Program of the Month - August 2008

Storm Hockey is a program designed for children and young adults with a developmental disability such as but not limited to Autism or Down syndrome.

How many players play with your program? We ended our first season with 28 players and expect a great deal of growth as we begin season two.

How many teams and what teams do you have in your program? Storm has one team, but it is divided in to two groups, learn to skate and advanced. The advanced team is playing games and tournaments.

What is your home rink? Home rink is Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport. Wonderland kindly made room for our program and has added an additional 30 minutes of ice to the hour we had last season.

Where are your players from? Our players come from Greenwich to the Rhode Island border and all points between. Some players travel an hour to practice.

When was your program founded? We founded our program in July of 2007 with 5 players.

What is the mission of your program? Storm's mission is to use hockey as a way to reach developmentally disabled athletes. Through the game of hockey, athletes are encouraged to make new friends and learn skills to make them more successful both in hockey and life.

What are the goals of your program? Our goal is to grow our program and continue its success. Until now, there were few if any opportunities for these athletes to play hockey like a typical child.

What is the vision of the program over the next few years? We envision having A, B, & C level teams some day. Our hope is that our athletes will continue to play past childhood.

Do you host any tournaments throughout the year? We do not host a tournament; we do however plan to attend special hockey tournaments throughout the season.

What are you doing to make your program fun for the individuals involved? To make the program fun, we remove some rules of hockey such as checking, icing and offside's. These are difficult concepts for our athletes. Any penalties are dealt with with a penalty shot(s). We use many visual aids as well during practices, such as beach balls and tennis balls or spray paint on the ice.

We often have special visitors as well, such as Storm from the Sound Tigers and Santa always makes a visit. Oh, Yes, we had a personal, on ice visit with Lord Stanley's Cup too!

Do you have a cross-ice or in-house program? We do not have a cross ice program. We are a travel team by default and play in New Jersey, Long Island and NY. As other special hockey programs develop in nearby states, we will expand our travel.

What are the ages of the players in the program? Our players are age 5 to young adult. We have a large number of Youth hockey players over the age of 12 who assist as junior coaches. Mentors teach skating and hockey skills and assist at games. Mentors are an integral part of our program.

Do you have off season programs available for your players? Summer weekend camps are held in the tri state area for our special hockey players. We hope to develop our own summer "camp" one day.

What are you doing to grow hockey in the area you are located? Our players find us through word of mouth right now. We are in the process of contacting schools and other programs for developmentally disabled athletes in order to reach more interested athletes.

Who are the main people involved with the leadership of the program? Storm has a board of directors made up of former hockey players, parents and businessmen. Our coaches are the same, with a special affinity for the success of our athletes.

Tell us about some of your notable achievements. Every day is a notable achievement! This is a first hockey experience for each of these players. Our great success is the joy that hockey brings to our athletes. We watch a "first" every time we are on the ice and take no achievement for granted, no matter how small. Individual growth by our players has been remarkable. Not only do our athletes find success, but our mentors are learning a great deal about themselves as well, in understanding, compassion and friendships with the special athletes in their care.