Dear Titans Families,
We are still waiting for our home rink Fort Dupont Ice Arena to open. We are checking regularly with the rink, which has a reopening plan and is waiting for approval from city officials to officially open its doors.
As you can imagine, when FDIA opens, it won’t be an ordinary season. Covid remains a major risk. Many Titans families and coaches are unable to take the risks inherent in participating. However, we believe that getting kids on the ice, practicing alongside friends, and having fun, is important, so we will have a smaller, limited season for families that are able to participate in on-ice activities. To reduce the risks of exposure, there will be no league games or jamborees. It will be a year of hunkering down, in-house, and focusing on basic hockey skills.
As soon as the rink opens, we will post registration, with details of what our program will be like.
Until then, stay well, stay safe, and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
GO TITANS!
The Titans Board
Dozens of Titans players and parents gathered at the farm behind Fort Dupont Ice Arena on Monday, Jan 20, for our annual MLK Service day event! They wielded hoes and weeded plant beds, and helped staffers from our nonprofit partner DC Urban Greens prepare for this year's spring planting. DCUG provides produce for residents in DC's food deserts. It was a chilly day, but warm inside the hothouses, and after all the hard work, the Titans-turned-gardeners were treated to Coach Meaux's famous hot nutella crepes. Big thanks to the wonderful staff at DC Urban Greens, and thanks to all the Titans who turned out! If anyone has additional photos, please send them so we can add them to this gallery!
CCHL Cup Division IV Championship Game came down to a Clash of the Titans, our 10U Blue v 10u Silver teams!
Titans 10u Blue team takes the CCHL Division IV Title! Congrats to all the players who were led through this season by Head Coach Ryan Smith. Go Titans!
Titans PeeWee Anthony Diallo was MVP of the game in Hershey and was interviewed on the ice before the Bears game that evening. The Hagerstown Bulldogs generously invited the Titans 10u and 12U to play a friendly at the famous rink, and the teams stayed to watch a Hershey Bears match.
Thank you to all the Titans who participated in our MLK Day service event! Despite the freezing cold temperatures and the postponement of our outdoor project with DC Urban greens, dozens of Titans and their families came to Fort Dupont on Jan 21 to assemble one hundred walking food bags for our DC neighbors who are homeless. Big thanks to David Wolf, of Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington and Martha Wolf, of Miriam’s Kitchen (our benefiting partner organizations) who organized and will distribute the food bags. SPECIAL THANKS to our Founder and Coach Emeritus Willy Meaux who came with his crepes, and his huge Titans spirit. Lines for his crepes were out the door! We also received several donations from Titans families who couldn't make it - you were still part of the day and helped to make this happen. GO TITANS!
As we approach the holidays, don’t forget your favorite hockey team! The Titans have launched a major fundraising campaign designed to keep our program strong.
Our goal was to keep this simple. We are asking every Titans family to contribute $25— just use the PayPal button below! Our goal is to raise $2,000 by the end of November.
Please encourage grandparents, aunties, neighbors, friends and colleagues to give—and don’t forget to put the campaign on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and all your social channels. Together, we can make our goal!
The Titans V1 team was playing a game when WUSA9 came to the rink to do a story after Blackhawks fans hurled racial insults at Caps forward Devante Smith-Pelly. Other fans wanted to make up for the hurtful incident, so Smith-Pelly steered them to to Fort Dupont, which took in more than $20,000 in donations. Watch our middle schoolers in action, and Lawrent Chinakhwe being interviewed!
The Georgetown Titans were in trouble. Their goalie was sick, and they had no backup to face the Hagerstown Bulldogs at their Maryland rink. But Leopold Hylton stepped up. He'd never played goalie before. Heck, he'd never even worn the huge pads or held that mighty stick before. But his team needed help, and he would be the one to do it.
Norwich has sent its kids to the Olympics while largely rejecting the hypercompetitive joy-wringing culture of today’s achievement-oriented parents. In Norwich, kids don’t specialize in a single sport, and they even root for their rivals. Parents encourage their kids to simply enjoy themselves because they recognize that more than any trophy or record, the life skills sports develop and sharpen are the real payoff. The town’s approach runs counter to the widespread belief — propagated by those perpetuating the professionalized youth sports complex — that athletic excellence and a well-balanced childhood cannot coexist."
Tore Ovrebo, director of elite sports in Norway, says that "in Norway, organized youth sports teams cannot keep score until they are 13. “We want to leave the kids alone,” says Ovrebo. “We want them to play. We want them to develop, and be focused on social skills. They learn a lot from sports. They learn a lot from playing. They learn a lot from not being anxious. They learn a lot from not being counted. They learn a lot from not being judged. And they feel better. And they tend to stay on for longer.”
Wondering whether we can still find grace and honor anywhere around Washington? Yes, you can. It was on full display Sunday afternoon at a hockey rink.
Major thanks to the local businesses that support us!