Bowie Hockey Club Receives $10,000 From Washington Capitals, Partner

BOWIE, MD — The Bowie Hockey Club will receive $10,000 from the Washington Capitals and a partner charity — the Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation — to help boost diversity in hockey.

Bowie Hockey Club, Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Arena, George Mason University Ice Hockey Alumni Foundation, Navy Youth Hockey Foundation and Titans Youth Hockey are the nonprofits that will receive $10,000 each from the team’s Capital Impact Fund, according to a news release.

The organizations were selected by the Capitals based on their missions and impact toward diversity in hockey, as well as on their plans to use the money to further advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the sport, the team said.

The Bowie Hockey Club, established in 1971, has been providing quality hockey instruction to players ages 4 through 18 for more than 50 years. The club provides programs from instructional hockey for beginners to competitive travel teams, the news release said. The club’s recreational teams compete in the Capital Corridor Hockey League and travel teams play in the Chesapeake Bay Hockey League and Eastern Junior Elite Prospects League. The club also runs a spring hockey program and summer clinics.

Bowie Hockey Club will use the grant to support a deaf youth player who requires an American Sign Language interpreter on the ice. The player’s goal is to become the first Black deaf player in the NHL.

The player began Bowie’s Instructional/Learn to Play program as a 4-year-old and in 2021-22, participated in the organization’s 8U half ice travel program. This season, the player will move up to 10U and play full ice hockey. The grant will be used for the ASL Interpreter Service fees, as well as special equipment to use during games.

In addition, Bowie plans to field a girls' hockey team for the first time in 50 years to attract more female players to hockey, ensuring that there is a focus on recruiting BIPOC participants, and providing additional Instruction/Learn to Play and Try Hockey for Free programming. A portion of the grant will be used to cover costs including ice fees and jerseys.

In 2020 the Capitals and Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation created the Capital Impact Fund to provide grants to organizations that can assist in eliminating cost barriers faced by people of color in the hockey community. The Washington Capitals and MSE Foundation Capital Impact Fund Grant provides financial support to local nonprofit organizations dedicated to further advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in hockey.

The objective of the grant is to provide access to the sport in all forms and should concentrate on, but not be limited to: equipment, ice time, school programs, program fees and access to the game. The fund aims to help minority youth players reach their greatest potential and create more equal playing fields for all.