Ice Hockey: Diversity profile -- The Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club

The Capitals aren't the only hockey club in Washington, D.C. The Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club is a member of the Diversity Task Force, and their home base is Washington, D.C.

The program began in 1977 when founder and current director Neal Henderson first began playing street hockey with his sons and several of his friends in the driveway of their home. When other neighborhood kids wanted to play, Henderson had an idea. Why not move the little street hockey game to an ice arena? Henderson spoke to the manager of the local ice arena, and the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club was born.

There are now 70 boys and girls enrolled in the program, which became a member of the DTF in 1996. Like other programs, the Fort Dupont club stresses hockey, education, leadership skills, dedication and self-reliance. Henderson likes to say, that "the Fort Dupont program builds character in many different ways."

He just may be right. Some of the graduates of the program have gone to the Naval Academy, U. of Massachusetts, and one is currently enrolled at Clemson University, where he is on the Clemson Tigers club hockey team.

While on the ice achievements are nice, it is what happens once the students have left the program that is most rewarding to Neal Henderson.