Sports
Hockey instructor taking the game global
Hockey has long been a uniting force for
Canadians, and, increasingly, a vehicle linking us to the world.
In late 2014, a coach in Mongolia discovered
Nate Leslie's online course for minor hockey coaches and sent him an email.
That was the start of a friendship that initially saw Leslie and his brother
Boe launch a campaign asking $25 from each donor to travel to the East Asia
country with 15 bags of gear and coach in the capital city and small villages
around the country.
The relationship has continued to grow, and
led recently to Project Mongolia—a campaign to further grow the game in a
country know for its vast, rugged expanses and nomadic culture.
In took just eight hours to fill a 20-foot
shipping container full of hockey equipment bound for Mongolia, where Leslie
and a team of colleagues will return in late February to rather balmy -30
Celsius conditions. All the equipment was donated through a fundraiser that
swept across the province, with the Richmond Olympic Oval's Justine Cheng
offering to make the oval a drop-off spot.
"I used my email database of 5,000
hockey families in BC and 3,000 social media followers to help spread the word
and people jumped on board," explains Leslie.
"Steve Basadur, the trade commissioner
at the Canadian embassy in Mongolia, asked if I would help gather gear, and he
found three Canadian companies to sponsor the fees for shipping the
container."
Leslie Global Sports was launched in 2004
following Leslie's seven-year pro hockey career. It's start was rather
auspicious.
"I offered one private lesson in Central
Park in New York City in hopes that I could share my knowledge of the game and
my enjoyment of working with kids," he explains. "I had no idea it
would grow into the business it is today with 1,300 kids in summer camps, 1,000
other kids we work with throughout the year, and the hundreds of coaches we
have tried to help in Canada, USA, New Zealand and Mongolia."
After returning briefly to Mongolia, Team Leslie
will be going down under to New Zealand in April for its annual camp and player
exchange program. Leslie is equally excited about a new extended partnership
with the Richmond Olympic Oval in which his team will provide on-ice coaches
for all oval programs. He'll also be heading up one of Canada's premier
development camps again this summer on Vancouver Island, attracting players and
coaches from around the world.
Leslie is also proud to be offering an
life-after-hockey program and online course for all those athletes
transitioning from high performance.
"Hockey has taken my entire family
(parents, brother and me) around the world from the age of nine, (and there is)
no sign of letting up," he says. "Nearly 40 countries, from Mongolia
to the Swiss national league to NYC's Harlem and Central Park. Hockey has been
an incredible vehicle for growth, adventure and community both locally and
globally."
The Mongolian experience is particularly
unique. Leslie says there are about 700 kids playing hockey in the entire
country.
"Considering that two or three friends
will likely each share a pair of skates, we may have doubled or tripled the
number of kids playing with one day's effort when we collected 500 pairs of
skates," he says.
Leslie likens hockey's potential impact on a
global scale, to the book "How Soccer Explains Everything."
"Culture influences hockey, and hockey
influences culture. While it can be an elitist sport, it can also be a backyard
sport giving kids, adults families and entire nations something to rally
behind."
Now with his hockey sojourn sorted out,
Leslie has an even higher priority to focus on—ensuring his four- and
five-year-olds to school on time.