Who is Adam Sherlip (aka “The Hockey VolunteerTM”) ?
After some years working for an NHL club handling youth hockey development (international and local) Adam was in a crisis. No matter the department (he also handled marketing and corporate partnerships during his tenure), the ultimate goal of working towards selling tickets was unfulfilling, and at times, incredibly disappointing. The lingering feeling that he needed to do something more through the sport he loves - making a true difference in peoples’ lives - was something he couldn’t ignore.
At ice rink in Chiktan, Kargil District, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, IndiaAt it’s core, hockey is the most sportsmanlike game in the world.
“But Adam, what about the fighting and the checking?”, you ask?
Checking allows players to knock another player off the puck to gain control, as well as intimidate your opponents with your physical prowess, a trait that is as ingrained in mammalian behavior as reproduction.
Fighting, outside of the sheer enjoyment or disgust one may have, is a way to keep honor and accountability to a game that sometimes can get emotional. If a player is upset because his team is losing, his emotions can lead him to go after the best player on the ice. It happens in sports without regulated fighting all the time. The difference is that a player who acts out on those impulses in hockey has to face a tough-guy on the opposing team who is sticking up for his teammate…honor, accountability, and selflessness!
Hockey is also the pure team sport. You can make countless examples for other sports, but at the end of the day, hockey requires a team to win. Gretzky and Crosby both had/have more assists than goals every season because if all they did was shoot, 5 guys could get in their way. A goalie can’t stop every shot if nobody is defending in front, and a defenseman couldn’t clear the puck out of the zone if nobody was supporting him in the defensive zone. If you do not have a deep sense of what it means to be a team player, you can’t succeed at hockey…it’s that simple!
As a result, in spite of people like Sean Avery (of years passed?), many people in the hockey world believe hockey requires an athlete of a higher pedigree than the rest of the professional sporting world…and they even use a different mode of transportation! What other sport tires you out after only 45 seconds of going 100%?!
Adam wants to spread the true values of the sport…. A sport that requires decent people to succeed, and can be embraced and respected across the globe.
While with the professional club, Adam held hockey camps in China, and oversaw the cultural exchange tournaments that were hosted by the club. All of this was an incredible experience, which left a resonating impression on his conscience. Not only did he get to see a country on the opposite side of the world, but he saw first hand what providing hockey means to the people that play.
In early 2009, Adam went to Ladakh, a Himalayan region in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, where he spent months working with local players, ranging in age from 10 to 45. Adam ultimately became the head coach of the first Indian National Hockey Team, which participated in its first international competition in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Challenge Cup of Asia in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He also represented India at the IIHF World Congress in Bern, Switzerland.
Just as in China, the experience in India proved that hockey truly is a global sport, that can impact the lives of so many people, including those that help. India is very close to Adam’s heart, and he plans on supporting their continued growth in ice hockey for many years to come. With your help.
