Volunteer finds warmth on ice

His choice added hours of extra-curricular activity to his already full schedule, which includes being captain of the football team, a member of the hockey and lacrosse teams, a staff member of the yearbook, a tutor to grade school pupils, and chairman of the community service committee, which guides students in developing leadership qualities.

A parishioner of St. Teresa of Avila Church in Albany, where he is a lector, Chris is a member of the diocesan Youth Ministry team and was one of six youths who attended the National Catholic Youth Conference last year. What Chris, now 18, decided to do was volunteer as a teen mentor to the Albany Cougars, a hockey team made up of people, 6-25, who are developmentally disabled.

Cougars

He enjoys his time volunteering and has discovered that the rewards for community service are great. "I find that I get much more from them than what I give them," he said.

"Life can be pretty tough for the people on the team," he added. "Most of them have never played the game, nor skated before. I admire them for making the effort to try something new."

Chris and friend

"I have a connection with every one of the players," he said, "but I feel the strongest for" Billy Freeman. "Every time I saw him, he would give me a hug and kiss and say, 'I love you.' I never knew that those three words could affect me so much.

Billy "is 19 and is like every other teenager: He argues with his parents, goes to school, plays sports. When I met him, he had just got his ear pierced."

Slip-slidin' away

"For most of that practice, he just glided, while the adult volunteer and I held onto him. When we started to skate fast, [Billy] broke out in a huge smile and yelled, 'Faster, faster!' Before long, just a couple of practices, he was skating by himself.

"That was the greatest sense of accomplishment I have ever experienced in my life. I actually taught someone else to do something!"

At the end of each Cougar practice, Chris sees "a look of despair on every kid's face because it's time to get off the ice. But then the coach reminds them that they can return next week, and their faces immediately light up in anticipation of that chance to skate again."

(The Cougars are part of the "Heart" Hockey League, founded in 1980 in Ottawa to build up the confidence, independence and self-esteem of the mentally challenged. See www.specialhockeyinternational.org for more information.)

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