A ‘Learning Experience’ For Mentors and Mentees

Kraken player development consultant Zac Dalpe smiled as he watched the team’s Development Camp prospects playing ball hockey in South Park this week against teenage volunteers from a local youth group.

The full group of 25 prospects, including this year’s top two draft picks, had bussed over along with eight coaching staff members to the recently opened South Park Sport Court, erected by the team’s One Roof Foundation non-profit arm. Together, they played alongside 45 Duwamish Valley Youth Corps volunteers in ball hockey, kickball and soccer under the watchful eye of the coaching staff members also making their first such community foray to one of One Roof’s four donated sport courts throughout the region.

“They have to understand the importance of giving back,” Dalpe said of the team’s prospects. “Talking about it is one thing. But coming here and doing it is a totally different thing.”

Kraken goaltending consultant Andrew Allen, who served as goalie coach the team’s inaugural expansion season, said the mood in the bus was upbeat during the half-hour journey from Kraken Community Iceplex to the sport court. Allen said that One Roof’s executive director, Mari Horita, spoke to the prospects in the locker room beforehand about the trip’s purpose.

“She told us what it means to the kids and for us to go out and enjoy this with kids who don’t have the opportunity to play hockey as often, or to be around guys like them,” Allen said. “So, everybody was very excited.”

Among those also making the ride over was former Kraken defenseman and new team development coach Justin Schultz.

“It’s a good learning experience for them getting them to understand that this is just a part of being in the NHL and being in Seattle,” Schultz said. “It’s helping out communities like this and doing stuff for the community. That’s a big part of being in this league. You have a chance to help out communities in need.”

Schultz said that while some players get a chance to do community work playing for major junior or college teams, it becomes “very different” and more impactful as a pro. He made several community outings while playing for the Kraken in 2022-23 and 2023-24 and said the South Park trip would be a great for the prospects in “showing them what’s expected”  going forward.

“That’s the great part about the Kraken organization – they really push this stuff,” he said. “And I think all of the guys here have no problem talking time out of their day to come here and do what they can.”

One Roof has erected three other sport court facilities at the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation in May, the Verlo Playfield in Tacoma last year and Bryn Mawr-Skyway three years ago. A fifth court is scheduled to in Northgate this summer.

The South Park facility includes surrounding boards allowing for ball hockey to be played on the asphalt surface, as well as basketball and futsal – a variant of indoor soccer played outside. It’s the latest in a yearslong collaboration between One Roof and the Duwamish River Community Coalition – of which the youth corps is a part – on projects within South Park, which has a lack of green spaces and the highest per capita youth of color of any Seattle neighborhood.

The court, which will open opportunities previously unseen for local youth, includes a mural by artist Brady Black. He worked with members of the youth corps last summer to bring the court to life visually by establishing a guiding motto behind the mural: Inspiring action in the community through environmental justice. That vision is reflected in the artwork: local flowers in bloom, a nod to growth and new beginnings; salmon in the rivers, honoring the fight for clean water and resilience; and a welcome in both English and Lushootseed, an acknowledgment that this community's roots run deep.

The youth corps volunteers out playing alongside the Kraken prospects aren’t all athletes. Their primary duties involve becoming educated on the many environmental issues impacting the community and helping to devise and implement solutions.

“To have the prospects coming in here and playing is great,” said youth corps director Carmen Martinez. “You talk a lot about how these young men, when they make it to the next level, are going to interact with people in the public. So, it’s kind of teaching them also. You’re going to go into communities with kids of color. You’ll meet kids that are shy. How do you interact with them? So, it’s a learning experience and they’ve jumped right in and handled it.

“So, that says a lot about them. And a lot about the Kraken organization.”

One of the players stickhandling and shooting alongside the youth corps volunteers, ages 13 to 19, was defenseman Chase Reid, selected seventh overall by the Kraken in last week’s Upper Deck NHL Draft.

“It’s always good giving back to the community,” Reid said. “And being out here with the guys being able to give back just a little bit, it’s always good.”

Reid had only a handful of such opportunities playing for the Soo Greyhounds in the Ontario Hockey League. He instead appeared a couple of times at his younger brother’s middle school in Michigan, posing for photos with students.

“But it was nothing ever like this,” he said. “This is super cool.”

Youth corps volunteer Jasiah Coats, 16, who’d been out on the sport court playing ball hockey with Reid, agreed it was “great” hanging out playing with NHL-drafted players.

“I was always wondering what that was,” he said, pointing to the hockey net beneath the basketball hoop he typically uses the court for. “I was like, ‘Why was that there?’ Now, I know. I scored three goals.”

He was equally proud of his team’s performance against the draftees.

“None of them scored,” he said, chuckling.

But for Kraken development consultant Dalpe, the goal of being there wasn’t to outscore the opposition as much as staying involved with them.

“You can see them experience it – they’re trying to put a smile on kids’ faces and they’re enjoying themselves,” he said. “They’re like big kids themselves sometimes.”