Imagine taking your first steps in a new sport alongside some of the world\u2019s best. That is what happened in Mexico last week, when Mexican and Brazilian athletes beginning their journey on the ice had the opportunity to practice with female and male players from Canada and the United States under the guidance of international coaches.<\/p>\n
The first World Para Hockey (WPIH) Development Camp held in Latin America took place at the Pista de Hielo Santa Fe, outside Mexico City, from 21 to 25 May. The camp concluded with an exhibition game featuring mixed teams of participant athletes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is like a dream coming true. We are really proud to be part of the first Brazilian Para ice hockey team,\u201d said Wilson Trama, one of four Brazilian players at the camp, alongside Eliane Momesso, Yezza Santos Sousa and Denis Albert de Oliveira.<\/p>\n
Mexico was represented by 12 players identified to be part of a pilot programme. Others also came to try the sport for the first time on the final day of the camp following an open invitation shared on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people showed up, not only coming from Mexico City but from all over the country, and we\u2019re pretty sure they will fall in love with Para ice hockey,\u201d said Jorge Jimenez Galindo, Mexico Team Leader.<\/p>\n
Canada and the USA sent some of their most experienced players to the WPIH Development Camp, including five Paralympic medallists: USA\u2019s Ralph DeQuebec and Kevin McKee, and Canada’s Adam Dixon, James Dunn and Tyler McGregor.<\/p>\n
Dixon, who is also assistant coach of Canada\u2019s women\u2019s national team, mentored Team Mexico throughout the camp and joined local players for the exhibition game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put on display at the game the culmination of all the skills we learned this week,\u201d Dixon explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brazil took four athletes to the camp in Mexico. \u24b8COPAME<\/p>\n
Six players who competed in the inaugural Women\u2019s World Para Ice Hockey Championships last year in Slovakia also took part in the development camp: the USA\u2019s Erica McKee, Hope Magelky, Jamie Benassi, and Kelsey DiClaudio \u2013 who was nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards for her performance at Dolny Kubin 2025 \u2013 as well as Canada\u2019s Alanna Mah and Maggie Manning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a blast being able to share my passion for the game with so many incredible people! I can\u2019t wait to see what the future holds. It\u2019s so exciting seeing Para ice hockey continue to grow,\u201d DiClaudio posted on social media.<\/p>\n
The WPIH Development Camp was hosted by COPAME, Mexico\u2019s National Paralympic Committee (NPC). \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis camp represents an invaluable opportunity to learn from countries that are global references in this discipline and to adopt important technical tools and methodologies,\u201d said Miguel Angel Garcia Meza, President of NPC Mexico. \u201cWe want to thank all participant nations and World Para Ice Hockey for the first international camp held in our country. This initiative reflects the commitment to continue opening spaces for everyone, creating new opportunities and demonstrating that winter sports can also be developed in Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imagine taking your first steps in a new sport alongside some of the world\u2019s best. That is what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-464280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}