Since its inception the Ottawa HEROS chapter has been seeing double. Noeally and Thanny have confused volunteers and mentors a few times on the ice and it would be easy to do seeing as both girls are goalies and they are twins!
Each have been members of the Ottawa chapter since its very first day. Their mom, Tabatha, is proud that HEROS has helped incorporate sports and an active lifestyle into her daughters lives while also receiving mentorship from program volunteers, “I like the outdoors and outdoor sports and it was a bonus there was someone to mentor them, guide them, to teach them and follow the Canadian sport.” Beyond setting an active lifestyle Tabatha admires HEROS’ commitment to the players, “staff would just talk to players. If they had a question, even if it wasn’t about hockey, they would talk to them personally even issues with anything going on in their life.”
Before entering HEROS Noeally jokingly described herself and her sister as the strong silent type, “before we started hockey, we were anti-social, we wouldn’t socialize with anybody.” Their Mom even described the two as apprehensive to speak up for themselves. But the program, “helped us get out of our shells and be sociable. There were a lot of opportunities to trust people, build friendships, and develop leadership skills.” Tabatha took notice of the positive change in the girls, “It definitely brought them out of their shell. They began voicing opinions and reaching out if they needed help.” There newly developed confidence even produced some great sibling rivalry moments, competing against each other during shootout drills to see who could stop more pucks.
The two girls are the first set of high school graduates from the Ottawa chapter and are looking forward to embarking on the next stage in their life, post-secondary education. While understandably nervous about the transition, our mentors and volunteers at HEROS are excited about the bright future each of these young women has ahead.
While the sisters have graduated from both high school and HEROS their participation with HEROS is far from over. Both will transition to a mentorship role with the program this coming fall and are looking to help the younger kids who are shy and quiet just like they started. They will begin to teach the same HEROS pillars that they learned when they first began: Listening, Respect, Discipline and Having Fun! These pillars together create the HEROS atmosphere that allows our players to grow into upstanding young adults, and Noeally and Thanny are perfect examples of that.