About Project Hope
Cultural Exchange
By working closely with local and provincial officials in the cities of Harbin and Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, China, the New York Islanders have embarked upon an un-precedented multi-faceted educations iniviative that will undoubtedly change the lives of young athletes forever: The Charles B. Wang Ice Hockey Project Hope
The ultimate goal of Project Hope is simple: To provide young Chinese athletes with access to educational opportunities.
Project Hope will endeavor to create opportunities for cultural exchange through international youth hockey events and by promoting Project Hope scholarship placements in the United States
Learning the Language
Project Hope begins by enrolling Chinese scholar-athletes in New York Islanders-affiliated youth hockey programs in and around Heilongjiang Province. Once enrolled, the students must study English as part of their regular curriculum with a goal of achieving fluency in both written and conversational english.
To demonstrate a developing English language competency, students will undergo age appropriate assesments/examinations on a regular basis. Once the students have achieved fluency, they will be eligible to apply for a Project Hope scholarship to continue their education at a high school in the United States.
About Project Hope
Project Hope Journal 1/22/07
By Angela and Adam
We're back from China, and after almost two weeks, what we miss the most is the hospitality. Everywhere we went (all 8 schools), we were greeted with open arms, by local and school officials, and many students that were supposed to be on winter break (but came back just to see us and spend some time on the ice). The outdoor rinks have become a center to the respective communities, and the kids in our Project Hope schools, (elementary school age) skate over 5 days a week! Their smiles on the ice made it easy to ignore that it was as cold and windy as the Great Lakes region. We took them through some basic skating and puck handling drills, and then we got into the fun, reminding everyone (including the adults standing around the rinks) that hockey, above all else, is fun.
Other than skating with the Project Hope students, we also had the opportunity to scout our prospective scholarship candidates in Harbin and Qiqihar. Twenty (about ten in each city) of the best teenage boys and girls skated their hearts out for over an hour, in an intense tryout. Not only were their hockey skills put to the test (and a fair amount of stamina testing to go along with it), but an interview was conducted in English to determine whether they were ready to study at a school for a full academic year. While their hockey skills were impressive, it was clear that everyone needed more work on English. Before anyone spends a full year in America, we'll bring over a few students for the summer in an intensive ESL program, allowing them to experience the United States first hand. The opportunity to play hockey will also be important, and the students will be able to put many hours of hard work on the ice, after they do so on paper.
In our meetings with local officials, it became clear how important Project Hope has become to the lives of so many people. In some cases, over 100 students get the opportunity to learn hockey at their school. Hockey has become a class worth academic credit, and in the best of scenarios, Project Hope hockey players have been given a clear path to success. In Qiqihar, a memo was issued on behalf of the Sports and Education Bureaus, mandating that a specific system be implemented to assist these scholar athletes any way possible. We hope that the civic governments in each area, along with the Project Hope schools, can follow suit, allowing more students the opportunity to play hockey, study English five days a week, and continue to receive the funding and support of their local governments.
Whether it was the center city of Harbin, Jiamusi and Qiqihar, or a surrounding town, each community had a unique culture. The sense of family and community dominates the social character and culture, and the group lunches and dinners gave us the opportunity to become members of the community. We spent a lot of time getting to know everyone personally (through a translator, of course), and found that while our cultures are as different as can be, there are some things that we all share in common. First, and most obvious, we're all human. Sometimes, we forget what that means, but it's important. Whether you live on Long Island or in Heilongjiang, everybody wishes to be happy and successful (culturally subjective), have a long life, and wish the same for our children. Going beyond that, we all love hockey. One of the many goals of Project Hope is to cross borders using hockey as the international language. It is a sport unlike anything in the world, requiring a whole new sense of transportation just to be able to communicate. As hockey history has proven, any team can be superior once the puck drops, as long as there is a balance of talent, discipline, structure, creativity and fun. This understanding of hockey is universal, and if it ever becomes less, it will no longer be hockey.
The success lies, though, on everyone involved in Project Hope. We will continue to build rinks and provide as much equipment as possible, but at the same time, we're requesting that anyone willing to help makes a donation or other contributions in support. There is information on the web page specifying how YOU can help.
Stay tuned for more news on Project Hope. We have an exciting future and many more plans. The next invitational is scheduled for January 17-18, 2008. ANY teams interested should fill out our form. Maybe we'll even sponsor a team to compete in China. Start working on your Chinese.
zài jiàn
(that means "goodbye")
Thanks,
Angela & Adam
Letters of Thanks
Project Hope Students
Li Hang
)
My name is Li Hang and I am a student of Class 2 Grade 6 at Er Ma Lu Primary School. It's my pleasure to visit America and I feel so sweet in my heart. We had some games with American kids and at last we got the fourth. But we were not the losers because we tried our best to play the games and we had our teamwork. When I got back to Qiqihar, I swear to put my heart on training and we believe that we will get the champion next year.
In America, Angela, Laurene and Uncle Song did a lot of things for us. They brought us to watch the games of New York Islanders and we learned a lot through the games. For example, how a center player pass the puck. That scene was still haunt on my mind.
The volunteered uncles and aunts were so kind to us. they changed the American foods to our beloved Chinese foods. All I want to say is I love America and I hope we can get the champion next year.
Shen Enzhi
)
My name is Shen Enzhi and I am a student of Qingyun Primary School. After saying goodbye with my parents, we got on the train to Beijing on Dec.24.2006. I felt glad and excited about this journey. But my parents asked me to be earnest during the game and be steady after games. With those exhortations, we finally arrived at New York Airport on Dec.26.2006. We watched the game of NHL at that night. Of course, I learned a lot through the game. From Dec.27, We started our battles of hockey. The first competitor team was the Icecat. At last, we lost the game because of unfamiliar with the field and the team. After the game I was thinking over and over about the mistakes I did and I feel regretted about our defensemen who were not doing good enough beyond the goal. During the afternoon, we had another competition with Westchester. In this game we all tried our best and the whole game is hot. In the end of game, we won at 9:7. Next day we encountered the Bridgeport and that is was our last quarter-game. Unfortunately, we did the same mistakes as the first game. And that made us lose the game again. This has been a good lesson to me. In the afternoon, our rival was still Bridgeport. To our surprise, they shot the puck in at the blue lines for four times that made me know the differences between us. At last, we were eliminated. Next morning we took part in the Skill Competition which including the speed test of shooting and Powerplay Challenge. I joined the game of speed test of shooting and that made me know the odds between American kids and us. In the afternoon we played with Westchester for the third place. The whole game was hot and wonderful. Four minutes before the end of game, the score was still 4:4. Suddenly, one opponent player has breaking in and shooting. The puck was unfortunately hitting my partner's skating shoe and driving into the net. Finally we lost this game at 4:5 and we got the forth place. During this journey, Uncle Song, Laurene and Angela helped us a lot. Meanwhile I appreciate the great opportunity grandpa Charles Wang provided us to make friends with American kids.
On my way home, I have already missed you. This profound friendship is higher than the mountain and deeper than the ocean. I'll never forget it.
Zheng Canjii
)
We were not doing well enough in those games. I appreciated the chance that grandfather Wang gave me and I got lots of knowledge that many other Chinese kids never get.
Liu Yongshen
)
Through the competitions and visits during these days at America, I felt great and got much experience.
First, I want to say "thank you" to grandfather Wang for giving us such a great chance that we can put on the best equipments and fly to America to play hockey. That has improved the friendship between Chinese kids and American kids. In the days in America, we have watched two best games of the world and their practices. That makes me know more about the game.
During the competitions, we lost our first game at 0:9 and that almost made me angry. We were not familiar with that team and they were stronger than us at technique and stamina. In the second game, we had beaten our rival at 9:7. But we won't be pride and should keep on going. In later games, our players were not doing well enough and finally we got the fourth place
When we return to Qiqihar, I swear to train hardly. I believed that our Chinese hockey team will be the best team of the world in the near future. We would not let grandfather Wang down. We would make his wish into reality: to be a Yaoming in the ice hockey field.
Feng Yufu
)
I greatly appreciated the help and careness from Mike, Angela, Uncle Song and every uncles and aunts for translating for us during these seven days at New York.
We got a truth from these days' competition. That is "A pride team will be a loser". Before coming, We did a lot of preparation for the game. But we were so pride that I thought the other teams were not good and I didn't pay more attention on them. The result was we lost the game. There were two other reasons: one, we didn't familiar with the rules. The other is we were not quite comfortable because of the time differences. We lost the game not because of our technique but stature. The American kids are higher and stronger than us.
Of course, we learned a lot. Technically speaking, when we are tired during the game, we can shoot the puck to form a dead puck. Another weakness is our defense. Because of lacking cooperation between the goaltender and defensemen, we always gave our opponents the chance of secondary attacking.
In one word, we learned a lot in America and I hoped that I can go there next time.
Li Zihao
)
From Qiqihar to Beijing and from Beijing to New York, we flew two times one day. It was hard to bear when the plane has taken off. Some of us had sicked up on the plane. But slowly they were getting better. We arrived at New York airport on 13:00 on New York time.
Next day, we encountered our first rival: the Icecat who is the champion of this play-off after all games. Because of unfamiliar with the ice ground, they almost overwhelmed us in our field. But we also got a chance to break away. Unfortunately, Zheng Canji didn't seize this chance. Later, we missed the same opportunity again and the bad news was our energy was low. Finally we lost this game.
Our next rival was the Westchester. We started the game just like avengers. They shot a goal and we chased up and tied the scores. And we won the game at last. after two games, I felt that one game will have a winner and a loser. Losing a game is nothing but you need to know the reason of losing and not to make the same mistake. A winner should not be pride and try to do better next time.
Next day, we played with the Bridgeport and we lost the game. One hand, our defense was too weak. The other hand, our rival had a wonderful cooperation that we were lacking of. In our mind, we always looked forward to the puck but not the opponents. That is the reason why we lost.
