It was also helpful that Juan Pablo Mondragon Pardo, a delegate from Colombia's Ministry of Sport, traveled to Germany to see the national team in action for the first time.
"He (Pardo) saw it up close and personal and he just looked at me and said, 'This is my new personal project,' said Uisprapassorn, who coaches Chapman University's American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II men's team in Orange, California, and is a member of the NHL Coaches Association's BIPOC Coaches Program.
"He goes, 'I believe in what you guys are doing, I love the sport and I'm here to help you guys out,'" Uisprapassorn said. "I think we're addressing all these different audiences, and it helps us get that much further down the road, whether it's recruiting new players, setting standards for kids coming up and getting exposure around the sport at the government level, which gets us closer to that rink."
It hasn't been easy sustaining a national ice hockey program without a rink, Uisprapassorn said. Most of the players in Colombia are inline hockey players who usually arrive at ice hockey tournaments a few days early to practice and adjust to skating on blades instead of wheels.