In 2014, Olga Dolinina worked in public relations and marketing for Hockey Club Donbass in Donetsk, Ukraine-- a time when great uncertainty gripped the country.?In May of that year, armed rebels burned and damaged the teams stadium. Dolinina didnt know if theyd play the next season in a different city -- or at all. Even if the team resumed operations, she wasnt sure shed feel safe moving back to Donetsk. A few weeks after the stadium attack, a shooting occurred just outside the team offices.A colleague turned up the music to drown out the sound of gunfire. Dolinina didnt know if she could safely walk or take a cab to her apartment.I was really scared, Dolinina said. That was the first time when I could see that events Id watched on television were happening so close to me. Despite her fears and the challenges in her own life, one question loomed in Dolininas mind: How could she help children affected by the crisis? Like Dolinina, many families fled from violence-stricken areas in eastern Ukraine to different parts of the country.Thousands of children are suffering, she said. And need psycho-social support and help with adaptation to their host communities. Hockey, she believed, could alleviate stress and foster understanding and resilience.Its the smallest thing that can be done for children, she said. Children shouldnt be witnesses of war. In the fall of 2014, Olga Dolinina arrived in the United States for the Global Sports Mentorship Program. When she returned to Ukraine, Dolinina launched Break The Ice.Since then, more than 1,000 young people in the country have participated in the organizations table and ice hockey programs. Its something like a common language, Dolinina said. Through sports, you feel like one team. You can accept other children and then make friendships, learn life skills and build peace in the community.***Dolinina grew up an only child in Dnipropetrovsk. From an early age, she played outside with boys. The experience taught her firsthand the equalizing and empowering effect athletic endeavors can have for girls.Dolinina earned a masters degree in sports management and worked as a sports journalist and press officer for the Football Federation of Ukraine. She didnt know much about hockey when she joined HC Donbass in 2013, but with her strong background in sports business, she quickly learned.In her year with HC Donbass, she oversaw programs that reached out to the community in general and children in particular. When she first applied for the Global Sports Mentoring Program, she thought she could use what she would learn there to expand her efforts on behalf of the club.The war changed everything. As she contemplated what was next in her own life, Dolinina realized she could harness sports as a tool to alleviate post-traumatic stress disorder and similar problems among displaced children.She was thrilled to be paired with mentor Susan Cohig, senior vice president of business affairs and integrated marketing for the National Hockey League. The match seemed ideal to Cohig, as well.Using sports to empower kids, create opportunities for them to have a safe place to go, Cohig said. All the things that she wanted to accomplish are things we do in the communities were in.Cohig and other program leaders helped Dolinina with the logistics of her program, including gathering data on the impact of PTSD, compiling evidence of the benefits of sports participation for children in conflict zones and fine-tuning messaging she could use to raise funds and build partnerships.These tactics proved critical because, with the future of HC Donbass uncertain, Dolinina couldnt count on institutional support. In fact, the team suspended operations for the 2014-2015 season, and Dolinina never returned to her job there.At first, the idea of starting a project from scratch seemed daunting.The more I researched and realized the problem could be helped and cured, the more I was inspired by the projects of other members of the program, Dolinina said. I decided, Yes, I can do this myself.***Dolinina realized the expense of ice hockey equipment might delay her efforts. While she worked to secure funding for things such as skates, helmets and pads, she also sought partners and money for less costly table hockey tournaments. With help from organizations such as the International Table Hockey Federation, she held her first two table hockey events in 2015.?Now, Break The Ice and its partners hold regular tournaments in Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kiev.Twelve-year-old Anna Ivantsova, who moved from Donestk to Kiev last year, even qualified for the Ukranian national table hockey team. Break The Ice provided funding for Ivantsova and her mother to travel to Estonia for the European Table Hockey Championship, a journey Dolinina feels exemplifies the opportunities the program offers children, especially girls.As the table hockey program began flourishing, Dolinina learned that a grant she had applied for from the National Hockey League Players Association came through. Now, she has two full sets of ice hockey equipment. A girls team called Ukrainochka and a boys team, Sokol, both of which consist of local and displaced children, regularly put the gear to use.Some players hope to reach professional status. Ukrainochka now participates in the Ukrainian Womens League, Dolinina said. A group of players from both teams traveled to the United States last year, making stops at NHL facilities in Washington, D.C., and New York, where Cohig works.Being in the room with all these young kids, girls and boys, was really special, Cohig said. It was Olgas work paying off, creating this opportunity to take them away from the difficulties they were experiencing to understand and benefit from what sports can do to make a difference in their lives. It was a full-circle moment.The mentoring experience has come full circle for Dolinina too. It changed my life, she said.Two months ago, she began working as an education officer for UNICEF. In the role, she oversees -- among other projects -- soccer and volleyball championships aimed at improving the lives of displaced children throughout Ukraine.As need increases -- about 1.7 million people have been displaced by the conflict, including 300,000 children -- Dolinina says theres no chance shell leave skates and pucks behind. Shell continue to look for ways to expand the impact of Break The Ice. One option: bring it under the auspices of UNICEF and leverage the organizations resources to make the ultimate power play for peace.Cindy Kuzma is a freelance health and fitness writer in Chicago, contributing editor at Runners World magazine and marathon runner. You can read more of her work at www.cindykuzma.com. NFL Jerseys China . The 27-year-old Scrivens will be joining his third NHL club since signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2010. 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NAPA, Calif. -- Scott Piercy began the new PGA Tour season by pouring in putts and setting the course record at Silverado, a 10-under 62 for a two-shot lead Thursday in the Safeway Open.Conditions were practically perfect in the morning, and Piercy took advantage. He made 12 birdies, only three of them from inside 10 feet, and he even missed a pair of birdie chances from inside 8 feet.He wasnt alone in attacking Silverado.Paul Casey, coming off a pair of runner-up finishes in the FedEx Cup playoffs that signaled a return to form, birdied his last three holes for a 64. Patton Kizzire also shot a 64.Jon Rahm of Spain, who earned his PGA Tour card from sponsor exemptions last season after wrapping up his college career at Arizona State, began his PGA Tour career as a member in fine fashion. He made a hole-in-one -- the first of his life -- on his second hole, the par-3 11th. His 7-iron from 173 yards flew straight into the cup.Very special moment, Rahm said. It was hard to believe. I actually thought it hit inside the hole and bounced out.Phil Mickelson, playing a domestic PGA Tour event in the fall for the first time in a decade, overcame a bogey-bogey start to post a 69, along with playing partner and defending champion Emiliano Grillo. Bill Haas was added to that group when Tiger Woods withdrew and showed no vulnerability in his game by posting a 66, the best score of the afternoon.I got off to a slow start. I wasnt as focused as I need to be, Mickelson said. But I put myself in a position where tomorrow if I can get hot on the greens -- get perfect greens in the morning -- get it going, shoot 6-, 7-, 8-under par and get right back in it for the weekend.Mickelson and Casey have had the best calendar years without winning, based on the world ranking points they have earned. Mickelson is playing his final tournament of 2016, while Casey plans to play the next two in Asia before taking off the rest of the year.Piercy, at least on paper, had one of his better years, earning $2.9 million. He had a chance to win a major at the U.S. Open until Dustin Johnson pulled away at Oakmont, and Johnson beat him by one shot at a World Golf Championship.But those runner-up finishes in big events coverred up an atrocious year with the putter.dddddddddddd Piercy was 156th in the most important putting statistic, which is what held him back most of the year.Its what carried him Thursday. He holed a pair of 18-foot birdie putts on successive holes early in his round and kept pouring them in, one after another, to offset a pair of bogeys from the bunkers on the par-4 third hole and the par-3 seventh late in his round.I think I made more feet of putts than I did all last season, he said. Ive been working on the putter a lot and trying to get some things figured out. Today was a good start to the season, good start to get some confidence going with the putter.His power has always been there, and he showed that on the par-5 fifth hole when he blasted a drive over the trees along the line of the cart path, back to the fairway on the dogleg right. That left him only a 6-iron into the green, and he narrowly missed a 20-foot eagle attempt.That was among the few putts he missed. Piercys 62 was at least nine shots better than the course average.Casey played in the group in front of Piercy and did his best to keep pace. He made eight birdies on a bogey-free day at Silverado. The big change for Casey was a new driver as he slowly transitions away from Nike, which is getting out of the equipment business.Casey ended last season three weeks ago at the Tour Championship with a 64 and started the new one with a 64, so the time off didnt hurt him.Im looking at this as a continuation of the year, he said. I know the slates been wiped clean and we start the FedEx Cup all over again, but Im looking at this to try to cap off my season. Ive got three opportunities to try to win a golf tournament, and I havent done that yet this year.DIVOTS: Morgan Hoffmann holed out for an albatross on the par-5 18th hole. ... Cody Gribble had the low round among the PGA Tour rookies with a 67. ... Justin Thomas, who missed the playoff at Silverado by one shot last year, opened with a 75 after two tee shots out of bounds led to triple bogeys. On both holes, he three-putted from inside 15 feet. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '