DETROIT — The Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan’s (BGCSM) Lloyd H. Diehl Club was bustling with hockey action for the youth of Detroit on Wednesday afternoon.
On one end of the building, energetic kids learned the basics of floor hockey and enjoyed one-on-one lessons from Detroit Red Wings players. On the other end, kids got to play the NHL ’22 video game against more Red Wings players in a state-of-the-art Esports Lounge modeled after the Red Wings locker room.
The unveiling of a brand-new Esports Lounge, along with a Little Caesars pizza party and live DJ, highlighted the exciting ribbon-cutting event in northwest Detroit, as the Detroit Red Wings Foundation and The Children’s Foundation continued their investment in the career and entrepreneur pipeline for youth through a $300,000 donation.
As a core component of the Red Wings’ groundbreaking Learn, Play, Score platform, which began with a $1 million investment to grow and expand access to hockey across Detroit, the lounge at the Lloyd H. Diehl Club is the first of three Esports Lounges being built at BGCSM locations in 2022 to benefit hundreds of metro Detroit youth on year-round basis.
«What makes Esports + Hockey so unique within the Learn, Play, Score ecosystem is that it offers year-round opportunities for metro Detroit youth to explore an innovative cross-section of esports, gaming and hockey,» said Ilitch Sports + Entertainment director of community impact Kevin Brown. «Powerful partnerships have led our work from day one; proudly continuing through this exciting new program with Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan and The Children’s Foundation.»
Including the initial Red Wings Esports Lounge, which was installed at the Dick & Sandy Dauch Club in west Detroit in 2020, a total of five Esports Lounges will be accessible and feature Esports + Hockey programming by the end of this year at BGCSM locations in metro Detroit.
The Diehl location will be a hub for upcoming Esports tournaments and leagues across the BGCSM Esports + Hockey network. The space will also become a hotspot for neighborhood gatherings, corporate events and more.
BGCSM President & CEO Shawn Wilson said he was blown away by Wednesday’s unveiling event.
«Today’s event is two years in the making. Here we are cutting the ribbon on a second Esports Lounge, which is world-class and beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined when we started this partnership,» Wilson said. «You see the smiles on the kids’ faces and the energy in the room, and you know this is a place they’re going to want to come to every single day. The environment here today is just electrifying.»
With the help of Red Wings players Alex Nedeljkovic, Givani Smith, Vladislav Namestnikov and Troy Stecher, more than 30 BGCSM youth members were also introduced to Street Hockey in the D: Club Sessions on Wednesday as part of the Learn, Play, Score platform.
Youth members began learning and playing floor hockey in the gym at Diehl, with the goal of Club locations eventually competing against each other for a seasonal title.
Nedeljkovic said he was excited to be part of Wednesday’s event as the Red Wings continue efforts to provide access to hockey for Detroit youth.
«It’s huge. We’re trying to grow the game, and everybody should get an opportunity to play, whether it’s floor hockey, Esports or getting on the ice,» the Red Wings goalie said. «Any way you can grow the game helps a lot, especially for kids who don’t normally have a chance to play. «Kids look up to you and it’s great that we can share our great sport and grow the game this way. Hopefully this is a building block for kids to come to learn to play the game.»
And while growing the game is a crucial aspect of the Learn, Play, Score platform, Wilson said BGCSM’s partnership with the Red Wings is about much more than hockey. He said the Esports Lounge and the floor hockey program are building blocks to help children in metro Detroit achieve lifetime success.
«At the end of the day, our mission is about economic mobility,» Wilson said. «Esports Lounges like this give us a hook to get kids in the door so we can expose them to all those different components of career and entrepreneurship. Once you get them here, you can introduce them to gaming, but you also teach them to build their own games, how to monetize their brand as a gamer and all those other components.»
According to Wilson, even the exposure to the construction of the Esports Lounge and the setup for the event could have an immense effect on a child’s career perspective, and that’s one of the things he appreciates most about the partnership with the Red Wings and The Children’s Foundation.
«I love this collective impact of the Boys & Girls Clubs, The Children’s Foundation, the Detroit Red Wings all coming together. It really shows the power that you can have when you come together around a common focus,» he said. «Youth have seen the rooms being set up for the press conference, they’ve seen the construction of the physical space. That’s exposure.
«You never know what sticks in a young person’s mind. When you find your passion, you’re drawn to it. This partnership really is having that impact, which is going to go long-term. We’re building a relationship with the Red Wings at every level. That’s where the power and the impact comes in.»
Matt Freidman, a trustee of The Children’s Foundation, echoed Wilson’s appreciation of the partnership between these three impactful organizations.
«By working with the Red Wings and the Boys & Girls Clubs, we have created these facilities that can bring kids together and allow them to be healthy, to learn something and to have fun,» Friedman said. «That is a powerful combination that makes a real difference in kids’ lives, and we would’ve never been able to do that unless we worked with the Red Wings and the Boys & Girls Clubs.»
Friedman said none of this would be possible, however, without the help of the Hockeytown faithful.
«I really would like to thank the generous donors who buy a scoreboard message at Red Wings games at Little Caesars Arena, because it’s through those donations that we were able to do this,» he said. «If not for those messages, we might not have a program like this. Red Wings fans, you helped make this happen.»
For more information on the Red Wings’ Learn, Play, Score program, visit DetroitRedWings.com/LearnPlayScore.
For more information on all the wonderful work of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, visit BGCSM.org.
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