Sports
NHL-Sponsored, Affordable Hockey Program Returns To LIC
The $470 program price tag isn't cheap, but it includes 15 lessons and head-to-toe equipment, which usually costs thousands of dollars.
LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Kids in Long Island City can sign up to take hockey lessons with New York Islanders-affiliated coaches and former professional hockey players in Long Island City.
Learn to Play, a countrywide program sponsored by the National Hockey League (NHL), offers multiple weeks of hockey lessons and equipment to young hockey players between the ages of 4 through 9 who haven’t had formal lessons, although baseline skating skills are necessary.
The program aims to be an affordable option for new players, and while enrollment isn’t cheap — ranging from $440 to $470 in Long Island City for a 14- or 15-class season, respectively — the price tag pales in comparison to typical hockey costs, which include thousands of dollars worth of equipment and ice time.
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Also, kids who participate in Learn to Play lessons get to keep the equipment that they use — including an ice hockey stick and helmet, skates, pads, and gloves — which amounts to hundreds of dollars, if not more.
“We welcome children from all areas and LIC-ICE is easily accessible via public transport,” Lucia Grosek, who manages the indoor skating facility where Learn to Play takes place, told the LIC Post.
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LIC-ICE is located at 10-12 46 Road in Long Island City.
Now in its fifth year, Learn to Play told the LIC post that program demand has already “been huge” especially following last year’s season, when organizers could only offer spots to half as many kids as usual amid COVID-restrictions.
“It’s a product that’s extremely popular and we are thrilled to have it,” Grosek said.
The program runs separate summer and fall/winter courses, but the former is sold out at the Queens location (although you can join a waitlist or enroll in a course somewhere else in New York).
The Fall/winter course, which is not yet fully enrolled, will run in 14- or 15-week sessions from September through December.
Find out more about the New York-based Learn to Play program, including registration information, here, and LIC-ICE here.
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