They come to play hockey, but many can't afford the skates, sticks or uniforms.

        Each Saturday, at the Cincinnati Gardens Mighty Ducks Skating Center in Roselawn, some 20 to 30 boys and girls gather from throughout the Tristate. A small army of volunteers for a youth program outfits them with used gear.

        “Some of our best athletes are kids on the streets who can't afford” to play in organized leagues, said Chris Cheatham, team president.

Phil Angus of Hyde Park teaches Carla Freese, 7, (right) of Milford how to play hockey during Hockey K.I.D.S. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        “I've got people from both ends of the economic scale; kids who fit the minority category, girls, blacks, a Kuwaiti ... people with handicaps.”

        Everyone gets a uniform, as well as a helmet and stick. Everyone gets coached, even those who can't pay the $40-a-season fee.

        The youngsters look the same under all that gear.

        “The little ones are so fun. ... It's so important that they look like a real hockey player,” said Mary Sizemore, a Loveland parent and volunteer, as she tied on kids' gloves and skates before a recent practice. .

        Some of the players are barely taller than their jerseys. A few were skating on wobbly ankles or taking their first swipes at a puck.

        Jasmine Griffin, a 12-year-old from Mount Carmel, was on the ice for only her second time. As she walk-skated into position, her ankles bowed inward and she held onto the rink's boards.

        Jasmine said her brothers, Marcus and Kevin, 6 and 9, dared her to join their team.

        “I don't really trust them,” she said, smiling. “They just want to see me fall so they could laugh.”

        It was her mother's vote that mattered.

        “Girls can do anything they put their mind to, despite what the boys say,” Jasmine recalled.

        Another dozen kids on the other side of the rink were veterans, briskly zig-zagging through their drills.

        Mary Sizemore's daughter, Maegan, was one of them. The lanky 12-year-old sported braces, earrings and an assertive attitude, complaining she was ready for a real game.

        But her mother urged patience and then whispered as an aside: “This game is great for girls like her. ... It makes her feel more powerful and tough.”

        Maegan feels confident off the ice, too. Maegan, who is white, feels comfortable around all races of kids from all kinds of backgrounds.

        She also feels a part of a team, even if some view them as hockey's misfits, she said; on a suburban team, she'd probably be the only girl.

        Mrs. Cheatham and her husband, Jack, founded Hockey K.I.D.S. (for Kids In Dire Straits) with one of their teen-age son's coaches who had been trying to teach needy kids to play. That's how it started in 1997. Now, with support from the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, the USA Hockey Diversity Task Force, and others, Hockey K.I.D.S. has more than doubled the number of children it serves.

        The program emphasizes education, with each player signing a promise to maintain attendance and grades, and volunteers agreeing to mentor and tutor players off ice. At every practice coaches ask if the week's schoolwork is finished.

        Quite a few parents donate money and time. Douglas Sloan proudly attends nearly all his son Darryl's practices.

        “I'd rather go to a hockey rink to pick him up than to a justice center,” he said.

        For more information or to join or volunteer: 956-4390

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