Color of Hockey: Ball camp helps grow sport in Jamaica

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles a ball hockey camp that was held in Kingston, Jamaica, hosted by Women of Colour Hockey Collective and the Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation July 24-26 and supported by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association’s Industry Growth Fund.

They picked up the hockey basics faster than Olympian Usain Bolt in a 100-meter dash.

That’s the impression members of Women of Colour Hockey Collective had from coaching more than 60 boys and girls during a ball hockey clinic in Kingston, Jamaica, from July 24-26.

“Literally, the second they grabbed the sticks, they started playing around, started passing balls,” said Sophie Jaques, a defenseman with Vancouver of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and Canada women’s hockey team that won the silver medal at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics. “We’d say, ‘Try doing this next time’ and they learned so quickly. The growth there was truly incredible.”

Nearly a dozen WCHC members and proteges journeyed to Kingston for the camp, in collaboration with the Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation and held at the National Arena.

The contingent was led by Saroya Tinker, WCHC founder and a former professional women’s player/turned broadcaster, and included Jaques, the first Black woman to win the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as top NCAA Division I women’s player in 2022-23; Sacred Heart University defenseman Chase Rutty; University of Delaware forward Katelynn Charlton; Dartmouth College forward Dayton O’Donoghue; University of Waterloo (Canada U Sports) forwards Kianna Saillant and Teagan Gray; Queens University (U Sports) forward Sienna Bullen; and University of Guelph (U Sports) forward Deija Houston.

“These are accomplished women,” said Tinker, who played 47 games with New York of the National Women’s Hockey League and Toronto of the Premier Hockey Federation from 2020-23. “Sophie was just one of the girls, but as soon as the kids found out she was an Olympian, their eyes were wide open and amazed at her.”

Half of the campers were girls, which coincided with the nonprofit WCHC’s mission of uplifting and supporting women and girls of color in hockey through mentorship, scholarships, equipment support, events and community.

“It was amazing,” Tinker said of the number of girls who attended the camp. “I think it definitely showed that girls are interested in the game. At the National Stadium, you walk in and there’s a big statue of a girl playing netball. So they definitely recognize their female athletes in Jamaica to an amazing degree.”

The camp was the latest effort by JOIHF to help grow hockey and create momentum for the building of an ice rink on the Caribbean island.

Jamaica, an International Ice Hockey Federation associate member since May 18, 2012, has a men’s ice hockey program, comprised mostly of players of Jamaican descent who live in Canada and the United States. They have competed in tournaments like the Amerigol LATAM Cup and Challenger Series, which features other emerging hockey countries and territories like Lebanon and Puerto Rico. 

“We’re looking at this as continuity,” JOIHF president Don Anderson said of the ball hockey camp. “What we want to do is select from this group about 20 kids that we see going into the next program because we have been approved by the IIHF for a grow the game project in Jamaica before the end of this year.”

The Kingston camp was supported by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association, through the Industry Growth Fund, created as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2013 to support and accelerate the development of League and club initiatives and projects that promote long-term fan development and increase participation in hockey at all levels.

The camp also received a donation of about 75 sticks and apparel from Swift Hockey, a stick and clothing company founded in 2022 by Zechariah Thomas, a 23-year-old retired minor-pro defenseman who played for Jamaica.

Thomas and his low-cost stick company gained notoriety after he scored a $70,000 deal on an episode of the popular CBC TV series “Dragons’ Den,” Canada’s version of ABC’s “Shark Tank.” 

In December, he was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30 List 2026” of 30 impactful and influential people under the age of 30 across 20 fields that include sports, entertainment, social impact, manufacturing & industry, art & style, AI and finance.

“I'm Jamaican and I love, love, love the country and, obviously playing on that national team, I always wanted the sport to grow there as much as it can,” Thomas said. “This was my way of saying ‘Thank you.’ I always try to find ways to give back and especially find ways to give back to Jamaica and hockey as well.”

Tinker said she hopes WCHC, a rebrand of Black Girl Hockey Club Canada, can collaborate again with JOIHF in Jamaica again in the future and add inline hockey to the mix.

She said forward Jaxon Cover, an inline player from the Cayman Islands who didn’t play ice hockey until moving to Canada at age 12, being chosen by the Ottawa Senators with the No. 32 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft shows the possibilities for those from so-called “non-traditional” hockey markets.

“In my head, the next step is getting rollerblades there for them because I think that is going to be the next biggest piece,” she said. “I think we're going to see more and more Jaxon Covers come out and through these programs in the Caribbean if they continue to focus on their hockey programs.”