Rahimi likes the initiative of Växjö Lakers

The ice hockey club Växjö Lakers has started a new project. The association, together with the company Sport Utveckling Sweden AB, gives children born in 2012 and 2013 the opportunity to try ice hockey for free during two seasons.

The participants in Lakers Hockey Stars, also gets a complete ice hockey equipment.

The goal is to give more people the opportunity to try out the sport. The club hopes that hockey will be spread to more groups in the society.

A-team player Daniel Rahimi praises the initiative.

– I think it is absolutely amazing. Much is about getting the chance to try it out and to feel it. It usually leads to the feeling that something is fun and then you continue, he says.

Daniel Rahimi has his own experience of how good ice hockey can serve as a tool of integration. His father originally came from Iran and did not really know anything about the sport before Daniel started playing.

– He did not mind and it became a whole new world that opened up for him. He became very engaged and began to watch a lot of hockey. Now he's not just watching my games, he is generally interested in the sport.

In general, ice hockey can certainly be a very good tool of integration for the whole family. Parents whose children play meets other parents in the stands, in the dressing room or outside the ice hall.

– You should not be afraid of something that is different or something that you do not know much about. Hockey is a nice environment, it may require parents to be present but is also a great way to integrate with other parents and leaders.

Do you think many people with immigrant backgrounds find it hard to get into the "hockey world"?

– The difficulty may be in knowledge: how to get involved because the hockey is a quite complex sport. With both equipment such as sticks and skates and to orient themselves in it. That is exactly why I think the Lakers project is a good way to make it easier.

– I generally think that, at both boys and youth levels, hockey does not only develop players but also people positively.

Have you missed something like Lakers Hockey Stars earlier?

– Yes, and I have previously talked about accessibility. How to create more opportunities. This example is almost too good to be true. In many places it may be enough to have an ice surface and that there are skates to borrow. Lakers took this one step further.