"We are proud to have partnered with the Lightning over the last six years to equip more than 100,000 of Tampa's youth with street hockey gear to raise awareness of the game and teach children important life lessons," said Michael Gray, Tampa Market Director for Chase. "This facility will provide a first-class space where they can now train and play."
The Lightning Made Training Center will be home to the Lightning's Community Hockey Department, who have already moved their offices from AMALIE Arena to the facility. The center will host a wide variety of activities for all ages and skill levels, while teaching life lessons both on and off the ice. It will feature ball hockey clinics, as well as both youth and adult ball hockey leagues, a Boys and Girls Clubs after school program and be the host of the Lightning's Guide the Thunder program, which provides mentoring to 100 local students through ice and ball hockey, as well as physical fitness instruction.
Since 2015, the Lightning and Chase, in conjunction with the NHL and the NHL Players Association, have invested more than $6 million to grow the game of hockey and to teach life skills to youth throughout Tampa Bay. The Bolts' Community Hockey Department has distributed 8,522 Lightning-logoed sticks and balls to 42 Bay-Area schools this academic year. Since it's inception in 2015, they have visited 377 school, providing each one with a set of street hockey gear and teaching the game to 93,358 children who each received their own stick and ball. The program's five-year goal is to reach more than 100,000 local students. The Lightning Made Training Center will provide a place for these children to place to play the game of hockey.
For more information on the facility,
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