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Ice hockey has diversified because society itself has diversified, says Larry Ruiming Du, 12.
The face of hockey is changing, and it’s not because of better mouthguards.
Hockey has long been considered a white male sport. According to Zippia, a website for job seekers, 72% of hockey players today are white. More than 90% are men.
But the numbers are changing. The National Hockey League (NHL) has created a Learn to Play program for children ages 4 to 9 to give more kids from different backgrounds a chance to try hockey. 4-8 weeks of lessons. Some programs even include equipment that is free or at low cost.
The increasing diversity of the sport is evident at the Rockville Ice Arena, located just outside of Washington, DC. Home of the Montgomery Youth Hockey Associations Ice Devils, the Maryland arena welcomes kids from all over. You can walk into the lobby and hear people speaking multiple languages, including Chinese, Farsi, and Spanish.
Ice hockey has done a complete 180 and for the better, said Marc Bragin, coach of the under-12 traveling team. Just walking into the rink you see so many different faces, so many different ethnicities and hear so many languages being spoken. The best part is that everyone was interested in the same great sport and were all family members. The ice rink is an oasis.
Larry Ruiming Du said he likes playing for the Ice Devils. The 12-year-old, whose parents are from China, noted that the team is more diverse than his previous one.Larry’s teammates have parents and grandparents from Latvia, China, Colombia, India, Iran and Sri Lanka.
Hockey has diversified because society itself has diversified, Larry said. When people of other ethnicities strap on their skates, they fall in love with the sport.
Larry, who speaks Mandarin at home, hasn’t always felt welcome on the ice. Another club I played at, he said, was mostly white kids, and I felt left out. Now he plays with children from different backgrounds.
Bragin confirmed Larry’s experience. As the sport became more popular, he said, more people of all races, religions and ethnicities started playing. Slopes have been popping up everywhere, and the NHL has done a great job promoting the sport at the youth level.
More and more girls are playing hockey.
MORE GIRLS ON ICE
The number of girls playing ice hockey is also increasing. Adrianna Hernandez said she sees the sport as welcoming to girls and people of color at the youth level. I’ve never felt like I didn’t belong, said the 13-year-old, whose father is from Colombia.
Adrianna is one of four Latina players on her girls team. I started to like hockey when my grandmother took me to the Washington Capitals [NHL] games, he said. My parents enrolled me in the Learn to Play program. From there I never looked back. Ice hockey is the best sport in the world.
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