Elite Prospects Hockey

When former Ohio Junior Blue Jacket Forward Vinnie Bradley told his former GM Don Harkins he was going to Africa to work in a school where many of the children were orphaned by Aids and came from extremely poor families, the latter wasn't surprised. After all Harkins selected Vinnie to play for his Honeybaked 88 Team after spending a year commuting from Ann Arbor to Cleveland to play for the Barons 88 Team because Vinnie couldn't make a AAA Team in Detroit. "Vinnie had great speed and caught Harkins eye when Honeybaked played the Barons that year. "I offered him a spot to come play for the next year at Honeybaked and Bradley accepted. "Vinnie was a good hockey player, but even a greater person". When Harkins took a job the following season coaching the Indianapolis Checkers Midget Major Team, Vinnie followed Harkins to Indianapolis as a sign of loyalty to his former Coach. "That is just the type of kid he is, he comes from a great family" added Harkins."I always said that we are very fortunate as coaches get to use the sport of hockey to teach kids the game of hockey, but more importantly lessons about life". "Vinnie Bradley taught me to become a better person because of who he is" added Harkins. "This volunteer mission to Bagamoyo, Tanzania proves just that. Bradley has just completed his Freshman year at the University of Michigan after retiring from the Junior Bluejackets due to a shoulder injury that required surgery to repair. In Tanzania, Bradley worked at a school with 220 students and two teachers, that's right, two teachers. One class had between 50 and 60 kids depending on the day and the other class had 160 kids. "When I arrived we broke the large class up into two groups and I taught my own class of about 70 kids" explained Bradley. "We mostly taught basic math (1-10 in English and Swahili), the ABC's, danced, and sang". "I taught my kids the the "Victors" (Michigan fight song). Most of the kids were suffering from malnutrition, they were balding and had bloated tummies" explained Bradley. "It was very tough to be around these kids because they suffered so much, but that was all they had ever known" added Bradley. Bradley lived for 6 weeks in Bagamoyo which suffered greatly from aids, 7% of the population was suffering from aids, and many more from HIV. "I saw lions, zebras, rhinos, etc. (Everything). in general though the trip was awesome, but the best part of my experience was all of the incredible people that I met.