“Coach Sarah” Dunkel-Jackson of Howell is one of three U.S finalists for The Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award of the National Hockey League.
Named for Willie O’Ree, the first Black player in the NHL, the award recognizes individuals who have had a positive effect on their community, culture, or society, through the game of hockey. Dunkel-Jackson is nominated for her program, Hockey Challenge Camp, which is for kids with special needs; the program provides those who share a passion for hockey or who want to learn how to play to do so in an accessible and safe space geared toward their own learning styles.
The winner will be selected by O’Ree, 89, who was a winger for the Boston Bruins, along with votes from the public, and executives of the NHL and Discover, which presents the award.
“At registration, we learn from families about how best to support their child,” Dunkel-Jackson said. “My team of awesome community members, who have experience supporting kids with disabilities, and I come up with plans to safely support our players as they have fun with their buddies.”
Hockey Challenge Camp is an extension of Dunkel-Jackson’s first program: Baseball Challenge League, which provides those same kids with the opportunity to participate in a baseball league. A few components of Baseball Challenge League were adapted to fit Hockey Challenge Camp, including a buddy program, which Dunkel-Jackson explains is “an evidence-based peer-to-peer program that I adapted for each sport.”
Hockey Challenge Camp will be entering in its third season starting in August, and Baseball Challenge League will be entering its fifth season in the fall. Participants currently range from age 7 to adult.
Dunkel-Jackson expresses her excitement about the nomination and now being a finalist, and is grateful for the opportunity to showcase all the hard work she and her community members put into Hockey Challenge Camp.
“I really want folks to know that hockey and [all] sports are for everyone,” she said.
Much of her inspiration for initially starting the programs came from her own experience with playing sports. No matter which sport she was in — softball, lacrosse, and more —she always believed that sports are for everyone. That same mindset led to the acronym S.A.F.E., which Dunkel-Jackson considers the foundation of her programs, Sports Are For Everyone.
“It literally just came out of me writing about it,” Dunkel-Jackson said, “I knew we were doing baseball and hockey, so I just wanted to generalize it to sports.”
With the multiple teams within Hockey Challenge Camp becoming a success, Dunkel-Jackson is currently in the works to create more adaptable sports programs in an effort to ensure all sports can become accessible to everyone. But she is not at it alone. With much support coming from the Howell Area Junior Baseball Association (HAJBA), The Arc Livingston, sponsors, and community members’ donations, Dunkel-Jackson has a whole team on land helping to support her team on ice.
“Some of the buddies [from the buddy programs] I have now promoted to assistant coaches because they are really good, or they graduated and they want to keep coming back and supporting [us],” Dunkel-Jackson said.
Her husband, friends, and community members have varying backgrounds in the fields of special education and health, so they are well-equipped to work with the players to ensure that their experiences are limited only by their imaginations.
The new season of Hockey Challenge Camp will take place Aug. 4-6 at Biggby Coffee Ice Cube, 10540 Citation Drive in Brighton, and Aug. 7 at Michigan State University’s Munn Ice Arena, 509 Birch Road in East Lansing.
To get involved with Hockey Challenge Camp as a participant or a volunteer, fill out this form to pre-register for the new season.
Voting for The Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award ends on May 25th. Click here to vote for Coach Sarah and the Hockey Challenge Camp.
