A Day with the American Special Hockey Association

The crew of 6 woke up with a smile today as we had the day off from skating. More importantly, we were excited to spend the day at the Garden Ice House in Laurel, Maryland to meet up with some parents and players of affiliated with the American Special Hockey Association.

After a nice lunch and some quality meet and great time with several families, we headed downstairs to the ice rink and strappede on some ice skates. Some of you may already understand the differences in the techniques used to ice skate and rollerblade, but for those that may be unfamiliar, the difference can be significant.

After rollerblading almost a thousand miles you get comfortable using the front wheel that extends in front of the skate, and you start to change your stride accordingly. More specifically, you tend to lean forward to utilize the extra support in the front of the skate. Ice skates don't have this support... and when you lean too far forward, you land on your face. It is safe to say, we pretty much did our first lap of the rink looking like a bunch of amateurs. I'm sure some parents were confused and must've thought that it was some kind of joke that we played division 1 college ice hockey.

The skate was a blast and we had a great time skating and hanging out with players and coaches from the American Special Hockey Association. We all feel extremely fortunate to be able to attend some of these great events and meet so many speical families and children. The committment these parents and coaches show to their children and the cause is truly an inspiration for all of us.

Tomorrow, we will visit the Maryland's center for Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children. After our visit, back on the road for another 40 miles!

Bests,
Sean S.