Take a quick look at its roster, and you might think the Jersey City Capitals 8U White Team is a soccer squad.
After all, the parents of the team’s 12 players hail from 14 different countries, and skating isn’t the first activity that comes to mind for children from such places as Syria, Pakistan or India. The team also includes a pair of same-sex parents, as well as a boy in the foster system.
Will Looker is the team’s coach — an American citizen whose parents are from Great Britain — and he has witnessed a series of different cultures blend together on the ice.
“Everyone comes with a story of how they ended up playing hockey,” Looker said. “It’s all by chance; it was not by design. No one kind of intended when they had kids that they were going to put them into the hockey program or could foresee that.”
Diversity is a feature of the entire Capitals program, but the White Team still stands out as a true melting pot.
The White Team reflects its home city. According to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau data, Jersey City had a population of 288,000. The largest ethnic groups were Asian (Non-Hispanic) (25.4%), White (Non-Hispanic) (23%), Black or African American (Non-Hispanic) (19.9%), Two+ (Hispanic) (8.8%), and Other (Hispanic) (8.47%). U.S. citizens make up 78.5% of its residents.
Looker, who has no hockey background, became involved with the Capitals in the 2022-23 season and is now a coach and the 8U coordinator.
“My oldest son did a learn-to-play [program] with the (N.J.) Devils,” Looker said. “We just tried it out and it sort of went from there to he loved it. [Hockey] became a big part of my life very suddenly.”
His two fellow White Team coaches are from Scotland and the U.S.
The White Team plays in the 8-and-under beginner/intermediate division of the New Jersey Youth Hockey League. Looker said that they win more games than they lose.
“We’ve got some really talented kids,” Looker said. “We’re competitive. We don’t get blown out. We’re doing very good.”
Looker noted that not every White Team family has a car, and that can make traveling to games challenging. The Capitals and Devils offer financial assistance to young players to help with equipment costs as well.
Teammates share gear, and families offer to hand down old equipment to players, Looker said.
The Capitals’ Mites program has four teams with 42 players, but it could be larger, according to Looker. He added that the city ice rink closed for two seasons for repairs at a time when interest in the game was growing.
“That hurt the program,” Looker said. “We could have double the amount of kids in the 8U program because there’s a lot of demand.”
Looker sees promise in some of his White Team players, even at their tender ages.
“Our goal as a program is for them to play high school hockey at the varsity level for multiple years, and there’s a few of them that have that potential, for sure,” Looker said.
Depending on the stability of their individual situations, some of the White Team players may move away, while others may leave the sport.
“The challenge is going to be keeping them in the program,” Looker said. “It’s a bit of a steppingstone place. This team is just particularly international. The parents might only be here for a couple years before going back [to their countries of origin].”
Looker noted that the White Team players participate in other sports but are drawn to hockey for its camaraderie, friendship and atmosphere.
“As a program, we encourage other sports,” he said. “But I would say that all of them kind of want to play hockey only. There’s something about hockey that just kind of gets them. I would say that most of them would say that hockey was their favorite.
“[They have] no family history with the sport. They’re playing for the first time. It’s the first sport that they’ve really played. They all love it.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
Source: usahockey.com