Robert and the Ice Lions

In 2018, Latter-day Saint Robert Opiyo was a member of the sole ice hockey club in East-Central Africa, the Kenya Ice Lions. There were fewer than 30 ice hockey players in Kenya, and 17 of them (15 men and 2 women) were official members of the Ice Lions team.

Robert used the skills he learned on his mission in Melbourne, Australia, to help coordinate the team’s training regimen and manage the team’s social media accounts.

The Ice Lions trained at a hotel ice rink that was two-thirds the size of a regulation ice hockey rink. In October 2018, the team was sponsored to travel to Toronto, Canada, to play against two recreational Canadian teams.

Prior to their first match in Toronto, they trained without a goalkeeper. In a news interview in Toronto, the Ice Lions’ captain explained: “We didn’t have goalie equipment, and nobody can take that risk to be a goalie without the proper gear. So, what we used to do was set up a rubber toy penguin and we used to put it at the center of the goal and to score you had to hit the penguin above the belly.”

Robert dreams of the Olympics someday but is also content to be part of this pioneering endeavor. “Slowly by slowly more people hear about our desire and want to help us get there,” he said. “I’m grateful to have been a part that set the foundation for future generations.”