Raising awareness and funds along the way, a group of blind hockey players are making their way across Ontario.
Starting today, a team of blind hockey players are inline relay-skating 1000 kilometres from Windsor and Ottawa, passing through Chatham today.
The #COURAGE21 campaign is meant to be a celebration of the achievements of the para-sport, and marks the 10th anniversary of a cross-Canada journey by blind hockey player Mark DeMontis, who inline skated from Toronto to Vancouver in 2009, and then Halifax to Toronto two years later.
“The vision has always been focused on giving kids who are blind or partially sighted the opportunity to play hockey, and it is incredible to see what has happened with the growth of the sport over the last ten years,” DeMontis says. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than another inline skate with some teammates through my home province of Ontario and to raise some much-needed funds to keep the vision going for the next ten years.”
10 years ago, there were only four blind hockey teams, all based in Canada. Now the sport has expanded to 14 Canadian teams, 20 in the US, and programs in six other countries across the globe.
For now, they’re hoping to raise $100,000 as they skate across the province over the next 10 days.
CLICK HERE to follow the team’s progress and learn more about the sport.
