Roman Josi and Nashville Predators Give Back to the Youth of the Community
It goes above anything in the standings when you give back to the local community and make an impact on the kids who look to NHL players as role models.
By Chad Minton
Everyone loves a big win in the standings, but a win off the ice that impacts the local community is where the real wins are and that's what the Nashville Predators and Roman Josi did on Monday at Ford Ice Center for local youth.
The program is called CORE (Creating Opportunities for Racial Equity), a program that is free and founded by Bridgestone and the Nashville Predators to create more equitable access to the sport of hockey.
Youth hockey has grown at an enormous rate since the Predators came to Nashville in 1998, but it's still not accessible to all of the youth. Making more access to the local youth to play this beautiful sport is an amazing program that Josi and the Predators are involved in.
Doing a @PredlinesNSH piece on Roman Josi & #Preds joining CORE program on Monday for Nashville's youth having more access to hockey.
— Chad Minton (@chad_minton) March 19, 2024
What an amazing story. Posting the full story in a few. That is what Captains are truly made of. Helping the local community. 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/OJMDNSyghe
Josi talked to the local media about the importance of youth sports and making new friends and his experiences learning hockey, per News 2 WKRN and the Nashville Predators official website.
""Just so many cool memories when I started playing hockey and first time playing team sport and you meet a lot of new friends. So it's pretty cool for them to get going and get started.""
- Roman Josi on CORE Program in Nashville
In his interview with local media, Josi also talked about the importance of not giving up, learning the sport young, and that difficultly most with learning how to stake early on.
This is a free, six-week long program for kids ages five to nine-years-old and focuses on basic skating fundamentals and hockey skill introduction. Giving local kids the chance to be introduced to a new sport and meet the world's best defenseman in the process?? A win win scenario.
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Another awesome part of this is the players have the chance to enroll in three free seasons of youth hockey at the Ford Ice Center. Nearly 200 kids have already participated in the Ford Ice Center youth events since 2021.
This is the stuff that inspires you and makes you so happy to see the Nashville Predators and what they have built since 1998. Everyone gets focused on playoff wins and goals, but what the Predators franchise has done for the Nashville community in a positive way cannot be measured.
Josi is a true captain both on and off the ice. He's an awesome role model for youth hockey players. He's not just a Norris Trophy player on the ice, but what he does off the ice is what really matters for the Nashville community.
Giving kids from all communities the chance to play hockey, make friends and meet their role models like Josi is the ultimate win that can't be accomplished on the ice. Thank you to Josi and the Nashville Predators organization for making this event happen.