Floorball for All in Northgate

The puck, er, floorball drops every Wednesday at the James Baldwin Community Learning Center in the city’s Northgate neighborhood. The no-ice-required version of hockey is the newest addition to the center’s formidable curriculum aimed to support reading and math skills among second through fifth-graders with academic needs, plus enrich their young lives with new activities.

“On Mondays and Tuesdays, we do math and reading intervention, and Wednesdays and Thursdays are our enrichment days,” said Rebecca Brito, the center’s coordinator. “The intention is to give access to families that wouldn't have access to tutoring or enrichment if it wasn't available here at the school.”

The intention for floorball is to introduce a new sport to the kids and join a list of fun pursuits on the enrichment days, joining “clubs” offering yoga, robotics, Minecraft (age-appropriate video game of blocks, creatures and community), ceramics, slime art (kids will always be kids), board games, Pokemon (of course), sewing, computer programing, swimming and more.

The floorball program started in mid-February with equipment donated by One Roof Foundation and the Kraken and instructor/coach Will Tucker hired by the Foundation to teach both the sport and life lessons. Brito, a Seattle Parks and Recreation employee who has been a leader at the learning center since 2016, is both impressed and grateful to have Tucker on board.

“We've only been going for two weeks with the floorball,” said Brito. “But the kids are really excited. Will has been able to be super-engaging and enthusiastic. I can see already the interest and excitement around floorball. I love that he's building relationships with the kids. He is encouraging and positive about who needs what kind of encouragement to keep going.”

Brito said she takes laps around the James Baldwin Elementary building to check in daily with instructions and clubs. She likes the vibe and trends in the early floorball sessions.

“I see Will is keeping the kids interested and moving,” said Brito. “Even kids that I wasn't expecting to really love floorball have been really into it. Some kids might not seem to be sporty but Will is building that interest, which is so important.”

“I have two rules in my classes", said Tucker, who is part of Emerald City Floorball, an organization founded by Sal Ippolito. “I try to get it to be a participation thing. We don't move on until everybody else tells me the rules. Rule one is sticks down, you cannot bring your stick above your knee. Rule two is have fun.”

In early sessions, Tucker is looking to both make the kids feel part of the bigger hockey community and teach basics such as knowing the proper hockey position.

The overall message I have for the kids is to introduce them to the sport of hockey,” said Tucker, a Maryland native who has played street hockey over his childhood and adult life. “Floorball is awesome and played through the adult level as well. I like to use the terminology of hockey to get people and kids to realize that they are a part of the hockey community. We talk about if they know who the Kraken are and if they have a favorite player.”

As for foundational skills, all potential floorball and hockey players benefit from learning the hockey position: “We work on how to hold the hockey stick in both hands in the correct way and how to get down in the hockey stance [bending the knees is key]. Then we will move on to stickhandling, passing, and shooting. Then we work on going back and forth with the ball between their feet and learning how to carry a ball with them as they move.”

At the James Baldwin Center, Tucker stays aware of any students who might be frustrated. Sometimes it is the struggle of learning new skills or maybe the other team in a scrimmage is scoring way more.

“There are times when you take the whole squad to the side and pause the game for five or 10 minutes. I will say, ‘I need you kids to not quit, please do not quit. The only thing I’m gonna ask today is to finish the game. You will learn you didn’t really lose because you kept playing. ‘ “

Tucker says in that instance, the students have taken an important step toward the winning mentality: “Through this floorball program, we have an awesome opportunity to teach kids who haven’t played a lot of team sports not to give up.”

The James Baldwin Community Learning Center is operated by Seattle Parks and Recreation and funded by Seattle Parks and Recreation, the City of Seattle Families and Education Levy and the King County Best Starts for Kids Grant. The second- and third-graders get tutoring and mentoring in reading aptitude on Mondays and Tuesdays while the fourth- and fifth-graders upgrade their math skills. For Rebecca Brito, floorball is both a practical and natural addition to the program’s decade-old curriculum on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

“Exciting opportunities like floorball help motivate kids to come to school because they don't wanna miss out on access to their after-school clubs,” said Brito. “Automatically, we're helping with attendance."

Then there’s the natural decision to add floorball, said Brito: “Kids [in our sports club] are really obsessed with soccer. they love it so much ... Obviously, Seattle is a big soccer town and we want to support the love of soccer in the city. But now Seattle is a hockey town. We want to support that by bringing relevant programming here and being part of the city culture. It’s exciting to be connected to the sport and the Kraken.”