January 19, 2008

Promoting the Game

CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. -- The Rensselaer women's ice hockey team recently laced up their skates to help make a difference in the lives of young girls in the Capital Region. In an effort to encourage more girls to get involved with ice hockey, members of the Engineers squad joined the Clifton Park Girls Hockey program for a developmental skills session.

"This is a great opportunity for us to give back to the community and help out some younger kids who are just starting to play the game," said head coach John Burke. "We're in a growing sport and this is a great way to get more kids involved, develop a love for the game and hopefully stick with it."

The program puts on a skill session each month with help from local collegiate women's squads. The older players say the sessions help younger girls get involved in the sport and let them learn in a supportive environment.

"I like to see that girl's hockey is growing, we definitely want to see it keep growing, our league is getting stronger and stronger every year. That starts with the young girls of course, so we want to do everything we can to make them better," said Kelly Barbera, RPI senior captain.

"It's fun to see people that went to college and are actually playing hockey now, it's a little different than just seeing like our Dad's coach us," said Claire Virkler, Clifton Park Youth hockey player.

To see the full story and video featured on Capital News 9 in its entirety, click HERE.