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In Buenos Aires, Argentina, a barrage of exuberant kids swarmed Syracuse’s Sarah Thompson for her massive bags full of hockey gear. They screamed “hockey, hockey” with the little English they knew, ripping through the bags. They grabbed sticks and pads that were clearly the wrong size. One girl desperately wanted to have the pink stick. It was mayhem, but in a good way, Thompson said.

“You’d think that I’d be able to keep them all in line, but they just darted after the sticks,” Thompson said. “To hold the stick and just to try something new was pretty exciting for them. I think that was pretty exciting for me to just see the joy in their faces.”

Through her Sticks Together project and with gear she donated to the Amarilla and Caacupé schools, Thompson taught underprivileged kids hockey for three weeks from May to June in Buenos Aires. In a partnership with Play It Again Sports (PIAS) in Ottawa, people donated children’s hockey gear including goalie equipment, balls and cones for the trip. 

Thompson and SU ice hockey media representative Tracey Edson stayed in a hostel with three other volunteers from the International Volunteer Headquarters’ (IVHQ) Argentina program. The IVHq also organized schools in Argentina for Thompson to work with and facilitated the relationship between her and any Spanish-speaking entities. 

“You get to know the other people in the hostel pretty well and it’s exciting to be able to share your experience with them,” Thompson said. “[You’re] surrounded by people with the same hopes.”

The hostel was in a middle-class neighborhood, but the schools were not. It took an hour-long bus ride plus a 15-minute walk because there weren’t paved roads that got any closer to the schools.

Though the IVHQ planned her schedule and helped translate, Thompson created the initiative on her own. She made the website, the T-shirts and the drive for equipment. Edson said she simply took photos and helped Thompson with ideas. 

For most lessons, they taught the kids different techniques like dribbling, passing, shooting and celebrating through drills. Then, the kids got to scrimmage at the end. Thompson said it was gratifying to see the progress the kids made. 

“Their reactions when they saw their first ball or when they finally learned how to hold their stick properly or stick handle, you could see them progress every time we played,” Thompson said. “By the end, the actual scrimmaging was a lot better than the first time I handed them the stick.”

Thompson said seeing each kid score their first goal was one of the most rewarding moments.

“Their faces just lit up and then they did the celebration that they see other athletes do in the sports they watch,” Thompson said. “Obviously soccer is big over there. So a lot of them had those types of celebrations.”

Because of the language barrier, reading body language was part of how the group communicated. They also used Google Translate, and the kids loved it since they had never seen a tool like it before, Thompson said. 

Jennifer Albanese, Thompson’s mentor in Cuse W — a program that helps female athletes at SU — worked with her to navigate the project. Albanese said Thompson did all of the heavy lifting. 

“I think she is just a unique, special person,” Albanese said. “She has some really great ambitions and goals in life and a lot of it is about giving back.”

On the last day, all 30 kids rushed Thompson and “nearly took me down,” she said. Now, the kids actually knew how to use the gear that would be left for them. 

“They were so appreciative of the time that I was able to give and to teach them to play hockey,” Thompson said. “So seeing them upset about us leaving and showing their appreciation was really, really special.”

Published on October 27, 2022 at 1:07 am

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu