The Hockey Foundation

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

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?

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

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