NATURAL SOUND - COACH HENDERSON
"Way to go. That's it."

NARRATOR
On the practice ice, his voice is ever present.

NATURAL SOUND - COACH HENDERSON
"Good - way to go.

NARRATOR
Coaching, guiding, encouraging, and if needed, scolding.

NATURAL SOUND - COACH HENDERSON
"You know what happened there don't you? You weren't watching the puck; you were watching the player. Shoot, shoot, shoot."

NARRATOR
Neil Henderson, coach to the kids, is a man of seemingly boundless energy… all aimed at one goal - to bring the predominately white sport of ice hockey to his predominately black community in Washington D.C.

NATURAL SOUND - COACH HENDERSON
"Good work, good work."

COACH HENDERSON
"I never thought of it being as black kids not being able to do this. I was never told I wasn't able to do anything."

NARRATOR
Neil Henderson learned the game growing up in Canada. In the mid-seventies, after moving to Washington D.C., he started his own team. Since then, he's coached hundreds of players, sending many to college and beyond.

NATURAL SOUND - COACH HENDERSON
"Close, open, close, open."

NARRATOR
In the '90s, the U.S. National Hockey League took notice, eventually asking Coach Henderson to help lead a diversity task force to increase black participation and understanding of the game; to lead kids away from the black top of basketball, to the white ice of hockey. The transition was not always easy.

NATURAL SOUND - COACH HENDERSON
"That's icing. That's icing. Didn't I tell you, you had to carry the puck out? Just don't bang it, it's not a baseball.

COACH HENDERSON
"He's got a pair of skates on, which is foreign to the body. He's got equipment on that is foreign to the body. He's has to move with the flow of an object that can move faster than his hand. He has to see where he's going. He has to know what the other person is doing. So it teaches him mental discipline as well as physical discipline."

NATURAL SOUND - COACH HENDERSON
"I think we had a good practice tonight guys."

NATURAL SOUND
Drums playing

NARRATOR
Morgan Tanner is a typical teenager. He likes to play the drums. He plays basketball and football. But above all he plays hockey.

MORGAN TANNER
"When I tell them I play hockey, they usually start laughing and stuff like that… 'Hey hockey boy' and stuff like this. I find it funny sometime too, but I figure it's a way, another thing, that puts me on top of them."

NARRATOR
Like many of the youngsters, he came to the team not really knowing what to expect.

COACH HENDERSON
"In the beginning, it's a little difficult because they are so used to, 'I and me.' But as the season goes on it becomes, 'us and we.' "

MORGAN TANNER
"Well, my coach is like one of those adults, like another father… another parent to you. He's pretty nice to get along with. He taught me a lot about hockey and other things too."

NARRATOR
On game day, everyone has their own responsibility, but none more than Coach Henderson. He becomes everything from the equipment manager, to the waterboy, to a Father Confessor, overseeing every detail, doing anything it takes to get his team ready and focused.

NATURAL SOUND - COACH HENDERSON
"And let us be true in what we are doing. Let us come out a winner. Amen. Let's roll.

COACH HENDERSON
"Some of these kids are the adults in the families. So they have to learn to take orders from me because I tell them I am closer to them that a schoolteacher is. Because I can go up and put my arm around them or bang one against the boards. A teacher can't put their hands on a child. They can't show the concern I show for a child."

NARRATOR
Today, Neil's team, Fort Dupont, is playing the Cardinals… a team from the Maryland suburbs.

COACH HENDERSON
"Hockey is a tool. It's a tool to show that you can respect people, that you can work together on a job as a team. It shows you that even though you are working against diverse situations, that you have a chance to think and use your skills that you have to keep motivated and maintain a direction in life. It is a very good tool to use."

NARRATOR
Fort Dupont jumped out to a quick lead. Eventually that lead grew to five goals! A seemingly insurmountable number, but then the tide began to turn. In the end, the Cardinals came back. Coach Henderson's team barely held on to a tie.

It would be a moral victory against the heavily favored Cardinals, but a disappointment none the less. They had let the victory get away.

With the game, came more exposure for hockey to the black community. But for the coach, as he says, 'it's just a tool,' a way to get at a larger, more important goal.

COACH HENDERSON
"If you practice well, and you make your plans well, and you do your best, chances you'll be winner. But I'm interested, namely, in seeing that these children win in other ways. Winning is not always just a score."

NARRATOR
Steve Frank, VOA-TV.