Post by Jazz on May 26, 2004 22:10:33 GMT -5
Trip offers a look at players' roots[/u]
By MORRIS DALLA COSTA -- London Free Press
Source: slam.canoe.ca/Slam040525/col_dallacosta-sun.html
If there's one thing that is clear in hockey, it's that hockey players will play the game whenever and wherever they can.
If it happens that during their journeys around the hockey world, the opportunity arises to include a little cultural adventure, that makes things all the better.
Londoners Liam Nediger and Mike Ikeno will get the cultural adventure of their young lives come August.
Nediger and Ikeno are 16-year-old London minor hockey players. They also happen to have Japanese ancestry. Nediger's mother, Dale Yosida, had Japanese parents, while Ikeno's father Bill's background is Japanese.
As a result, Nediger and Ikeno will travel to Japan this summer to participate in the Japan Ice Hockey Federation's all-Japan midget training camp and development tournament.
They will play with a team out of Vancouver against teams from Japan, Korea and Russia. All players on all teams must have Japanese ancestry.
Even by hockey world standards, where kids travel great distances to play the sport, this is a long, circuitous road to take: Londoners playing for a Vancouver team heading to Japan.
"They started this team in 2000," Yosida said. "They had it in 2002 and now 2004. We happened to hear about it when we saw a Japanese newspaper lying around (her mother's) house. We saw the team was having evaluations going on in Vancouver, we decided to try."
Meanwhile, in the Ikeno house in London, Mike Ikeno, a forward, also learned about the team almost by accident.
"I first found out because my grandparents were talking to my dad about it and they were pushing my cousin to try out two years ago," Ikeno said. "But he didn't want to. I didn't think I could try out. I just thought it was for (people out West.)
"Then I found out that Liam was going, so I thought I'd try out."
The two went to a two-day tryout this month in Vancouver. More than 30 players tried out and for the first time since the team's inception in 2000, players from the East made the team. Two players from the Toronto area also made the squad.
While hockey will be a major component of the trip, the real reason the Nedigers and Ikenos are going is to visit the land their ancestors came from, a land they have never visited before.
The tournament will be held Aug. 5-8. During and after the tournament, there will be plenty of time to absorb the history and culture of Japan.
"My mother is Japanese," Yosida said. "The parents wanted this as a cultural exchange.
"They wanted their children to go to Japan since they hadn't been there before. I was born in Canada and . . . I've never been there.
"I wanted to do it mostly because I don't know much about my Japanese heritage," Ikeno said.
"Like many people with Japanese backgrounds, my dad just wanted to be a Canadian and become part of Canada. I want to go and see what it's like because it is part of my heritage."
Nediger doesn't know what to expect, but he's looking forward to the trip.
"It should be interesting to experience the culture. I really have no idea of what it's going to be like," he said. "But it was interesting meeting a team of all Japanese-Canadian guys. Other than (Don), they are the only other Japanese-Canadian persons I've come across and played hockey with."
And there is the hockey.
"It was better hockey than I thought," said Nediger, a goaltender. "I wasn't sure what I was going to see in terms of hockey, but it was better than expected."
The two families leave for Vancouver and then Japan in late July. Players from the West will have the benefit of long-term fundraising activities, but it will be an expensive adventure for the London families.
"They have been working on it over the years." Yosida said. "It's made it a little bit difficult for us because the major fundraising event, dinner and silent auction, is in Vancouver. But we're doing what we can to find some sponsorship here.
"Besides, this is an important trip to take."
Amen to that.
By MORRIS DALLA COSTA -- London Free Press
Source: slam.canoe.ca/Slam040525/col_dallacosta-sun.html
If there's one thing that is clear in hockey, it's that hockey players will play the game whenever and wherever they can.
If it happens that during their journeys around the hockey world, the opportunity arises to include a little cultural adventure, that makes things all the better.
Londoners Liam Nediger and Mike Ikeno will get the cultural adventure of their young lives come August.
Nediger and Ikeno are 16-year-old London minor hockey players. They also happen to have Japanese ancestry. Nediger's mother, Dale Yosida, had Japanese parents, while Ikeno's father Bill's background is Japanese.
As a result, Nediger and Ikeno will travel to Japan this summer to participate in the Japan Ice Hockey Federation's all-Japan midget training camp and development tournament.
They will play with a team out of Vancouver against teams from Japan, Korea and Russia. All players on all teams must have Japanese ancestry.
Even by hockey world standards, where kids travel great distances to play the sport, this is a long, circuitous road to take: Londoners playing for a Vancouver team heading to Japan.
"They started this team in 2000," Yosida said. "They had it in 2002 and now 2004. We happened to hear about it when we saw a Japanese newspaper lying around (her mother's) house. We saw the team was having evaluations going on in Vancouver, we decided to try."
Meanwhile, in the Ikeno house in London, Mike Ikeno, a forward, also learned about the team almost by accident.
"I first found out because my grandparents were talking to my dad about it and they were pushing my cousin to try out two years ago," Ikeno said. "But he didn't want to. I didn't think I could try out. I just thought it was for (people out West.)
"Then I found out that Liam was going, so I thought I'd try out."
The two went to a two-day tryout this month in Vancouver. More than 30 players tried out and for the first time since the team's inception in 2000, players from the East made the team. Two players from the Toronto area also made the squad.
While hockey will be a major component of the trip, the real reason the Nedigers and Ikenos are going is to visit the land their ancestors came from, a land they have never visited before.
The tournament will be held Aug. 5-8. During and after the tournament, there will be plenty of time to absorb the history and culture of Japan.
"My mother is Japanese," Yosida said. "The parents wanted this as a cultural exchange.
"They wanted their children to go to Japan since they hadn't been there before. I was born in Canada and . . . I've never been there.
"I wanted to do it mostly because I don't know much about my Japanese heritage," Ikeno said.
"Like many people with Japanese backgrounds, my dad just wanted to be a Canadian and become part of Canada. I want to go and see what it's like because it is part of my heritage."
Nediger doesn't know what to expect, but he's looking forward to the trip.
"It should be interesting to experience the culture. I really have no idea of what it's going to be like," he said. "But it was interesting meeting a team of all Japanese-Canadian guys. Other than (Don), they are the only other Japanese-Canadian persons I've come across and played hockey with."
And there is the hockey.
"It was better hockey than I thought," said Nediger, a goaltender. "I wasn't sure what I was going to see in terms of hockey, but it was better than expected."
The two families leave for Vancouver and then Japan in late July. Players from the West will have the benefit of long-term fundraising activities, but it will be an expensive adventure for the London families.
"They have been working on it over the years." Yosida said. "It's made it a little bit difficult for us because the major fundraising event, dinner and silent auction, is in Vancouver. But we're doing what we can to find some sponsorship here.
"Besides, this is an important trip to take."
Amen to that.
