Color of Hockey: Kenya Ice Lionesses getting big assist from programs in North America

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, the Kenya Ice Lionesses and the support that the fledgling women's hockey program in East Africa is receiving from individuals and organizations in North America.

Tim Colby was heartened by the number of players who showed to practice for Kenya's fledgling women's ice hockey program earlier this season.

“Their age range was about 13 to late 20s and there were about 21 of them,” said Colby, a Canadian expat who is coach and general manager of the only ice hockey program in East Africa. “And it was a real déjà vu experience seeing that and very encouraging because I've seen the development of the senior guys since we began, and I see the trajectory has already started with the women.”

Colby is also appreciative of the outpouring of support for women's hockey in Kenya from individuals and organizations in North America like Sticks Together, Black Girl Hockey Club Canada and Hockey Canada in helping the Ice Lionesses to roar and someday soar on the international hockey stage.

Sticks Together, an international non-profit that uses hockey as a tool for education and empowerment, donated more than $3,000 in October to aid the Ice Lionesses for the season.

The funds are being used to cover ice time costs ($160 CAD per hour) at the small rink inside Nairobi's Panari Hotel, East Africa's only indoor ice sheet, for the women to practice for the season.

“This partnership is a lifeline for our players,” Colby said. “Ice time is our greatest challenge, and without it, the team cannot exist. Thanks to Sticks Together, our girls will have the chance to develop not only as hockey players but also as leaders in their schools and communities.”

Sarah Thompson, a former St. Lawrence University forward who founded Sticks Together in 2022, used prize money she earned as the recipient of the 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award on April 11.

The award is presented annually to the college hockey player who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team, but to the community at-large through leadership in volunteerism.

Thompson and Sticks Together supplemented the prize money donation with contributions from a fundraiser raffle at St. Lawrence's home opener against the University of Vermont on Oct. 10. Thompson performed the ceremonial puck drop.

“So we've been kind of in the community trying to fundraise as much money and tell the story about Kenya to as many people as we can,” Thompson said.

Thompson said she learned about Kenya hockey's impact on and off the ice when she visited the country with members of the St. Lawrence women's hockey in June.

“I expressed to my coach that I'd be really interested in collecting as much hockey equipment as we can from our team but also from my own networks and go down there and also teach hockey while we're there,” said Thompson, whose organization has done hockey missions to Argentina, South Africa and the Philippines.

“So we did that, and I think the Kenya Ice Lions had kind of heard about what I was doing, and I was connected to them, and got to meet some people, particularly Tim Colby,” Thompson said. “He shared more about the direction that they're going in. And to me, my goal was really always to bridge the gap between street hockey and ice hockey and create that opportunity to get on the ice. So this just felt like a really natural opportunity, and I'm really excited to see where it goes.”

Black Girl Hockey Club Canada is also looking forward to forging deeper ties with the Ice Lionesses. In July, the nonprofit group covered the cost for three Ice Lionesses -- Chumbana Likiza, Carol Joseph and Hanan Ali -- to travel to Toronto and attend its annual girls' summer camp.

In October, Likiza received a BGHC Rising Star Award from BGHC Canada, a $1,000 (CAD) grant that she has applied toward tuition to study the hospitality industry at a Nairobi school.

BGHC Canada was co-founded in November 2022 by former professional player Saroya Tinker and Renee Hess, a California resident, who founded the Black Girl Hockey Club in 2018, to inspire and sustain passion for hockey within the Black community, particularly among Black women. The organizations also provide access to the sport through education and scholarships.

“We had some extra dollars in financial aid and gave it to Chumabana,” said Tinker, the Professional Women's Hockey League's manager of culture & impact and a CBC hockey analyst. “But I think moving forward, the goal is to get out to Kenya.”

Tinker is now in the throes and planning and fundraising to take the coaches from the girls' summer camp -- which included defenseman Sophie Jaques of the PWHL's Vancouver Goldeneyes and forward Mikyla Grant-Mentis of the league's Seattle Torrent -- in July or August.

“We'll have our group of coaches and a large part of my mentees who are now mentors, go out to Kenya and run some programming, some mentorship opportunities, and honestly, just get to know the team,” Tinker said. “That's the goal.”

Colby said the visit would have an impact beyond hockey for his players.

“Of course, there's the technical and skill on-ice stuff but then there's also the inspirational level,” he said. “They can see what these women have accomplished off ice in Canada and the U.S. They do sportscasting, they have sponsorships, they have endorsements. That's the kind of thing I really want the young girls and our older women's players to see. Because when you see that, you open your eyes, and you see that there are other opportunities in life.”

Mike Bara is hoping that some of the Ice Lionesses see coaching as one of the opportunities. Bara is a senior manager for coaching development for Hockey Canada, and the organization is opening its vast database of coaching training and development tools to the Kenyan program.

Bara said Colby will identify about 10-15 men's and women's players and coaches to study Hockey Canada's Level One coaching program online for free.

If the participants progress beyond the basic levels, Bara said there's the possibility of bringing the Kenyans to Canada for Hockey Canada's more advanced Development One program.

“They would get a lot more technical resources, individual tactics, team tactics,” he said. “Part of it starts with it online and then there's about six, seven hours in class and on ice. If in fact they did come here, we'd be able to run a one, two-day workshop for all their coaches.”