His older brother Braelyn, who plays for Delta Hockey Academy\u00a0U15\u00a0had a similar takeaway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really fun because I got to play on the big ice and I’m really excited to get that experience again,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cThere were a bunch of players that I’ve never met before.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Accustomed to being one of the few\u00a0Black\u00a0players on his team, the skate\u00a0offered a rare and powerful shift in perspective.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are more people of\u00a0colour\u00a0that play hockey [thank I thought] because usually when you’re playing hockey with your respective teams, it feels like you don’t see that as much,\u201d Braelyn said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derrick said the relationships built through the skate have extended beyond the ice in a single day, with families staying in touch\u00a0and their kids training together\u00a0with\u00a0Perry Kane, founder of\u00a0Spot\u00a0on\u00a0Hockey,\u00a0throughout the year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt impacted the relationships\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0built,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cThey made\u00a0friends, and they got\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to actually train with other kids\u00a0they wouldn\u2019t otherwise have met.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barbara says the\u00a0joy\u00a0her sons have for the game started at home, with Braelyn\u00a0taking a liking to it early on and Zakai was just keeping up with his brother.\u00a0Braelyn and Zakai\u00a0also\u00a0have older cousins that play hockey,\u00a0so\u00a0Derrick and Barbara would take them to watch\u00a0games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since Braelyn could walk, he was always carrying a ball and a stick with him, and we did watch a lot of hockey with my parents,\u201d Barbara said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like many parents, the\u00a0Nunleys\u00a0want to support what their children love.\u00a0This skate has provided reassurance that their sons can pursue that love in a space where\u00a0they\u00a0feel fully welcomed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Canucks\u00a0having\u00a0events like this\u00a0is\u00a0really beneficial for kids to feel welcome to a sport,\u201d Derrick said.\u00a0\u201cIt’s\u00a0hard because hockey is\u00a0a very competitive\u00a0sport, so that inclusiveness is\u00a0very important, especially for minority kids to feel welcomed and feel that openness. It can go a long way from them loving the game to them just giving up playing the game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brathwaite\u2019s vision of this skate going forward is to find more kids to attend every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to find these kids, have them come out,\u00a0and\u00a0provide the opportunity for more and more kids\u00a0like me\u00a0and\u00a0the kids that\u00a0are coming\u00a0out every year.\u00a0Hopefully\u00a0it expands to another level\u00a0every year,\u201d\u00a0Brathwaite said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Black Excellence Skate is opening doors to build confidence and ensure that every player who steps onto the ice can see a place for themselves in the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His older brother Braelyn, who plays for Delta Hockey Academy\u00a0U15\u00a0had a similar takeaway.\u00a0 \u201cIt was really fun because…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-505812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}