Thompson is a Hockey Humanitarian Award Nominee – Syracuse University Athletics

Syracuse junior Sarah Thompson is one of 15 nominees for the 2023 Hockey Humanitarian Award, which is presented annually to college hockey’s “finest citizen” and seeks to recognize college hockey players who contribute to local and/or global communities in a true humanitarian spirit.

 

Fourteen months ago, the forward from Ottawa, Ontario launched ‘Sticks Together’ to provide children opportunities in sport. She worked on the concept for more than three years, brainstorming about the idea before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pause in moving forward because of COVID strengthened her passion and conviction to launch the initiative and she has not stopped working to grow the project.

 

“EVERY KID regardless of gender, race, economic class or physical capability, deserves to participate in sports,” Thompson states on her SticksTogether.org website. “EVERYONE deserves something that makes them look forward to tomorrow. For me, that was hockey. And for many others, it could be too. As the creator of Sticks Together, my goal is to ensure that those kids get the chance to play and find out.”

 

The sport management major’s first ‘Sticks Together’ project was a humanitarian trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina from May 16 through June 6, 2022. Through the IVHQ (International Volunteer HQ) Sport Development program, Thompson and Syracuse classmate Tracey Edson worked with young children and teenagers residing in the town of Recoleta to teach them the fundamentals of sports and health. In Buenos Aires Thompson aimed to reach families living in low-income communities where opportunities for children to learn and play sports can be few and far between. As a part of the ‘Sticks Together’ initiative, Thompson brought recycled hockey sticks and other street hockey equipment to the children to teach the game through the afterschool care program. She also provided every child with a program t-shirt.

 

The second ‘Sticks Together’ project is scheduled for May 2023 in Muizenberg, South Africa where many schools in the community lack the funds and resources to provide physical education classes for their students. Through the IVHQ Sport Development Program, Thompson will plan and deliver innovative physical education lessons and introduce the game of hockey. She partnered with CARHA Hockey as they further expand into community-driven work and with Play It Again Sports to collect recycled hockey sticks and other street hockey equipment to bring and donate to the school.

 

Syracuse returns to CHA play this weekend at Lindenwood with a game on Jan. 20th at 8 pm and on Jan. 21st at 2 pm. The games will be streamed on FloHockey.com.

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