Our HEROS Coast to Coast series gears up for an exciting look into the Calgary chapter of our HEROS family.
Located in a hockey province through and through, HEROS and SuperHEROS in Calgary serves nearly 200 young people from a variety of backgrounds and communities, and is comprised of three different programs – each of which has been ignited by our Home-Ice Partners, the Flames Foundation.
For each of these three programs, the players’ hard work and positive attitudes go hand-in-hand with helmets and hockey sticks.
HEROS Forest Lawn
At HEROS Forest Lawn, we meet Program Lead Wyatt. Each week, Wyatt and the HEROS team ensure our Future Stars have a fun, safe environment, where they can learn and grow, all while enjoying the game of hockey.
Before becoming a program lead, Wyatt’s journey with the HEROS program began when he joined in the fourth grade as a HEROS player. “HEROS was always the best time. I couldn’t wait for Thursdays,” said Wyatt. “I dreaded the summer without hockey.” Volunteering throughout university, Wyatt made sure he fit HEROS into his schedule and part way through his studies he was selected to permanently lead the on-ice coaching for the Future Stars.
The transition according to Wyatt was made easy due to the mentors, leaders and coaches around him including HEROS Executive Director, Kevin Hodgson, and others who “made it easier for him to step in the role.”
“They also helped with the leadership, how to be a good coach. I took those skills and brought them for my team,” said Wyatt. “It’s doing pretty good, the way we run things in Calgary. We keep things to a routine, and we try to make our routine fun for the kids. It also makes it really easy for someone to step into the position if needed.” Each Future Stars session gets underway starting off with a bit of free time, followed by skating drills. “Because we’re coaching the younger group instead of the older group we really want to work on the skating, going forwards, going backwards, stopping, stuff like that,” said Wyatt. “We always like to incorporate a fun game, whether that is British Bulldog or [from the movie] Toy Story; we like to play “Where’s Andy?”. 
“The kids do drills and then if I say, “Andy’s coming,” they freeze on the ice and then drop down. After that we split them up into three groups. We work on some specializ ed skills and then if everything’s going smoothly, we play a game at the end of the ice,” explains Wyatt.
The moment the first whistle blows at the top of the hour (a signal for players to head to the middle of the rink for a team huddle and a quick briefing) until they end practice for the day, the primary goal is for each player to work on becoming better than when they arrived—which extends far beyond improving players’ on-ice technique. The management team strives to make sure that every kid leaves with a smile and confidence within themselves, regardless of how their morning might have unfolded. “When you’re on the ice with the kids…tying the skates, helping them with their equipment, on ice playing pass and just playing hockey with them, you can see firsthand the positive impacts that you create. If you can make a positive impact on a kid’s day, that’s what matters,” said Wyatt.
HEROS Bowness
Leading the team of volunteers at HEROS Bowness is a skill that Shannon, the Lead Volunteer Coordinator, excels in. Whenever she speaks about her role, she speaks with pride and understands just how important it is to show up for the community of Bowness. Currently in her tenth year with HEROS, Shannon earned her start as a volunteer and is now responsible for coordinating the weekly HEROS sessions for the HEROS Bowness team.
Shannon works off the ice, prepping and updating plans for the upcoming week.
Despite the behind-the-scenes tasks, Shannon is a friendly and familiar face that the HEROS Bowness players look forward to seeing during each practice. “I’m one of those people that sort of has hung around through the thick and thin of HEROS over the years since it’s a volunteer position. It’s a lot of cool, rewarding moments, and [the HEROS program] was a real eye opener for me,” said Shannon. “We have a pretty tight knit group of volunteers.” Shannon explains that the volunteer group in Bowness tries their best to ensure their players have the tools needed to navigate through challenges they may be experiencing in their day-to-day lives, by collaborating with the local families and schools within the HEROS community.
Similar to HEROS programs throughout Canada, HEROS Bowness partners with local law enforcement, social services, educational administrators, teachers, parents and families, to provide a comprehensive support system for its participants. “If somebody doesn’t feel that they can handle a situation, there’s a lot of collaboration that happens. We work really closely with the schools and the other organizations, and we follow up,” said Shannon.
So, who exactly are the HEROS players that play with the team in Bowness?
”We take referrals from a multitude of places, but we do like to work directly with the schools the most, because the whole idea is that kids get the support they need, and the schools we work with know these kids better than anyone”, said Shannon. Just like other HEROS cities across the country, by serving the young people that need HEROS the most in high priority communities, each program location becomes as unique as the players on the team.
As Shannon explains, the students come from all different backgrounds and have amazing stories to tell. The 2024-2025 season marked 11 seasons of HEROS Bowness, and thanks to the incredible consistency of the volunteers, who show up at the rink every week, Shannon and the HEROS Bowness chapter have been seeing the positive impact of the program firsthand.
There are players who, once too shy to ask for their skates to be tied, are now enthusiastically taking the opportunity to strike up a conversation with their teammates and coaches. They talk about how their day went, their friends, what they’ve done at school, and anything else they can think of. As someone who believes in the value of giving back, even though she isn’t a hockey player and rarely skates, Shannon does make it a habit to skate on the ice once a year with the kids. “They still look forward to it because lots of them start off with not being able to skate,” said Shannon. “By the time that I get on the ice, by the end of the year they can skate better than me and they love it. Some of them will hold my hands and help me skate and then others will just laugh at me. They get a lot of mileage out of the fact that I don’t skate.” 
Seeing the growth and progression of the players at the start of season to the end of the season is one of many things Shannon likes the most about being part of an organization like HEROS. Volunteering with HEROS, Shannon and the team actively engage with the Bowness area. Their commitment and pride for their community is essential in the success of their HEROS Bowness chapter. Forest Lawn HEROS and Bowness HEROS demonstrate that while coaching and programming styles may differ, both chapters are passionate about the work they do to create a welcoming and caring environment for their neighbourhoods.
Be sure to subscribe to Along the Boards to follow along the rest of our HEROS: Coast to Coast series. Next up – Calgary SuperHEROS!