A friend of my Uncle Gerald's put me in contact with Richard Taki who has a major task ahead of him. The task - finding additional funding to assist several young players of the Nikkei Ice Hockey Program for the upcoming hockey tourny.
The "let's start a team" idea dates back to 1999 and the idea grew from then.
I was thrilled at the chance to help promote sports for yet another team of youngsters who have set sigh high goals so as to reach success. Richard was very pleased when we spoke, so I arranged to have one of my photographers (Justin) attend the recent fund raiser in Richmond.
This is something great for these youngsters and having a group of Adults commit to them is great. so if you or you know of someone and/or organization that would like to become involved please contact Richard Taki at 604-941-4155
As Nikkei Canadian parents they constantly ran into others at rinks around the Lower Mainland and realized that there were a significant number of players who were of Japanese descent.
The dream of all minor hockey players in Canada is to one day play professional hockey hopefully in the NHL. Paul Kariya, more recently Devon Setoguchi have been the only Nikkei Canadians to successfully play in the NHL but most have been considered too small to play professional hockey at the top level.
It is noteworthy that Raymond Sawada who was with the 2002 team was a high draft pick of the Dallas Stars and it is hoped that soon he could sign a contract with a pro club in the NHL. Many of these minor hockey graduates would go on to Junior hockey or university but to most it would mark the end of their organized hockey careers.
To celebrate and reward these boys for many years of dedication to the game, parents wanted to provide something that would be a positive climax to their hard work.
Most of the boys, although of Japanese descent, spoke no Japanese and knew little of the land of their heritage, the idea of taking a select group of players to Japan to have the opportunity to experience international ice hockey competition and also to visit, learn about and experience Japan seemed like the perfect situation. The program was realized when the Japan Ice Hockey Federation invited our team to a summer tournament that was held in Kushiro in August, 2000.
It was an experience that has made a permanent impact on the boys involved. This dream trip became a reality through the dedicated efforts of parents and players and the generosity of individual donations and financial support from such diverse organizations as Toyota Canada, Canadian Autoparts Toyota, Alcan,
The National Association for Japanese Canadians (NAJC), and Japan Airlines to name just a few. A major fund raising dinner was held at the Steveston Buddhist Temple where the Japanese Canadian community came together and the dinner and silent auction raised significant funds. This sense of community support was an indication that the program was succeeding even before the first team went to Japan.
In 2002, 2004 and 2006, the program has been successful in sending teams every second year to competitions in various venues in Japan where the boys were able to experience a high level of international competition.
It is the intention of the program to continue sending teams every two years to allow graduating minor hockey players the chance to broaden their experiences and horizons through their game.
With the vision of a small group, the end of any travel is endless. Visit the web site to help out www.nikkeihockey.com