VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Dozens of kids are beating the summer heat in East Vancouver by heading indoors.
They've been chosen by the Vancouver School Board to be part of the week-long Hockey Education Reaching Out Society summer camp, or
H.E.R.O.S.
It's for children whose families might not be able to afford all the expensive hockey gear and it relies on donations and sponsors.
Founder
Norm Flynn says it's about starting from the ground up, "Putting them through hockey, introducing the game and just making them better citizens."
Briana Bryant, 11, has been skating since she was two and plays centre.
"My family really likes hockey and they watch it all the time and when I was a baby I watched it on the TV. I'd sit it my highchair and watch it," says Bryant.
Garrett Keshane watched closely as his 10-year-old, Joshua, threw on a jersey and suited up at the Britannia Ice Rick.
"He's really excited. I'm nervous myself for him... I'm pretty excited," says Keshane.
Joshua has been waiting a year to get into H.E.R.O.S. and is excited too.
"[To] learn more stuff to hockey and how to stop, too," he laughs.
Barb Aidelbaum is a hockey skating coach who puts the kids through their paces.
"So we'll run through the basics of skating and then try and progress through gliding, stopping, crossovers and all the movements necessary to play good hockey," she says.
H.E.R.O.S. also runs a hockey camp
in Ireland where Protestant and Catholics kids hit the ice together for a sport considered neutral.