Our First Annual Youth Hockey Scholarships

In an effort to help support the great game of hockey from the ground up, so to speak, the Board voted this summer to support two local youth hockey students who love the game and want to improve their skills but may not be able to afford to attend a summer developmental camp.  We chose the Washington Capitals Youth Hockey Camp held at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in early August.  Now, how do we find two deserving students?  I contacted Chris Lewis of the Washington Capitals and Ben Kwon, program director of the hockey camps program at KCI for help. 

Chris introduced me to Kathy Cox, executive director of Friends of Ft Dupont Ice Arena, who consulted with Joel Layton, the head volunteer hockey coach at Ft Dupont. Teshawn Johnson was his “hands down” selection   Teshawn is eight years old, hails from a large family in Northwest DC and attends Meridian Charter School.  He is a natural athlete and is the best hockey student at Ft Dupont in his age bracket.  He has been skating at Ft Dupont since 2005 and has been enrolled in every available class since. Teshawn plays center for his Mites team and his favorite player is Alexander Ovechkin.  He has been skating since he was either two or four years old.   His favorite part of camp was the passing drills.    

Ben Kwon enthusiastically suggested Zoe Pellowitz, one of his students, as our second candidate.  Zoe just turned eleven and is from Alexandria VA.  She attends Burgundy Farm Country Day School in Alexandria and has been playing hockey for three years.  Zoe plays defense and she loves hockey because it is harder than figure skating, which was her first experience on ice.  Zoe also volunteers throughout the year to help the NOVA Cool Cats Special Hockey Teams at KCI.  This program is designed for children with developmental disabilities.  Zoe loves to teach them how to skate backwards –something every defense person must learn how to do well!

I was able to meet both Zoe and Teshawn at camp with the help of Craig Laughlin, head camp instructor.  Several Caps players were helping Craig at camp and Boyd Gordon was serving as an assistant the day I visited camp. 

In closing, a special thanks to Howard Silberstein, one of our members who suggested this great idea to the Board; Kathy Cox of the Ft Dupont Ice Arena; Ben Kwon of KCI and to Vic, my photographer.  Also, thanks to On Frozen Blog for their favorable article about our club’s sponsorship of this program including photos of Zoe and Teshawn.

We want to expand this program and help sponsor even more youth next summer.  Remember that part of those dollars you spend at the Fan Club table support the Youth Hockey Scholarship Program!