Paul Kariya

Paul Kariya plays hockey for the St. Louis Blues. He is a left winger. Right now he is injured. He has a groin injury. He is the assistant captain. He has played for the Mighty Ducks and Avalanche and Nashville. He has played hockey all his life. I have chosen Paul as my hero because he inspires me to do my best, and when I grow up I want to help people just like he does!

Paul was born in Vancouver. He has two brothers and two sisters. Both his brothers are younger and play hockey too. He has one younger sister and one older sister. The younger one is a boxer. Paul is my dad's cousin. So that's why I know about him. Paul is half Japanese and half Scottish, just like me. Paul's grandma used to live with us. She was my great grandma and my dad's grandma too!! Paul's parents, grandparents and friends were all good role models that taught him about caring for other people.

Paul volunteers his time in three areas: sick children, child abuse and introducing kids to the benefits of sports. Some young children have diseases that require medicine, medical equipment, doctors and nurses. In all levels of hockey, some children are physically or verbally abused by coaches or parents. It is good to get children involved in sports to prevent them from getting into trouble with the law and to prevent them from doing drugs.

Paul is my hero because he donates millions of dollars to charity. He donates money to many children's hospitals in Canada and the U.S.A. It is important to give money to children's hospitals because you can save kids' lives by providing good medicine and good medical equipment. Kids can be very scared to go to a hospital because it is big and has lots of people. I went to a hospital when I was a year old and when I was three because I had seizures and asthma.

Paul is also a volunteer spokesperson for Hockey Canada's Speak Out Program, which aims to prevent child abuse from happening in hockey. He talks about how to recognize abuse and how to stop it. Paul also volunteers his time as a spokesperson for Hockey Canada's Initiation Program which helps kids to get involved in hockey and to like the game. He gets kids interested in playing hockey and keeps them from getting into trouble or doing drugs.

I think Paul is a great hero because he spends a lot of his own time helping kids when he could be doing something else. Seeing Paul doing charitable work makes me want to do good things for other people. Watching how hard he works makes me want to work hard in school and at home. Paul also inspires me to want to be an NHL hockey player so that I can help sick children and help stop child abuse in hockey.