Hello everyone, I am Giselle from The Ice Garden, and today’s story is an update on Sarah Thompson, whom I wrote about back in April for TIG. Thompson was part of a series I did on the Hockey Humanitarian Award finalists, as she was named a finalist for the award for the third straight year.
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I caught up with Thompson this week to see how things are going with her organization, Sticks Together, how she is doing post-university, and what a trip to Kenya with her alma mater, St. Lawrence, taught her.
On April 11, former St. Lawrence forward and graduate student Sarah Thompson won the Hockey Humanitarian Award for her work through her non-profit, Sticks Together. The award is given to a student-athlete in college hockey who makes significant contributions to their team and their community through leadership in volunteerism.
Sticks Together is a non-profit that now aims to “use hockey as an entry point to build meaningful connections with communities and empower children through the joy of sport,” according to the site. Thompson started the organization in 2022 while attending Syracuse University and takes yearly trips to new parts of the world to bring hockey and connection to its participants.
Sticks Together has taken a trip every year to a new part of the world to bring hockey to new places and create connections with communities. The 2024 trip was to the Philippines, and the first trip ever in 2022 was to Argentina.
This year was different.
Thompson, St. Lawrence’s women’s hockey staff and 18 members of the team embarked on a trip to Kenya in June. The trip was funded by a private donation to the women’s hockey team, and head coach Chris Wells was allowed to use the funds as he saw fit. The trip to Kenya was viewed as a chance for the team to learn about a new culture and create a tradition of having the Saints women’s hockey team take a trip like this every four years.
“[This trip] changed my perspective a lot,” Thompson told The Ice Garden. “I appreciated the cultural exchange aspect of it. That’s something I want to carry into my next trip.”
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Thompson mentioned that the trip to Kenya changed her viewpoint on life and volunteerism. Though this wasn’t a Sticks Together trip, Thompson still wanted to include some of what she does on her trips and wanted to learn about the people around her in Kenya.
The St. Lawrence team visited the Mathare Youth Sports Association in Nairobi, a non-profit organization that uses soccer as a way to create educational opportunities. The attendees played soccer with the participants there and enjoyed spending time with them as well. It was something Thompson loved taking part in and wants to add to her future visits. She also wants to work closely with the Kenya Ice Lionesses, the only women’s and girls’ hockey organization in Kenya.
“The goal when I go back there is to do something similar, but more hockey programming with the Kenyan Ice Lions,” Thompson said. “Something I didn’t do a lot in my other trips was learn all day about their culture. I want to meet in the middle and have a nice balance on the next trip where I get to teach hockey, but we also learn a ton about their culture, and also play their sports.”
Another special aspect for Thompson was doing house visits. Small groups would spend an entire day with a Kenyan family on their farm and in their home. Everyone was welcoming and eager to show off their space to the visitors. The locals had a certain number of chairs and food on hand to be prepared to host guests, which Thompson found interesting, given that she doesn’t think she would be as eager to suddenly host strangers in her home. She also loved seeing how everyone was self-sustained and grew their own vegetables and had their own farm animals.
“The idea of being able to host is a privilege. … They talk about how they have to have a certain amount of chairs and a certain amount of food to offer. … It’s a good place to be able to host people and teach them the culture,” Thompson said. “I thought that was special and something I hope to implement more in my life and in that helping people and guiding them, and offering leadership.”
While in Kenya, Thompson reached out to the Kenya Ice Lions, the country’s ice hockey organization, and talked to them about what she was doing with Sticks Together. It turned out to be the perfect opportunity for Sticks Together to lend a hand to the Ice Lionesses in new and different ways.
First, it will sponsor ice time for the team. Ice time costs about $160 CAD and is the team’s biggest expense. The sponsorship will guarantee access to the rink over the next nine months. The second sponsorship is a new campaign that supports the girls outside of hockey. Sticks Together is raising money to pay for school fees, supplies, and provide tutoring and literacy programs. It will also provide essential life skills such as first aid training and leadership development.
For Thompson, these two means of supporting the Ice Lionesses are in line with her mission and goal of supporting global girls’ hockey and using hockey as a pathway to provide education and leadership. The immense dedication Thompson puts into helping other communities blossomed out of her own opportunities from her time as a hockey player.
“Hockey was the reason I was able to go to the United States for an education on a full scholarship,” Thompson said. “The amount of opportunities I’ve gotten from that, like internships, jobs, connections to the NCAA community … if it wasn’t for hockey, I wouldn’t have all these opportunities.”
Thompson said the ultimate goal would be for the Ice Lionesses to get to a place where girls playing for the team can also have their education fully funded, thus creating a connection between the sport and education. Though the plan isn’t there yet, Thompson said she is working out details and ideas to hopefully reach that point.
She added she’s always thinking of what’s next, and she’s happy with what she has been able to accomplish so far after her trip to Kenya. Having set up long-term help for the Ice Lionesses is something she is proud of, because it’s a continuous support system instead of something that is only done when she is there in person, and this helps keep that connection and make a greater impact. Thompson said she is planning another trip to Kenya this time with Sticks Together and hopes to be able to get on the ice with the Lionesses and see the improvement they have made.
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Since Thompson won the award, Sticks Together has continued to grow. The organization recently updated its mission and now has a full team, including former pro Saroya Tinker, the PWHL’s Manager of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives & Community Engagement. Thompson said it was important to have a team so they can lean on each other for resources and to have a team that believes in the organization’s mission. It will also help with approaching sponsors, as Thompson said having a full team instead of one person helps show the commitment others have already made to Sticks Together.
When asked what hockey means to Thompson, she said, “Everything.”
The community aspect of the sport and the chance for opportunity are parts that stand out to her. It is also the memories she’s made. All the best ones have come from growing up and being around hockey. There is also the friendships and relationships she’s built from the sport, and the opportunity to study at university while also playing hockey. She’s also working in the sport as the Director of Partnerships with the Third Generation Sports agency, where she mostly works alongside PWHL players.
“It is a core piece of my identity and who I am,” Thompson said. “[I’m] not just a hockey player, but someone that is very proud to be a part of the hockey community and wants to continue to be, whether that’s by giving back through Sticks Together or representing PWHL players and helping grow the women’s game or coaching my future little kids. I have no idea where I would be without it.”
The future is bright for Thompson and Sticks Together. As she continues to grow her non-profit and be a guiding light in the world of hockey, the future is also bright for all of the individuals who continue on with the Sticks Together mission: using hockey as an entry point to build connections within communities.
You can learn more about Sticks Together here and learn more about the sponsorship of the Kenya Ice Lionesses here.
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