this was about the time I knew I was supposed to meet with Tashi, I knew immediately that he had run into Akshay and discussed how involved I have been with hockey to date.

Akshay was with the members of the Ladakh Winter Sports Club, the local body that runs the hockey in Ladakh…and by Ladakh, I mean Leh, as other regions of Ladakh have their own organizations (such as Kargil Ice and Snow Sports Club, or something to that affect). I discussed

my background with youth hockey, as well as my passion for the sport and how I want to see it improve in India, and he shared how the association has grown into recognition/prominence, through some significant challenges, and the plans that he has to really see the sport grow constructively in India. Akshay's desire to bring India into the world of ice hockey reinforced my desire to help the country succeed!

Immediately, we got to work. One of Akshay's main concerns centered on the scoring system being used. I helped re-draft a score-sheet for officials to use, and explained what every column on the sheet meant and why it was tracked. For the time being, we took off the plus/minus chart, as it is too detailed for their comforts as of yet. As it is, there has been an incredibly tough time just figuring out what player scored the goal, let alone who assisted them.

Another concern of his was that with players and referees not understanding the internationally accepted rules of the game, that any team that represents India in international play (in particular the 2009 IIHF Asia Challenge Cup in Abu Dhabi, UAE) would end up embarrassing the country because they were so accustomed to the local rules. I set out to help relieve this problem, and sat down with the local referees and began discussing the basic rules of hockey. For about an hour I instructed them on the penalties, like which ones are common, what the signal for those penalties are, and what the infraction for each call is. I went in depth with them regarding off-sides, icing and how to line up for face-offs as well.

Let's start with icing. When it came to Ladakhi hockey, there is a penchant for taking slap-shots. No doubt, a hard slap-shot to the top blocker corner of the net, or a low slap-shot that gets deflected are very hard to stop for a goaltender. But as we know, the least accurate shot in hockey is the one you slap. Even for trained professionals it's tough to just pick a spot and hit it, now add a talented goalie. Maybe "talented" is the important word, because goaltending in Ladakh needs to be improved upon heavily…similar to our situation in China a few years ago. To make matters worse here, while the goalies may not be able to stop many shots, most players are not terrific at aiming. They wind up from anywhere on the rink, looking to score on the lowest-percentage shot the game has, especially when you're in your own defensive zone. As we know, if you miss the net from there, it's icing, but here in Ladakh, it wasn't being called. I explained that the background behind icing is to penalize a team that is just delaying the game by shooting the puck down the ice. It's hockey's form of prevent defense, and as a result, the face-off comes back in your zone. We discussed the ins and outs of icing, with a lot of questions coming my way regarding a slap-shot goal that was called icing in an earlier tournament that should have been allowed, but was called off for some reason. For the record, the more talented players in Ladakh are so accustomed to taking slap shots from anywhere on the rink, that they actually do hit the goalie in the chest on a regular basis. Sometimes they get lucky and it goes in. I wanted to make sure that even though that type of luck is rare in international play and in the NHL, every referee is prepared for anything.

Off-sides was a bit easier to grasp for the group, although it took longer for me to explain. We discussed the difference between skating off-sides, passing off-sides, and shooting the puck while off-sides. At the time, they seemed to really understand all of it, and proved themselves capable of understanding bits and pieces; there is a lot about off-sides that still needs to be ingrained in to the local psyche. The slap-shot dilemma can also be applied to off-sides, as every time the puck would come out of the zone (on a rink that was barely 2/3 that of the NHL), they would immediately attempt a slap-shot. If they were fortunate enough to hit the net, the ruling would be that the play is off-sides and the face-off would be dropped at or near the location of the shot. Yeah, good luck explaining situations like that!

In regards to face-offs, the situation in Leh is very similar to in Kargil. I started with where to have face-offs after off-sides, icing and when the goalie covers the puck, and while they swore this was understood, I knew the old habits of dropping pucks anywhere on the ice were going to die hard. The referees also seemed to all have a hot date after their games, because they didn't give the teams any chance to change before dropping the puck, which was as hurried as could be. They also blew their whistle incessantly, and pointed randomly, which made me feel like I was back in New York watching a traffic cop trying to control the road during rush-hour. At the same time, players were lining up anywhere they damn pleased on the ice, which made Face-Off Philosophy 101 a bit tough to teach.

Here's the thing, in hockey, during a face-off, your teammates are either behind you (e.g. the defense, usually), or lined up with you and the face-off dot (e.g. the forwards, usually). If you have a stray forward that is playing with butterflies out in left-field, (aka hanging out at the other end of the ice), you might be tempted to win the face-off forward to that player. I'd probably want to do the same if that's the way the game was played, but it's not. Plus, it's damn hard! You have to perfectly win your face-off forward to that distant player, through the opposing team's center and teammates, including one that is probably in man-coverage at the end of the rink. OK…let's say you magically accomplish that feat, how hard did you have to hit the stick and the puck? If you guessed "very", you're correct, and are now qualified to take a face-off against Ladakhis. In an area where sticks and equipment are not easy to come by, you'd think there'd be some logic applied to self-preservation, which includes one's material possessions. Not the case. Sticks break often, and fly wildly, and players get hit everywhere when they take a face-off. It's not uncommon to see a puck hurriedly dropped and only 1 player standing at the faceoff dot, or better yet, 2 teammates standing there.

Yeah, this is a bit of a challenge!

Let the 4^th National Ice Hockey Championship begin!

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 2: Kargil Tournament

2009-01-27T09:42:00.006-05:00

As if the trek to Chiktan/Kargil wasn't enough, day one of the Kargil Open: Ice Hockey and Skating Championship began with confusion. There are some things I'm finding consistent in my travels through Asia. One: There are procedures that must be observed because that is the way things are; two: "Saving Face" and respecting elders/leaders is always expected.

This is important to remember as you learn more about what goes on with hockey in Ladakh, starting with Chiktan.

The morning the tournament was supposed to start, we were notified that a village elder had died. Obviously tragic, the tournament was to be delayed until after observances, which included the "chief guest", otherwise known as the highest ranking official that could be dragged out in the middle of the winter to speak, be recognized, and then berated with requests for support from the organizers.

A team of foreigners was registered before I even arrived in Ladakh, something I was notified about the day I arrived at SECMOL.

The conversation went something like:

"So, uh, yeah, there's a tournament coming up in a few days in Chiktan."

Me: "Cool, is that far and am I coming?"

"It's about 200 kilometers and you're on the American team that is in the tournament."

Me (sarcastically): "Ah. Good thing I brought full equipment."

"Don't worry. We'll scrap some equipment together for you."

That never happened. I ended up playing the whole tournament with just my stick, gloves, and skates. Oh, and a cup. As a side note, 200 km = 124 miles, since 10 km = 6.2 miles.

Anyway…we spent most of the day sitting in a room huddled around a kerosene stove, keeping ourselves and our skates warm (nothing worse than putting your feet in to a pair of ice skates…other than putting on some frozen wet undergarments. If you just pictured that…you're welcome).

When we were finally notified a few hours later that the game was on, we were a bit cold, mostly cranky, and unaware that we had to stand on the ice in our skates THE WHOLE TIME, while everyone made speeches about how great hockey is (I presume). I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a hard time just skating on ice when there is no stick and puck involved. My feet tend to hurt quickly and I get anxious. Now make it 10 degrees outside, snowing, in light gear, and tell me to stand still for 30 minutes. Yeah, you guessed it…I was day-dreaming about which speaker to shoot a puck at first.

As the game was starting, we discovered it was just a preliminary match. Apparently the torture of waiting all day was all for naught, not that I cared. As far as I'm concerned, tell me what color to wear and which way to shoot, and I'm good to go.

Our team, "Vermont, USA" (I protested the team name and recommended "Maple Syrup" instead, since although most of the team was from Vermont, I am obviously not, and neither were the 3 Ladakhi's called up to the show), was in white, possibly the worst color to wear when playing outside in snow. The rink was about the size of a tennis court, but instead of a smooth, playable surface, the ice was more reminiscent of a floor of a bar after a fight: broken glass everywhere. There were danger zones around the rink, notably the entire far side of the rink (1/3 the surface) - which didn't affect me in the first half (don't get me started on the fact that they had halves in hockey), as I have a left-side deficiency, the center face-off circle – that made taking face-offs a bit tough for me, and then a couple of paths shooting down the rink. Anybody that fell in these zones was guaranteed major ass-bruises, scrapes, or bloody noses. As a result, these were called "walk, don't run or skate, zones"…if you dared enter this no-man's land.

That being said, competition was not exactly tough, and although the home team had an advantage of being acclimated to the altitude, used to playing on a small rink, being trained in the art of ice-walking-hockey, and our Ladakhi goalie, team "Vermont, USA" came out passing and won the game 10-2. In case you were wondering: 2 goals (I think), including a "pass" out of the defensive zone that bounced into the opponent's net.

After the debacle from the first night in Chiktan (See Part 1), I was quick to accept the invite of the VIS (Vermont Intercultural Semesters) group to stay with the family of Tashi Angchok, a Ladakhi employee of VIS. What an upgrade! The house was of traditional Ladakhi design, with stone walls, wood/straw/mud roofs, no running water, no central heating, and no western toilets. Since this is Ladakh, and we are already well aware of the Things We Take For Granted, it was an amazing time staying there with such a warm and inviting family! We spent most of our time in the winter kitchen, just sitting around a stove, reading, writing, drawing, chatting, laughing, playing cards, drinking tea & eating. At that moment in time, the warmth of the room and the warmth of Tashi's family made us easily forget that it was around 10 degrees outside, and we were in the middle of the mountains. The kitchen was safe haven.

Ladakh is split between Buddhists and Muslims, and while many people in Leh are Buddhist, most of the population in Chiktan/Kargil is Muslim, except Tashi's family. Historically, the local healer was a Buddhist, so as the village became Islamic over time, Tashi's ancestors were to remain Buddhist so they can heal the population. The family house is across from a mosque, on a small stream, and while I was told of rumors that prayers were done on the loud speaker at 4 am, it never happened while I was in residence. Apparently it was too cold to pray.

This is not a statement about religion, since everybody is incredibly friendly and inviting. Best of all, they all love hockey! That's all that matters at this point in time.

The next day, we made sure we waited at Tashi's house before departing for the rink. Understanding the looseness of Ladakhi scheduling, we didn't want to sit in the cold for hours waiting to play in frozen equipment. When we received our phone call to leave, we rushed into the packed van, drove 10 minutes on a snowy, winding road (have you detected a theme with the roads?), and rushed to get dressed.

We still had to wait.

Once again, by the time we made it onto the ice, we were in "walk, don't skate" mode. I requested that the ice be swept up (they use brooms and plywood boards to clean the ice), which was denied. Regardless of ice conditions, Vermont, USA won the game 9-1, again as a result of dominant passing. For those of you keeping track at home, 3 goals.

That day, a goal dispute had to be broken up by the local police. Apparently a team felt they had scored a goal, which was called off, and the team protested the game, which never finished. As you will see in future posts, there is a pattern with disputes and discipline in hockey in Ladakh. This dispute lasted for a full 24 hours, requiring mediation from local officials. The dispute was resolved the following day - before our final match - with the goal being disallowed and the teams playing less than 5 minutes to resolve their match. The mini-game ended with no score, and the game ended the way the dispute began. The team that had been complaining refused to pay their entry fee as a result. They had lost to our team, and were not in the finals. Why waste your money if you aren't going to win, right?

Originally, we were going to play SECMOL boys in the "Men's" final (we had 1 woman on our team), even though they hadn't played a single game in the tournament. After the disputed game was resolved, we played the winner of this game after hours of delay. A few of my comrades were itching to leave as early as possible to make it back before sundown, and were getting particularly frustrated with the loose Ladakhi schedule. I personally didn't care much, as long as nobody jumped on me at 5 am. The game we requested begin before 11 am started around 1:30 pm, and there was a brief ceremony to start the match where the "chief guest" placed a traditional pashmina scarf around each of our necks. Not knowing what to do about this, we decided it be best to play hockey with the scarves still around our necks, trying our hardest not to rip the delicate and beautiful piece of Ladakhi culture, let alone choke ourselves.

After winning this game 9-0 (3 goals with a blinding migraine), we had to participate in a much longer, and somewhat confusing, awards ceremony. Let's blame the confusion on my headache.

With all of the Chiktan/Kargil drama over, we were able to be on the road back to Leh by 3 pm. I could not be more appreciative of being able to play hockey in a remote, gorgeous area surrounded by mountains and running streams, with incredibly friendly and enthusiastic people. There are already tentative plans for me to return to Kargil next year to host a coaching/hockey clinic to support development of the game in a region of Ladakh slightly ignored by the wealthy population in Leh, the main city of the region.

The love of hockey in the Kargil area is just as strong as in Leh, and I want to do everything I can to help them grow with the game!

Here are a few pictures I love, but so many more are already posted on Flickr.

All the best,

Adam

Tashi's nephew holding skates and a water bottle in front of the mosque.

Me walking with my gear and my head down while there was a soldier/guard walking with his gun.

Your's truly. I never did bend my knees enough.

Yes, that's a cow, in front of a crowd at an ice rink. I waited for the cow to return to take this picture, and just when I did, it turned to face me. =)

Potent Potables and Potpourri

2009-01-27T08:26:00.006-05:00

Some random tid bits:

On the hockey front:

I am currently writing Hockey in Ladakh, Part 2, so expect that soon. I am also currently writing about how the Canadian High Commission (Embassy) has been participating in a hockey tournament for almost a decade here in Leh, Ladakh, an amazing tradition and story.

There is also a lot of hockey drama and politics going on here, something that is both upsetting and inspiring (for different reasons, of course). You will find out more as I catch you up, but be aware that my stories are about 1 week behind because there is so much going on here, and limited internet availability.

Elsewhere:

The stars here are absolutely stunning. Venus shines through the sky like a princess cut , brilliant diamond. When I look up at the stars at night, it's almost too beautiful to believe. I feel like I'm in a planetarium.
I will never get over the fact that donkeys, dzo's (cow/yak hybrid), cows, and dogs roam freely here. Yesterday, a friendly dog came running up to me and I almost clubbed it with my 60-pound backpack. As my closest friends and family know, I'm not much of a dog person (although I'm trying!), and being warned of the dog problem in India, I go on the assumption that every dog has rabies. The gentleman I was with who has lived here for over a decade said this was a friendly dog. Nonetheless, the canine has been warned.
I had a moment with a donkey earlier today. As I was walking down the street to a guest house I'm staying at tonight, I passed numerous animals. The zus/cows were in a group, and they parted like the Red Sea for me as I came hustling by them with my aforementioned backpack, 2 hockey sticks, a hockey bag, and a grumbling stomach. Being perpetually amused, as I was walking by a row of donkeys (they have a habit of walking in a row, kind of like ducklings), I decided to say something. "Hey", I said in a humble tone as the final donkey passed me. He (sorry, I'm being sexist) turned casually back at me, no doubt curious why this human in an obvious hurry wanted to stop to chat. We had an eye-to-eye exchange for a few seconds, and I'm pretty sure the donkey was disappointed that I didn't stay, or have hay in one of my large bags. Either way, I am amused.
As I also mentioned, I am staying in a guest house tonight, somewhere I have stayed previously for 2 nights here in Leh. If there is one thing to understand about India and Ladakh, is that patience is a super virtue and that you need to just go with the flow. Fortunately, I do that a little too much when I'm home, but in Ladakh, this is a huge advantage for me. Since I have come to Ladakh (almost 2 weeks already??), I have slept in 5 different places, and only a few times have I been prepared to. Every moment of every day is an adventure. Last night I stayed at a friend's house outside of Leh since we got caught up eating, drinking and chatting with the Canadian High Commission team and the Ladakh Winter Sports Club officials. I have been heavily involved with the hockey going on here in Ladakh (obviously), and travel to and from SECMOL adds up fast, and takes time, especially when I am trying to make it into Leh by 9/9:30 and have a massive problem waking up in the morning. Staying in town last night, and tonight, was by far the most logical thing to do for my schedule. Since showers are an endangered species up here, I don't much care that I've been in the same outfit for days. When in Ladakh!
I have heard that Ladakh intensifies peoples state of mind. It has been called "Heaven on Earth", as well as "Little Tibet". People can find themselves here, but can also lose themselves here. The more I interact with people in Ladakh, the more apparent the dichotomy of this place is. It's one of the last bastions of Tantric Buddhism, yet many "Buddhists" known nothing about how to practice. The Muslim/Buddhist population has had issues in the past, and can certainly have in the future, but everybody is incredibly friendly. They love foreigners, but resent them equally. Some foreigners that come here fall in love and never leave, others stay and become further outcast. The foreigners here briefly are equally repulsed by the pollution and tough interpersonal adaptations and attracted to the beauty of the Himalayas, and the friendliness of the people. This place can exhaust you, or give you energy. Other than kids at SECMOL stealing my shoes, sandals and flashlight, being served cold samosas at a Punjabi restaurant, and then being denied snacks that I wanted to buy in a Punjabi bakery, Ladakh is somewhere that I plan to come to regularly. They have been incredibly inviting to me. I feel like a hybrid between a foreigner and a local, not quite a Ladakhi, but not as estranged as any Westerner, and I want to make sure that the hockey players of Ladakh receive continual support, since most has come in small waves, outside of the regular tournament with the Canadian High Commission. Ladakh is going to be a staple and stable project of The Hockey Volunteer!
Up to this point, all pictures taken have been posted at: http://flickr.com/photos/34781538@N08/. The internet is very, very slow here, and since I don't have a freely accessibly connection, uploading them has been a long process. Nonetheless, please check them out. For now there are no descriptions, and every picture taken by me is being posted, even if they're stupid. I also have pictures from some of my Vermont colleagues. Those pictures will be posted as well, so that you can enjoy as much of Ladakh as possible.
In regards to video, I have so much raw video, and have just begun uploading them to YouTube. Let it be known, I am not a videographer. My production and editing skills are none, and I will be uploading the raw video only. If people wan't to help me edit those videos, please contact me, as I am more than happy to accept the help. I want you to be able to see Ladakh as it is, so once everything is posted, I will provide my link and you can enjoy (or hate) what I have recorded.
There are many more people that have contributed to Ladakh hockey than I, or you, knew about. In my ignorance and apparent narcissism, I assumed I was the first to come here, and have quickly learned of how many amazing people have preceded me. I want to not only recognize all of them in the near future, but I want to coordinate with everyone that has any connection to Ladakh hockey and form a strong coalition. One person throwing a boulder is nothing compared to an army throwing pebbles. Stay tuned for information on these great people!
Once again, a special thanks to The North Face in SoHo, NYC for donating the hat that you see me wearing in my pictures, as well as 2 pairs of gloves that have been incredibly helpful. Special thanks to Play it Again Sports in Carle Place, Long Island (as well as East Northport) for donating 6 hockey sticks, a few pucks, a sweet stick, and tape! Special thanks to House of Jerky for providing me with some much-appreciated and incredibly delicious varieties of jerky!
Super special thanks to everyone that has donated to The Hockey Volunteer and to my parents!

I love this picture...it's become my avatar across most platforms. The kid in the Devils jacket didn't know who the New Jersey Devils are!

Intermission for Pictures

2009-01-26T01:12:00.005-05:00

Please check out the most up to date pictures of hockey, people, and sights in Ladakh:

http://flickr.com/photos/34781538@N08/

Pictures from Akshay Kumar, General Secretary, Ice Hockey Association of India:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/musifat/4thNationalIceHockeyChampionships02#

More pictures, AND VIDEO, will be coming soon!

(Now that I have bandwidth available)

Ice Hockey in Ladakh, Part 1: The Adventure to Chiktan

2009-01-24T02:29:00.003-05:00

As usual, pictures at the bottom of this post...

Passion. It is one of the most beautiful and definitive words in the English language. Passion is loving something so deeply, it resonates through your bones and into your soul. Passion defines who we are, and how we behave. Passion is waking up at the crack of dawn to skate in sub-zero conditions. Passion is staying out when it's dark to resurface the ice. Passion is hand-made hockey sticks and skates that are way too big. Passion is using any excuse possible to play hockey.

Passion is what motivates me to pursue my dreams and is the reason why I have the unique privilege of writing this post about ice hockey in Ladakh.

In Ladakh, the passion for ice hockey is as crystal clear as the Indus River that runs through the region (during the winter). Ladakh is one of the most difficult places to reach (see previous posts), which cuts it off from the rest of the world. As a result, the region loses out on the opportunity to attract tourists during the winter, outside of a few extreme thrill seekers and hockey nuts like myself. It is the de facto capital of ice hockey in India, since it's the only area where natural ice forms – primarily from late December through early February – and they celebrate the fact that hockey is their sport.

From the moment I arrived in Leh, on my drive to SECMOL, I saw a handful of children playing hockey on a pond, and immediately got the itch to get on the ice, regardless of travel and altitude (once again, see previous post). For the Canadians, Midwesterners and Swedes reading this, I realize pond hockey is not a big deal to you, as bodies of water freeze over quite often, but please understand my hockey situation. Long Island is surrounded by water (unlike Rhode Island, we actually are on an island), and we are somewhat along the gulf stream, which keep the water temperature slightly warmer in the winter, and provides just enough warmth to prevent the scarce ponds and rivers (more like streams) from freezing to a point where people feel comfortable enough to skate. At the same time, Nassau and Suffolk Counties (political Long Island) has 12 indoor ice arenas, not including the Nassau Coliseum, that provide somewhat ample opportunity to pay too much to play hockey. Side note: Skate sharpening on Long Island is as much as $10!

Anyway…the point is…there is a passion for hockey in Ladakh that is palpable. You can see it, feel it, and can't help but be inspired by it.

It gets better…

After day one with the altitude sickness, I tried to take it easy on day two. The child that I tend to behave like forced me onto the ice for a little bit on day two as well, and by day three we were on the road, but not before we caught a game of the senior SECMOL boys playing in the Leh tournament.

It's safe to say that ice hockey in India has a long way to go. As of today, all of the rinks in the country are outdoors, almost all of them in Jammu and Kashmir (the state), and in particular Ladakh (the region within the state). To make matters worse, there are no official referees, no understanding of the rules, and nobody to show them what they are doing wrong. Until now! I have a lot of work to do! Players would line up anywhere they pleased for a face-off that could be anywhere in the rink. They'd then attempt a slap shot as the referee "dropped" the puck from 5 feet away, whether someone was in the vicinity or not. Offsides and icing wasn't understood, and penalties weren't called. There's no concept of team play. Passing was scarce and goaltending was atrocious.

SECMOL had lost the previous day 15-0 to a police squad that has no formal training and had to fabricate much of their own equipment. This day, SECMOL won, but mostly on the backs of selfish play, as the aforementioned lack of passing meant that one player would skate end to end. There's no doubt that it's fun to watch an individual shine, but as we know in hockey, the team is the most important aspect. Individuals can thrive in India and at lower levels of hockey, but not if they want to stand out at the international level. This player ended up winning the Best Player Award for the tournament. He has a long way to go until I'd want him on my team.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to Chiktan to participate in a hockey tournament. The folks from Vermont that were also staying at SECMOL and I comprised the American team participating in the Kargil Ice Hockey Tournament, a few hundred miles away from where we were in Phey, outside of Leh. The trip to Chiktan began with absurdity, and ended in insanity. A handful of the folks from Vermont had already gone to Chiktan in advance as part of some treks that they do through VIS (Vermont Intercultural Studies), but a few stayed behind for the dual bus ride. Now when I say "bus", that does not mean a luxurious coach bus, or even a dilapidated school bus. It is more like a giant box that has wheels, an engine and some seats. Storage is on top of the bus, as well as in the aisles, and heat is nowhere to be found. On one bus was a majority of the SECMOL students with a handful of hockey equipment, and on my bus was a few SECMOL students, the foreigners (myself, two Vermonters, one German girl, and the SECMOL volunteer coordinator), the food (this trip was B.Y.O.F.), and a few kerosene & gasoline tanks. Needless to say, it was not only crammed in, but there was the distinct odor of toxic fumes in the vehicle, something I have become accustomed to no matter where I am in Ladakh.

The ride started fine, as I had claimed my traditional seat all by myself (on a jam-packed bus), while we drove up and down the Himalayas, along the Indus and Zanskar Rivers. Was it dangerous? Of course (again, see previous posts). Was it beautiful, absolutely! Being daylight when we left, I could appreciate the beauty of the trip. Once darkness set in, though, things started to change. Worry replaced awe, as the snowy, winding roads became icy, winding roads. I know what you're thinking…why aren't there street lights in the Himalayas? Good question...I am still asking myself that brilliant question. At the very least, they could've utilized some 4-wheel drive vehicles, but we were not so fortunate, and that cost us.

Around 8 or 9 pm our bus got stuck in the snow and we had to put chains on the tires. This being a 4-wheeled vehicle, the 2 sets of chains made the conditions anything but ideal for driving. After a considerable amount of nap time on my part, the chains were placed on the bus, and we were on the road again. You should be thinking back now about the fact that we had 2 buses on this voyage. Yup…we had to share the chains with the other bus. About 5 miles after driving up and down icy, winding roads in the high altitude and freezing Himalayas at night, a few lucky SECMOL students had to run the chains back to the other bus, in the snow, and fit that bus to drive.

Apparently, it didn't help.

I have the good fortune and equal bad luck of being able to sleep through a hurricane. I slept through most of this drama. I was rudely awoken from my dreams and Beatles music on my iPod as people started to board our bus. The second bus broke down, and most of the girls from that bus were brought onto our crammed bus, and the definition of close was quickly being redefined. As it is, Ladakhis (and Indians) have a much different cultural perception of personal space, as touching and sitting on laps is commonplace. Well, this all went into extreme practice, since space was limited and population had doubled. I lost my single seat, which was quickly converted into a quad, and we drove the rest of the way like this into Chiktan.

Arrival was around 2:00 AM, and if there's something I'm not, it's pleasant in the morning. Being a bit jet-lagged, and already groggy from napping on the drive, being freezing and confused just put me over the edge. No, the 1-mile walk in the middle of the night through dark, snowy paths, while jet-lagged, groggy, freezing and confused put me over the edge. I finally settled into my sleeping fleece (nope, no sleeping bag for me) around 3:00 am, shivering, but content, with a kerosene fire going in an enclosed room. The two guys from Vermont were positioned on the floor opposing me. I could've played footsies with either of them as they spooned.

At 5:00 AM, the rest of the boys arrived from the broken-down bus. Just like their cultural disposition towards personal space, there is a similar disposition when it comes to consideration of someone else sleeping. The group came into the room howling, barking, screaming, and jumping around, pushing us as we slept to make room in the tiniest corners of a room with no heat. They took down the kerosene boiler (I'm still not sure why), and after a few inaudible whines on my part, I was back to sleep, dreaming about pizza and New York girls (not together).

Bumpy bus ride...I couldn't hold the camera steady.

Indus River from the bus.

Another view out the bus.

The things we take for granted...

2009-01-20T07:07:00.006-05:00

It was pretty obvious early on that "we're not in Kansas anymore", although if you asked me what my opinion of Kansas is/was, it probably isn't so far off. There are so many things we take for granted, especially in my neck of the woods on Long Island, and I wanted to take a moment to reflect on it.

Pictures are at the bottom of this post.

Paved roads: As I stated in my prior post, driving in Ladakh is not for the weak-stomached. The roads are barely visible, let alone paved. When there are paved roads, they are filled with potholes. Usually, paved roads means a sign of population in the area, which means people walking in the streets, vehicles passing each other even on a 1-lane road, and animals...everywhere! And by animals, I mean cows, donkeys, yaks, and dogs...tons of dogs. When dirt and paved roads aren't available, I was privileged to be in vehicles driving through the desert without any roads, or better yet, on snowy, icy, dark, winding mountain roads, with no shoulder, 1 lane, and the possibility of slipping out and plummeting a few hundred feet to a painful death. Sorry, Mom. Look at the bright side, it's some of the most beautiful sights anyone on this planet can ever hope to see!
Clean Water: I left the USA with a handful of vaccinations and prescriptions, preparing me for the worst when it came to diseases, including Hepatitis A and Malaria. In order to drink water not out of a bottle, you need to boil it to be sure of no bacteria/viruses. In Leh, they have some springs, but most water comes from the top of the spring, where dogs will drink from. Needless to say, I prefer the boiled water.
Hot Running Water: The definition of a hot shower throughout much of Ladakh is a bucket of warm water. I have been in India for almost a week now, and I've had the privilege of 1 warm bucket shower. I have yet to attempt a cold running water shower. Do I smell? Most likely.
Electricity: SECMOL utilizes solar energy for much of the power at the campus, and this is better than most places, where power is only available for segments of the day. In a few hours I will be with a group of people watching the inauguration (I can't wait!), and we need to bring in a generator in order to power the TV.
Fueled Heat: This is even more rare, as I have yet to find a source of heat that comes from oil, gas, electric, coal, or hamsters running in a wheel. Heat comes from utilizing the sun properly, not necessarily harnessing solar electric, but just utilizing the closeness to the sun, and running fires in mini-stoves of wood & kerosene. Black lungs must be standard in this part of the world.
Homes Built by trade: I had the distinct pleasure of staying with a family in Kargill (on the other side of Ladakh and then again with the family in Leh (including tonight). Including all of the elements identified in the other bullets, the homes are built with mud, clay, stone, raw wood, straw, bamboo, and other raw materials. There is no cancer-causing insulation, no indoor plumbing, minimal lighting, and no even floors, roofs (rooves?), or stairs. Doorways are small, and have large foot posts, apparently meant to keep out the zombies (seriously!). What the home lacks in modernity, it makes up for in coziness and hospitality, at least when it comes to the folks I stayed with.

I wanted to save the best for last:

Toilets: Yeah, you guessed it...hole in the floor. In an outhouse. In the cold. Oh, and with no toilet paper. Yes, I came prepared, hopefully for the duration. Moisture control (to prevent stench) is done by shoveling dirt on top of the hole when you are done. There is no sign that employees must wash their hands after using the restroom. I have become addicted to my antibacterial wipes.

Check back often, as I will probably find more things we totally take for granted in the US, Canada, and the UK (ok, maybe not in Northern Canada, or Kansas, or the Scottish Highlands).

Expect a few more posts about random ridiculousness, with more and more hockey on the way!

So many pics and videos to sift through, but they're coming in bursts (video tomorrow hopefully - for real this time!).

Jule (pronounced "Joo-lay" and means, hello/goodbye/thank you and can be used at any time in coversation apparently),

Adam

The Arrival

2009-01-20T01:08:00.005-05:00

Getting to Ladakh is no easy task. Just getting to the right part of Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi was a project. Flights get cancelled often. Fortunately, that was not a problem I had to deal with. The extra hockey gear I brought cost me only 1260 rupees ($30) to bring along, and my flight was not even 1/6 full.

The flight was short, about an hour and ten minutes, and upon descent into Leh, it was clear the world I am accustomed to in New York and on Long Island was nowhere in sight.

Landing in Leh should require an additional pilot's license, because the landing requires the pilot to weave in and out of the mountains like a ski slolom. Snowy, rocky peaks are in all directions, and the final descent literally requires the plane to do a 90 degree turn to avoid crashing into the side of the mountain.

Throughout this airport voyage, I was the human freak show carrying 2 bundles of hockey sticks, and this was heightened in Leh by the fact that the aiport was the size of a garage and I was the only American on the voyage to the coldest region of India.

It was cold, but not as bad as I expected. The air was crisp and seemed easy to breathe. I stood in the middle of a taxi driver circle, half bewildered, half firm in the price I would pay to get to SECMOL's campus in Phey, about 10-20 miles away.

The ride was interesting, to say the least. On one hand, you were surrounded by the Himalayas, Mother Nature's Crown Jewels, with the Indus River cutting through it, and on the other hand, the scene on the road was full of Indian military bases, ad nauseum. The second half of the drive was on a narrow road that followed the curvature of the mountain face.

I wasn't entirely confident my driver knew where SECMOL was, but sure enough, after a few awkward exchanges, we made it to a dirt road with a small sign pointing the way. When I say "road" this is highly exaggerated, as it was nothing more than 2 tire marks to follow in the desert while trying to avoid any major boulders or ditches. I was just able to make out the SECMOL campus, when we came to a sudden stop. I thought my Ladakhi driver made a wrong turn and was about to take us down a cliff, as this would've been the preferred option, because the road to SECMOL had been blocked off as it was undriveable. I was well over a mile away from campus, with a winding road of boulders to walk with 3 bags (luggage and equipment) and 2 bundles of sticks.

Oh, did I mention this is at an altitude of almost 12,000 feet? Leh is twice the altitude of Denver, which towers over North America at 5,280 feet. You know how you hear about the altitude issues for athletes in Denver, and how Major League Baseball actually uses a different ball for games in Denver? Well imagine that within 30 minutes of arriving at what feels like the top of the world (the two highest civilizations in the world are in Peru & Tibet, both over 16,000 feet), and carrying 100 pounds of crap well over a mile on a rocky path, while having a hard time breathing.

What better way to get acclimated to the altitude?

Oh, how about playing hockey an hour later.

The rink at SECMOL is about 2/3 the size of an NHL standard rink, with no boards. I was fortunate enough to find netting in the US that fit the oddly constructed goals perfectly. I attempted to show the students how to take a proper wrist shot and after a little while, we got to the fun part...scrimmage.

There is a tremendous room for improvement for hockey in Ladakh, as you will find out in detail in my future posts. Suffice it to say, if we scrimmaged 2 North Americans on 10 Ladakhis, we'd have a decent match.

Unfortunately, my body was quickly failing, and by early evening, after 2 days of travel and a +12,000 foot change in altitude, I was feeling dizzy, nauseous, confused and with a massive headache that didn't subside until the following afternoon.

That is where we'll pick up the next chance I get to find a stable internet connection.

Here are some pictures of the beginning of the trip. Video and additional pictures to come soon.

I'm Here!

2009-01-15T23:53:00.003-05:00

I've made it safe and sound to beautiful Ladakh, where mountains surround you! I am in the process of writing a big intro blog post, which will be posted in the next few days.

Long story short, there is a lot here that is completely opposite from what we know in the Western World, and it's simultaneously frustrating and refreshing.

In regards to hockey, there is a lot of work to do in the coming weeks. Right now the SECMOL guys are involved in a tournament in Leh involving 8 teams, and today's game (Starting in 2 minutes!) will determine whether they make it to the Semis. Later today, all of us are leaving for remote Chiktan to participate in a tournament, including an American team!

I'm definitely going to run up the score!

Anyway, gotta run. Expect a large post soon!

Adam

Day 2 of Departure...Germany

2009-01-13T03:47:00.003-05:00

Upon my arrival here at Frankfurt-Dusseldorf International, I contemplated visiting the city during my layover. Immediately after exchanging a wad of rupees into euros, I've seen the error in my ways.

Leave it to my continuing karmic retribution to now damage my laptop that has been (barely) faithful over these few years. Now I have a massive vertical negative color stream running along the left side of my monitor. Hopefully it is nothing more than a nuisance.

That being said, I didn't realize how excited I was to land in Germany and have the potential to see the country. There is something fascinating about this place and their people, and I mean that with the full sense of historical significance as history and legacy seem to be important to the German identity.

Anyway...I'm going to India, so enough about Germany.

OK...last point...Lufthansa...great airline!

I've been putzing around with my video camera, and I think it's safe to assume that I will have a video posted on here within the next day or so. With that in mind, don't buy video cameras from Sears. Their electronics employees know NOTHING about electronics other than the price of the item and whether it's in stock.

I'll let that sit in your mind while I attempt to bribe a German demsel (is that term appropriate here?) and allow me to use one of the Business/First Class lounges.

Guten Tag,

Adam

Day of Departure...Airport Edition

2009-01-12T16:02:00.002-05:00

What a day! After missing a handful of trains into NYC on my way to Newark, here I am in the terminal, getting ready to board my plane on the way to Delhi, by way of Frankfurt, Germany.

I need to take this moment to step back a bit and recognize how amazing it has been getting to know so many new folks. You're passion and energy has been inspiring, and I can only aspire to mimic your generosity!

There are people all around North America (and beyond) that come to mind, and I hope to give you your due time in the spotlight. For the time being, I hope to share this with you and help you see and feel what your support means to these students in one of the most remote places in the world!

Special thanks to my family, in particular my mother and father, whom both supported and contributed in so many aspects, and in ways that will never be forgotten.

Ok...I think after I get some sleep on my first flight, I will give an attempt at utilizing my new video camera, and putting a face to all of this.

Have a good evening!

Adam

Day of Departure...Early Morning

2009-01-12T07:09:00.002-05:00

Wow...it's been slightly over a month since this endeavor began, and I could not be more excited and exhausted. I guess the dichotomy is fitting, seeing as I'm going to the country that gives true meaning to the word: India. I have been reading books about India, talking to people from India or of Indian descent online and in-person, drinking Indian tea, burning Indian incense, watching Indian movies (OK, only Slumdog Millionaire), eating Indian food and listening to music, all to help me prepare for this trip...and you know what, there's no possible way to prepare! How do you prepare for 1.1 billion people of so much diversity and history? How do you prepare for beauty and poverty in the same scene? How do you prepare for the unknown?

Maybe I'll be prepared when I return home.

It's still early, and after an intense all-nighter of packing and cleaning, I've still got errands to run before heading to the airport. If all goes as planned, you will see and hear from me again this afternoon. That's when the philosophy starts!

Namaste,

Adam

TRIP UPDATES

2009-01-08T19:34:00.006-05:00

It has been an incredible couple of weeks! I wanted to share some quick updates with you that will lead to more in depth posts in the next few days.

1. I have my Passport/Visa ($100), flights ($1050), travel insurance ($150), and vaccinations/prescriptions ($350) COMPLETED! I leave this Monday, January 12, for 6 weeks!

2. Your support and donations is/are still desperately needed (explain in detail)

3. I need to thank a few organizations for their incredible support (this is just a preliminary thank you, with more to come):

The North Face (SoHo), 139 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10012. (212) 260-1000 www.thenorthface.com

Big thank you to The North Face in SoHo, and manager Dave, for providing me with the coolest winter hat and 2 pairs of gloves! Pictures will be posted of these items in the coming days. Please visit this great store in the heart of SoHo if you're looking for winter gear!

Play it Again Sports (Long Island), 223 Glen Cove Road, Carle Place, NY 11514 (516) 873-8874 www.playitagainsportscarleplace.com

Another big thank you to Play it Again Sports, and owner David (another Dave!), for providing me with 6 hockey sticks, some pucks, some tape, and a Sweet Stick skate sharpener! These items are going to be an incredible help for the kids! If you're on or around Long Island, please check out Play it Again Sports in Carle Place, near the Northern State and Meadowbrook Parkways and Old Country Road, or head to their new location in East Northport, NY in Suffolk County!

4. Why the request for more donations? I am looking to purchase 2 hockey nets to bring to the players in Ladakh, since they don't have one, and the nets not only cost $150 each, but it will cost me an additional $500 to bring them with me on the plane! That's $800! Your support can help me share this vital component to ice hockey, a hockey net.

Additionally, the preparation costs for this trip have been greater than expected, as the doctor visits alone have been more expensive than expected, not to mention the winter gear and travel gear that is necessary to survive.

Please donate using the ChipIn button on the right, or check out my ebay auctions that have been relisted. These are items signed by NHL and Olympic hockey stars, and all proceeds support this project. You can always give the item to someone as an awesome birthday, holiday or anniversary gift (well, maybe).

More updates to come in the next few days!

Adam

Outside Coverage

2008-12-31T09:00:00.001-05:00

List of websites/blogs that have supported & posted something regarding "The Hockey Volunteer" project (earliest post first, please scroll down):

Chris Lucas of LucasonSports.com - "Have Skates Will Travel"

http://www.lucasonsports.com/2008/12/09/have-skates-will-travel/

Sarah Elizabeth Foster of SarahElizabethFoster.com - "Adam Sherlip"

http://www.sarahelizabethfoster.com/blog/2008/12/11/adam-sherlip.html

Michele Catalano of ABigVictory.blogspot.com - "Hockey and Hope "

http://abigvictory.blogspot.com/2008/12/hockey-and-hope.html

Russell Scibetti of TheBusinessofSports.com - "The Culture of Sports: Start Them Young"

http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/?p=534

Paul Kukla & Alanah McGinley of KuklasKorner.com - "Making the World Better Through Hockey"

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/making_the_world_better_through_hockey

Joe Flasher of JoeFlasher.com - "Using Hockey as an Instrument For Change"

http://joeflasher.com/wordpress/?p=545

Heather B. of TopShelfCookies.blogspot.com - "And Now For Something Completely Different..."

http://topshelfcookies.blogspot.com/2008/12/and-now-for-something-completely_17.html

PJ Swenson of Sharkspage.com - "Hockey Notes - December 18" - scroll down in the article

http://www.sharkspage.com/2008_12_01_archive.html#2067459461293764170

Kyle Kosior of IllegalCurve.com - "Afternoon Delight Thirstday"

http://www.illegalcurve.com/2008/12/18/afternoon-delight-thirstday/

Tyler McKinna of NHLDigest.com - "Hockey Volunteer Warming Hearts Around the World"

http://www.nhldigest.com/hockey-volunteerism-warms-the-heart/

Damon Donovan of HockeyHeaven.blogspot.com - "Hockey for the Holidays"

http://nhlhockeyheaven.blogspot.com/2008/12/hockey-for-holidays.html

Dee Karl of 7thWoman.blogspot.com - "The Brotherhood of Hockey - Perfect for Christmas"/"The International Brotherhood of Hockey"

Richard Pollock of IllegalCurve.com - "Some Saturday Reading"

http://www.illegalcurve.com/2008/12/27/some-saturday-reading/

Rory & Eric of 5-hole.com - "One Puck at a Time"

http://5hole.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/one-puck-at-a-time/

Kat of SportsGirlKat.com - "Five Questions With...The Hockey Volunteer"

http://www.sportsgirlkat.com/?p=541

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports Puck Daddy Blog - "Puck Headlines: Attempting to Rain on the Blackhawks Love-Fest"

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Puck-Headlines-Attempting-to-rain-on-the-Blackh?urn=nhl,131632

The success of this program is contingent upon the support of warm-hearted, idealistic people & everyone listed above fits that description! Please return the favor and visit their websites and see what they are up to and writing about!

If you have a website and have written about this program, please tell me & I'll link back (plus I want to thank you for your support)! If you would like to write something on your website, please contact me as well, as I'm more than happy and available to contribute to your blog.

Special thanks to Russel Scibetti (@rscibetti) of The Business of Sports, Paul Kukla & Alanah McGinley (@alanah1) of Kukla's Korner, and Tyler McKinna (@nhldigest) for allowing me to be a guest blogger on their sites, and to Sarah Elizabeth Foster of SarahElizabethFoster.com for conducting the video interview.

Donations & Sponsorship

2008-12-31T08:45:00.001-05:00

DONATIONS

I received an email today from SECMOL, requesting hockey sticks (mostly lefty, some righty), skates (men's 6-9), and protective equipment. If you have extra equipment you are able to donate, please contact me immediately.

That being said, the more money raised for this trip, the more money I will be able to use to purchase the equipment requested from local stores & pro-shops. There are a handful of places I can pick up equipment that meets the needs of the village.

SPONSORSHIP OPTIONS

The value in sponsorship in sports has been debated at times, but I am in full belief that a sponsorship done right is valuable for all parties, the sponsor, the sponsored, and the consumer. This is no exception. The consumers are not only the villagers in Ladakh, Kahmir, who will see that citizens and businesses all over the world care about their welfare, but to the people that see this website, articles that will be posted in newspapers, magazines and television programs, the book I am writing about this initiative, and in the collateral presented to major corporations, NGOs, and governmental bodies when I return and apply for grants.

Available sponsorship packages include:

Track suit: logo branding/co-branding available for on-ice outfit - $1,000/suit - 3 available
Hat: co-branded hat(s) worn on AND off the ice as it's very convenient - $500/hat - 2 available
Clothing: I have to wear something, so a few shirts with your logo on it will be worn often - $500/shirt - 5 available
Village Hockey Equipment: Equipment companies can donate the equipment as specified above, but please contact me first to arrange details
Volunteer Hockey Equipment: If your company wants to outfit me in your equipment, I will only be bringing 2 sticks, hockey gloves, and hockey skates (I own a brand new pair of Eastons & a beat-up pair of CCM Pro Tacks - I haven't decided which I'm brining, but I would prefer to bring my own skates). That leaves gloves and sticks, as well as a hockey bag and the smaller accessories, like tap, wax, Sweet Stick and/or SkateMate, Blade Tape, etc.). Please contact me first to arrange details.
Sports Memorabilia: This is actually a very helpful donation if done quickly. Any memorabilia donated will be auctioned off towards the program. Auctions take time, and there are fees involved, so larger ticket items that can be shipped quickly are most helpful.
Website Sponsor: The face of this project (other than my face), is this website. Sponsoring my page will give you prominant placement and link-backs. - $5,000
Full-shabang (for equipment companies): If your company wants to be THE sponsor of The Hockey Volunteer, it will include 3 Branded Track Suits, 2 Branded Hats, 5 Branded Shirts, 1 pair of Hockey Gloves, 1 Bundle of Sticks, 1 Hockey Bag, Website/print-collateral, 20 sticks for the village, 10 pairs of skates, an assortment of equipment. This sponsorship package is associated with the Ladakh trip only, and all activites and publications related to that trip. - $15,000

If you have other thoughts for sponsorship or donations, please contact me. All sponsorship packages must be approved by me in advance (contact info on the right side), so as to not wear anything offensive or conflicting. Once agreed upon, sponsors will donate through the ChipIn client (also on the right side), and will write in the comments box what they are sponsoring.

Example: Your company is sponsoring 1 track suit ($1,000) & 1 hat ($500). You'll email adam[at]hockeyvolunteer[dot]org that your company meets the standards (not offensive to anyone/any culture and is not a conflict of interest - which there are few of). Once that has been approved, you will donate on the ChipIn client, select to donate $1,500, and write in "Sponsoring 1 track suit & 1 hat".

It's that easy & affordable, and your contribution will go a long way!

Auction for a Cause

2008-12-28T06:15:00.001-05:00

I have just posed another auction on ebay. It is of an autographed, game-used stick from Angela Ruggiero during the 2006 Winter Olympics (pictured). Angela was kind enough to donate this rare & valuable stick to support the cause.

ALL proceeds from the auction will be used towards this program.

Check it out: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280297302697&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

Don't forget about the ebay auctions of the items donated by the NHL (Holiday presents)

Time is a Burning Flame

2008-12-24T09:48:00.002-05:00

While time may be infinite, and immeasurable, and possibly even tangible (sorry, that was my Trekkie talking), this visit to Ladakh is not an open invitation. Time is limited, as the Winter season will end by early-mid February. Please keep this in mind if you are considering making a donation.

To be able to depart for India, another $2225 is needed. This number is incredibly attainable, and I hope this basic chart will show why.

I know this is simple math, but please think about how easy it is, working together, for us to reach that goal:

445 people donate $5 = $2225
222 people donate $10 = $2220 (even number)
111 people donate $20 = $2220 (even number)
89 people donate $25 = $2225

Please consider a sponsorship package (see: Donations & Sponsorship) to help me reach this goal faster and increase branding & PR for your company.

While $3000 is the minimum needed to travel to Ladakh, my goal is to raise $4000 and provide the kids there with more resources and make our collective impact felt for years to come. If we can get 600 people to donate whatever they can spare at this time of giving, it will go a long way!

I am personally saving everything I've got right now to pay my bills when I am away from home on this volunteer trip, and the time to apply for grants passed 6 months ago, when this concept didn't exist. My only option is to appeal to the kindhearted and idealist people around the world to contribute.

I'll be sure to take pictures and video of the children you are helping bring happiness to.

Best wishes!

Adam

"Aren't there more important issues in the world?"

2008-12-22T22:31:00.005-05:00

This was the question posed to me by a friend over some Starbucks this evening after she told me she wasn't going to donate, and I felt like I was punched in the gut.

The full question/statement she posed went something like this (paraphrasing): "Aren't there more important issues in the world, like hunger, poverty, war, education, culture? How does this help?"

My response, through my dumbfoundedness, was that going to Kashmir is not exactly a dream vacation for many people (although it should be...Srinagar is apparently gorgeous!). I am also not going to pretend that I'm not going to a beautiful region within Jammu and Kashmir that is somewhat removed from the conflict between India and Pakistan, is predominantly Buddhist, in one of the lease dense areas in the world, in the Himalayas. A key point to make is also that Ladakh is NOT Kashmir...they are in the same state, but are very different regions with a different culture, different people, different EVERYTHING. It is important to recognize this before making any inferences and judgments.

At the same time, Ladakh's border is with China, which is also in dispute with India. SECMOL, the organization I am looking to volunteer for, had a recent scandal with a local government official in Ladakh that tried to sabotage the work they were doing, and cut them off from the outside world. It took the outcries of people from around the world that experienced first-hand what SECMOL was accomplishing. The actions of the prior volunteers caused the Prime Minister of India to remove official of his post.

To recount the significance, this is a peaceful, Buddhist village that runs on solar-electricity and bio-sustainable practices, that is trying to provide children from a remote and tense part of the world the opportunity to get a meaningful education and develop a significant culture. Since rice has been subsidized by the government, the staple agricultural industry, rice, has been effectively wiped out.

What that means, is that these are people that have very little income, poor education, governmental corruption, and the potential for war from either side of their state. Those are the problems she identified, right?

I don't have any grandiose images of negotiating border disputes between countries, nor am I looking to ride the coattails of idealists and travel to a foreign land just to shoot a hockey puck.

When I am with the Ladakhis in Phey, I will be a villager. I will be doing at least an hour of labor on the campus, whether it be farming in the greenhouse, or making sure the solar panels work. I'll also be helping the kids and residents learn English, the language of business and of the educated across the subcontinent (other than Hindi and English, there are 17 official languages in India and over 1,650 dialects). I will be teaching them how to ice skate, as well as teaching the ones that can skate how to play hockey (or improve their skills).

As stated in the mission of my program, the goal is to spread happiness and good karma. If I can achieve this, and continue for year to come to achieve the goal of impacting the lives of people I meet, using the foundation and values of ice hockey as my language, I am confident that as a whole, we can all slowly change the world. If I reach 5 people or 5 million people, the pleasure I will take in other people's happiness will be worthwhile.

The important part is trying.

The state of happiness, love, and compassion will change the world. And this starts with every idealist working together to achieve this and share it, since we can't rely on the ignorant, the cynics, or the skeptics.

Let's prove them wrong!

Guest Posts

2008-12-18T12:56:00.004-05:00

Please check out my guest posts on the following websites:

www.KuklasKorner.com - Making the World Better Through Hockey

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/making_the_world_better_through_hockey

www.TheBusinessofSports.com - The Culture of Sports: Start Them Young

http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/?p=534

Special thanks to Russel Scibetti (@rscibetti) of The Business of Sports, and Paul Kukla & Alanah McGinley (@alanah1) of Kukla's Korner.

Outside Support

2008-12-15T06:37:00.001-05:00

It means so much to me when acquaintances and/or strangers show their kindness and support. With that, I'd like to thank (in date order):

Chris Lucas (www.lucasonsports.com) - http://www.lucasonsports.com/2008/12/09/have-skates-will-travel/
Sarah Elizabeth Foster (www.sarahelizabethfoster.com) - http://www.sarahelizabethfoster.com/blog/2008/12/11/adam-sherlip.html
Michele Catalano (abigvictory.blogspot.com) - http://abigvictory.blogspot.com/2008/12/hockey-and-hope.html

Please check out their respective websites and support what they are doing.

Why hockey is the greatest sport with the greatest athletes...

2008-12-12T01:20:00.003-05:00

So you doubted me when I said that hockey has the classiest athletes...

Blackhawks Big Winners on Special Road Trip

This is a story about the Chicago Blackhawks players foregoing an extra day with their families around Thanksgiving after a long road-trip, and taking 2 coach buses 110 miles north into rural Ontario to support their mourning GM, who's father passed away.

On the way back, they stopped into a local McDonald's, like my high school football team did on a return bus home from the North Fork of Long Island way back when, and signed autographs for the kids coincidentally trading cards of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane - while enjoying their Big Macs.

When I mentioned in my earlier post (Who am I and why do I love hockey?) that hockey has the highest level of sportsmanship, this is what I meant (it's mentioned in the Chicago Tribune article as well, in addition to the plethora of blogs/articles covering this act of kindness)!

These guys understand the value of loyalty and respect, and what it means to do the right thing. They sacrificed their own pleasure and relaxation to support their boss. It's a lesson we should all take to heart, because on top of loyalty, respect and sacrifice, it teaches selflessness and shows maturity.

I say this with no exaggeration: I have become a Blackhawks fan because of this.

I hope this is as inspiring for you as it is for me.

I hope what we are trying to achieve with this volunteer program together is also inspiring. Every child should learn these type of lessons in life - and hockey consistently proves to be a great medium to communicate just those values.

So do two more pictures equal 2000 words?

2008-12-10T15:48:00.000-05:00

Another photo of the me with the kids from Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, China when we hosted them in New York.

This is where I am looking to travel to, with your support.

So you say an image is worth 1000 words?

2008-12-10T04:52:00.001-05:00

This image is from January 2007, when Angela Ruggiero and I were in Heilongjiang Province, China through the New York Islanders initiative Charles B. Wang Ice Hockey Project Hope (nyiprojecthope.com). Just 2 weeks prior, Angela and I hosted these kids in New York for an international youth hockey tournament, and when we returned to Qiqihar, this was our reception.

This picture says it all.

This is the impact I want to make around the world with hockey. This picture is a constant reminder for me of WHY this is what I am meant to do.

If you look in the background, the rink is barebone. The ice was terrible, there was no netting in the goals, and there was no glass around the paper-thin boards (which had a gaping hole filled in with snow at one spot) - but we had an incredible time with the kids!

When I got to see some of these kids again the following year for the Lighthouse Tournament, they had improved leaps and bounds. I specifcially asked if they remembered our visit the previous year and the drills we showed them. The kids told me they practiced those drills every day! These kids have all the potential in the world to become the best hockey players in China from one 45-minute session. Imagine that!

Please help me provide a lasting impact on children in Ladakh.

Realistic Idealist*

2008-12-10T01:19:00.000-05:00

I just returned from Green Drinks NYC Island to Island Holiday Party (greendrinksnyc.org), where I met a handful of people as idealistic and enthusiastic as I am about my trip to India. It's very difficult to remain motivated through your idealism and passion when others can't understand, or flat-out insult, what you are trying to do (pessimism is one of the worst traits in people). Fortunately, when you meet peoplewith deep, vibrant enthusiasm and optimism - if not idealism - it's a blessing. Those are the people I am trying to call to action to support my cause!

YOU!

The praise and energy I received from people today will continue to motivate me through this journey, but I need your help. Please donate...I am looking to depart in less than 2 weeks!

Shout-outs to supporters that are putting positive energy into the Universe:

C.C. Chapman - Managing Partner of The Advance Guard - Blogger, Podcaster & all-around great guy (@cc_chapman, cc-chapman.com, theadvanceguard.com) - for giving some pointers and showing general support, and indirectly being responsible for this journey thanks to his podcast Managing the Gray (check it out on iTunes)!
@Dani3boyz for spreading the word
@Goaliegirl for being the first donor
Sammy - former schoolmate & teammate on the Red Dogs (college roller hockey team) for donating
Eric - also former schoolmate & teammate on the Red Dogs (college roller hockey team) for donating
Angela Ruggiero (mentioned many times on this blog) - she got me hired straight out of my internship with the Islanders specifically to work with her on Project Hope, and we remain close ever since. That is something I will be eternally greatful for, and I am proud to call her my friend. Get ready for Angela Ruggiero hockey camps!
Julie - one of my best friends in the world who has endured every stupid act and idea of mine, but still continues to support, for donating and being a loyal friend in so many ways!
Chris Lucas (@Hockeyskates) - for his awesome blogging support: http://www.lucasonsports.com/2008/12/09/have-skates-will-travel/
The folks I met today at Green Drinks were amazing, and I am incredibly appreciative that I had the honor of meeting and speaking with you. There are a few in particular that really stood out, and in due time will get their shout-outs!
My Mother, for her understanding of the reasons why I need to do this.

*footnote:

"Realistic Idealist" is a phrase I have been using for some time now. John McCain used it in a speech during his campaign. Without getting into politics (although my political affiliation is probably apparent through my idealism, I did not start using it after him, and only realized he used it when I did a Google search on the phrase. What I'm saying is: John McCain copied me.

My involvement in China through Project Hope

2008-12-08T21:55:00.001-05:00

If you are interested in learning about my background with youth hockey development, in particular internationally, I would like to refer to you to Charles B. Wang Ice Hockey Project Hope (www.nyiprojecthope.com). I had the distinct pleasure of going to China with Angela Ruggiero (www.angelruggiero.com), 3-time Olympian for Team USA in hockey, former Apprentice (season 6) contestant, and all around amazing person. Together we visited the schools in Heilongjiang Province that we were providing hockey resources to. Here is our recap from the Project Hope website. Be sure to visit nyiprojecthope.com & browse around to get a clear understanding of how much hockey can improve a kids life! I hope after seeing some pictures and reading the messages from the kids, you will be interested in donating to my cause for kids in Ladakh to have a similar experience!

Project Hope Journal 1/22/07
By Angela and Adam

We're back from China, and after almost two weeks, what we miss the most is the hospitality. Everywhere we went (all 8 schools), we were greeted with open arms, by local and school officials, and many students that were supposed to be on winter break (but came back just to see us and spend some time on the ice). The outdoor rinks have become a center to the respective communities, and the kids in our Project Hope schools, (elementary school age) skate over 5 days a week! Their smiles on the ice made it easy to ignore that it was as cold and windy as the Great Lakes region. We took them through some basic skating and puck handling drills, and then we got into the fun, reminding everyone (including the adults standing around the rinks) that hockey, above all else, is fun.

Other than skating with the Project Hope students, we also had the opportunity to scout our prospective scholarship candidates in Harbin and Qiqihar. Twenty (about ten in each city) of the best teenage boys and girls skated their hearts out for over an hour, in an intense tryout. Not only were their hockey skills put to the test (and a fair amount of stamina testing to go along with it), but an interview was conducted in English to determine whether they were ready to study at a school for a full academic year. While their hockey skills were impressive, it was clear that everyone needed more work on English. Before anyone spends a full year in America, we'll bring over a few students for the summer in an intensive ESL program, allowing them to experience the United States first hand. The opportunity to play hockey will also be important, and the students will be able to put many hours of hard work on the ice, after they do so on paper.

In our meetings with local officials, it became clear how important Project Hope has become to the lives of so many people. In some cases, over 100 students get the opportunity to learn hockey at their school. Hockey has become a class worth academic credit, and in the best of scenarios, Project Hope hockey players have been given a clear path to success. In Qiqihar, a memo was issued on behalf of the Sports and Education Bureaus, mandating that a specific system be implemented to assist these scholar athletes any way possible. We hope that the civic governments in each area, along with the Project Hope schools, can follow suit, allowing more students the opportunity to play hockey, study English five days a week, and continue to receive the funding and support of their local governments.

Whether it was the center city of Harbin, Jiamusi and Qiqihar, or a surrounding town, each community had a unique culture. The sense of family and community dominates the social character and culture, and the group lunches and dinners gave us the opportunity to become members of the community. We spent a lot of time getting to know everyone personally (through a translator, of course), and found that while our cultures are as different as can be, there are some things that we all share in common. First, and most obvious, we're all human. Sometimes, we forget what that means, but it's important. Whether you live on Long Island or in Heilongjiang, everybody wishes to be happy and successful (culturally subjective), have a long life, and wish the same for our children. Going beyond that, we all love hockey. One of the many goals of Project Hope is to cross borders using hockey as the international language. It is a sport unlike anything in the world, requiring a whole new sense of transportation just to be able to communicate. As hockey history has proven, any team can be superior once the puck drops, as long as there is a balance of talent, discipline, structure, creativity and fun. This understanding of hockey is universal, and if it ever becomes less, it will no longer be hockey.

The success lies, though, on everyone involved in Project Hope. We will continue to build rinks and provide as much equipment as possible, but at the same time, we're requesting that anyone willing to help makes a donation or other contributions in support. There is information on the web page specifying how YOU can help.

Stay tuned for more news on Project Hope. We have an exciting future and many more plans. The next invitational is scheduled for January 17-18, 2008. ANY teams interested should fill out our form. Maybe we'll even sponsor a team to compete in China. Start working on your Chinese.

That post was from 2007, after we returned from China. Many of the things we wrote about in that letter is exactly what I wrote in my blog here, and once again, I need your support. If you can, please donate.

Reduction in costs of the trip

2008-12-08T17:51:00.000-05:00

With the influx of help, I have been referred to some cheaper Indian travel websites, and can now look forward to round trip international airfare (JFK to Delhi) costing no more than $2000 (if booked soon!). Travel from Delhi to Leh (in Ladakh) would be around $100. Living expenses of $500-600 if I stay 30+ days.

That means right now, $2500 would be the bare minimum I can go over with, and anything additional would be contributed towards helping SECMOL!

If you can spare any amount, please donate here:

Where to start? India...for now...

2008-12-08T07:45:00.003-05:00

The first place I am looking to teach hockey in is Ladakh, a region in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (Yes, that Kashmir!) in the Himalayas, through an organization called SECMOL (Students' Eductional and Cultural Movement of Ladakh).

From the SECMOL website (www.secmol.org):

"The Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) was founded in 1988 by a group of young Ladakhis with the aim to reform the educational system of Ladakh. Today our activities are extremely varied and numerous. We organize activities for Ladakhi youth, run a campus for students going to school or college in Leh, develop solar energy projects and much more.

Ladakh, the eastern part of Jammu and Kashmir state of India, is a high-altitude desert region, on the upper reaches of the Indus River. Until recently a somewhat isolated rural society, Ladakh has seen enormous and sudden changes since the 1960s, when the Indian government started having an impact on local life through defence activities (Ladakh shares borders with both China and Pakistan) and development activities such as schools, offices, and subsidies. The region opened to foreign tourism in 1974, and is a popular destination for trekkers as well as travellers visiting ancient Buddhist monasteries, and since 2000 domestic tourists have been coming too. It is also home to a large Tibetan community.

Ice hockey is hugely popular in Ladakh, but most kids from rural families do not get the chance to play, due to lack of skates and equipment. However, at SECMOL several dozen young people from rural villages have had the chance to skate and play ice hockey, thanks to equipment donated to SECMOL by friends around the world."

What does this means to me...

In so many ways, this IS the calling I was waiting for...As I have grown and matured, and dug deep into what is meaningful in my life, a few things became clear, hockey is a sport I can't live without (I had to start with that, since this is all about hockey), we have a planet in peril that we need to protect and conserve, and there is nothing more precious than our lives and the lives of others - and Buddhism is all about working through our suffering and attaining a life of enlightenment, and by extension, peace and love.

Being able to volunteer in the Himalayas, one of the most exotic places in the world, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir - which is religiously and politically divided - in a historically Buddhist community, around people that love hockey and utilize renewable energy, feel almost too good to be true.

PLEASE HELP...

Travel will cost at least $2,500-4,000 and my living expenses will be no more than $20 day (which includes housing) that will equal $600 (I plan to stay for a month!). So I am looking for $4,000 to cover this, and anything leftover will go to additional donations/support for SECMOL.

With your generosity, I want to provide more hockey resources to these people, equipment, nets, mini-zamboni (ice resurfacer), and warm clothing. Any contributions will be used towards these ends, and if you want to purchase and donate them to the cause, please do not hesitate to do so!

WHEN?...

The Winter season in Ladakh ends by February, so I am looking to depart as soon as enough money has been raised, before mid-January. Please help me provide these kids with hockey and donate now...ANYTHING you can donate would be great!:

Mission Statement

2008-12-08T07:34:00.001-05:00

So as I mentioned in my previous post, there was an innate sense of emptiness in what I was doing, even though it was through hockey. So now is the time to explain my calling...

SHARE HOCKEY WITH UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD, SPREADING THE HAPPINESS, VALUES, AND CULTURE OF THE SPORT, ONE PUCK AT A TIME

And so, here is my Mission Statement:

As a deep believer in the good of man, and the power of sport, I vow to have fun and teach the basic values of hockey to kids around the world. I will keep a diligent log and journal - written, and sometimes video/photo - to share with others how unique, special, and amazing my immersion into different cultures and adventures into new habitats are. With the support of generous people and corporations, I will improve the lives of underprivileged children for as long as possible, and to the greatest reaches of my ability - but never alone.

Adam Sherlip

The Hockey Volunteer

Who am I and why do I love hockey?

2008-12-08T07:13:00.001-05:00

After a 2-year career working in marketing and youth hockey development (international and local) for a professional hockey team, I was in a crisis. No matter the department, the ultimate goal of working towards selling tickets was unfulfilling and at times incredibly disappointing. The lingering feeling that I needed to do something more through the sport I love and make a true difference in peoples' lives was something I couldn't ignore.

At it's core, hockey is the most sportsmanlike game in the world. "Adam, what about the fighting and the checking?!", you say? Checking allows players to knock another player off the puck to gain control, as well as intimidate your opponents with your physical prowess, a trait that is as ingrained in mammalian behavior as reproduction. Fighting, outside of the sheer enjoyment or disgust one may have, is a way to keep honor and accountability to a game that sometimes can get emotional. If a player is upset because his team is losing, his emotions can lead him to go after the best player on the ice. It happens in sports without regulated fighting all the time. The difference is that a player who acts out on those impulses in hockey has to face a tough-guy on the opposing team who is sticking up for his teammate...honor and accountability!

Hockey is also the pure team sport. You can make countless examples for other sports, but at the end of the day, hockey requires a team to win. Gretzky and Crosby both had/have more assists than goals every season because if all they did was shoot, 5 guys could get in their way. A goalie can't stop every shot if nobody is defending in front, and a defenseman couldn't clear the puck out of the zone if nobody was supporting him in the defensive zone. If you do not have a deep sense of what it means to be a team player, you can't succeed at hockey...it's that simple!

As a result, in spite of people like Sean Avery, many people in the hockey world believe hockey requires an athlete of a higher pedigree than the rest of the professional sporting world...and they even use a different mode of transportation! What other sport tires you out after only 45 seconds of going 100%?!

I want to spread the true values of the sport...sportsmanship, teamwork, and fair, tough hockey. A sport that requires decent people to succeed, and can be embraced and respected across the globe.

Running hockey camps in China was an incredible experience for me. Not only did I get to see a country on the opposite side of the world, but I saw first hand what providing hockey can mean to people. The kids in Heilongjiang Province in Northeastern China were being given an opportunity to succeed through the sport, and get a chance to come to America. Seeing the kids the following year, it was incredible how much they improved from one structured hockey clinic, but one thing became crystal-clear...no matter what country you are from, no matter the environment you grew up in, the only language that is spoken on the ice is of hockey, with the set of values and principles that come with the sport.