HP4K program helping youth
By Jashvina Shah, Special Writer
Princeton University men’s hockey alumnus Michael Sdao remembers receiving visits from local football players when he was in elementary school.
Over his past three years with the Tigers, the recently graduated defenseman spent time visiting elementary schools, encouraging children to read as a part of Stick to Reading.
”I remember looking up to them, so it’s cool being on the other side of it and seeing kids’ eyes open, just being excited about us being there and being excited to read,” Sdao said.
Stick to Reading is part of Hockey Players for Kids (HP4K), a non-profit organization co-founded by former Princeton hockey player Dustin Sproat. His former Princeton teammate Ian McNally has worked with local schools and hockey programs to keep HP4K’s giving spirit in Princeton’s community.
”It’s fantastic that we were able to create something that people can continue contributing to,” Sproat says. “I can’t have the same influence over kids now that I’m not playing as I could when I was, and that was sort of the reason why we started it in the first place.”
The non-profit organization serves as an outlet for professional hockey players to become involved in the community, harnessing any resources and time they have.
”We realized that we had a unique opportunity while we were playing when people actually gave a crap about us,” Sproat says with a laugh. “I’d been in the work force for a couple of years when I kind of realized that once we’re done playing we become regular individuals again, whereas kind of heroes in some kid’s eyes.”
Sproat, who thought of the concept while playing with the Fresno Falcons in 2008, co-founded HP4K with 10 other players — including his former Princeton teammates Kyle Hagel, Mike Moore, Brett Westgarth, Darroll Powe and Daryl Marcoux.
”Basically in minor hockey, there’s really, really smart people, but you’re not allowed to use your brain at all,” Sproat said. “So there are a lot of guys who have university degrees that are a little bit worried about what they’re going to do in life after hockey.”
”We thought we could harness all these players and give them something to do that would benefit them long term. Now you’ve got something cool you put on your resume. It’s not like, ‘Oh yeah I showed up to an autograph signing for the Fresno Falcons.’ Like, ‘I organized a program for Hockey Players for Kids to help kids.’ “
The Fresno Falcons folded, and Sproat and his teammates scattered to different cities. Sproat found himself in Cincinnati, where the non-profit organization officially formed in spring of 2009.
HP4K’s main program is Stick to Reading, where players visit elementary schools and encourage the children to read through competitions.
”They love it. It’s, like the kids actually do have a noticeable increase in wanting to read and the parents acknowledge it as well so they’re pretty fired up there,” McNally said
”They go pretty wild when the guys show up. The guys will tell them what kind of books they read when they were younger and the kids are reading the same books now. The kids really like that to, they feel like they’re connecting with them.”
Sdao gets that question a lot as well, and his answer is always Goosebumps.
But reading isn’t the only part of the program, as the children who read the most earn a spot in an end-of-the-year floor hockey game with the visiting players.
”The kids are, inevitably just like pandemonium when they show up just because the kids are so fired up to play,” McNally said. “Inevitably there’s a couple tears because some kids didn’t score and they feel like this is their one chance with the Princeton players.”
McNally, one of seven members of HP4K’s Board of Directors, helped facilitate Princeton hockey’s connection with the Littlebrook Elementary School for Stick to Reading. McNally continues aiding community service efforts in the community, as he also encourages Princeton Youth Hockey to participate through equipment drives.
”They really enjoy it and I think their parents, the families really enjoy it too because it’s probably not something that they normally do or has been asked of them as an athlete before,” McNally said.
Princeton Youth Hockey is one of the 26 organizations the website lists as partners with HP4K. Other partners include Boys & Girls Clubs of America, The Professional Hockey Players’ Association and some ECHL and AHL teams.
”Princeton youth teams had a bunch of old jerseys that they basically gave to me that we didn’t really need at the time, but just people wanted to help and be involved,” McNally, who lives in the Princeton area, said. “It’s meant a great deal to me that the fact that the people in this community have kind of embraced HP4K as well.”
Sproat says partnering organizations provide players with alternative ways of assisting the community if facilitating an HP4K program is not possible.
”The idea of HP4K is to have hockey players who have the time and the resources and a bit of pull in their organizations to use that in a positive way with kids in the community,” McNally said. “So whenever an opportunity like that comes up, I’ll try to help some of the local hockey people get involved in it.”
Sproat served as the HP4K’s chairman of the Board of Directors, which fell to Mac Faulkner when Sproat went back to school over the past few years. Under Faulkner, who graduated from Clarkson University, the non-profit’s programs spread to Italy and England.
From HP4K, Sproat and co-founder Hagel formed Shnarped, an application that lets fans track their favorite players. Shnarped started as a way for Sproat and members of HP4K to communicate with each other.
Shnarped corrected the communication problem, but its development proved too much for HP4K. So Sproat and Hagel grew it on their own, creating a platform where fans can track and interact with players in the minor leagues and the NHL.
HP4K, which exists in seven different countries, has three programs — Stick to Reading, Holiday Hat Trick and Give Moore for the Holidays. The non-profit organization also has Pucks and Pancakes, a Cincinnati-based program HP4K is trying to expand.
Stick to Reading, which started in Cincinnati and California, started at Princeton three years ago. Sdao has participated in the program since his Tigers team partnered with the Littlebrook Elementary School.
”It’s just a nice way, being involved, to really help out and obviously going to school and in college hockey, you have to be reading, it’s an important skill,” Sdao said. “Especially in communities that aren’t as affluent as Princeton, it can be even more beneficial.”
While Sdao is one of a few Princeton Tigers who has participated in Stick to Reading, the Ottawa Senators draft pick knows members of the Senators organization who have participated in HP4K programs.
”The guys who play Princeton men’s hockey right now can get involved with the Stick to Reading program here and then hear about what HP4K is,” McNally said. “And when they graduate and go on and play pro hockey inevitably it’s something that they kind of take on and introduce to their new teammates who didn’t go to Princeton so it still kind of has roots within the Princeton alumni community.”