AAPI Month Feature: Celebrating Their Culture Together
5/31/2023
There are few things in sports more daunting than your first strides on ice skates. For most, those steps are taken at a young age where you barely have control of your own body on solid ground never mind adding sharp blades and slippery ice into the equation.
Now, imagine factoring in the uncertainty that comes with not looking like most – if any – of the other kids on the ice.
Do you even notice that while trying not to slip and crash to the ice? Maybe. Maybe not. But eventually those strides become smoother and skating becomes playing and for four members of the 2022-23 Princeton men’s ice hockey team – Matt Hayami, Jayden Sison, David Ma, and Brendan Wang – came the realization that they were in the minority as Asian hockey players.
“Growing up, I was usually the only non-Caucasian player on my team,” said rising sophomore Jayden Sison. “All the way from youth hockey through Junior, I only had two other Asian teammates. Princeton is the first team I have been on with multiple Asian teammates.”
For rising junior David Ma, whose family heritage is Chinese, the experience was a bit different on the way up the ranks – something he credits to growing up in Yonkers, N.Y. in a town that is pretty diverse.
“I was fortunate to grow up in a diverse community and experience all sorts of people,” he said. “There were a couple other kids with similar backgrounds that I grew up playing with. Our families grew pretty close, it felt like a small community of our own.”
Community was a word that came up often as the group discussed their time together as teammates.
“Coming in the year as a freshman and being one of the guys who was furthest away from home, it helped to have that sense of community with a few of the guys right away,” said Brendan Wang. “Our Asian heritage wasn’t something we talked about all the time, but there’s comfort in seeing someone who looks like you and has experienced life in a similar fashion. That common ground helped me acclimate to the group and to Princeton in general in a special way.”
Still, for Ma there was something different when he stepped into Princeton’s locker room this season for his sophomore campaign.
“Playing alongside other Asian players wasn’t something that factored into the recruiting process at all, and it didn’t really resonate until this season,” said the defenseman. “It stood out way more this year. It’s been a collective group that has bonded over something simple. That’s all anyone is really looking for in a group setting, and we’ve been able to have an unspoken understanding of each other that has been a fun and interesting experience.”
The experience on the path to Princeton wasn’t always easy. Ma mentions a few instances of meeting racial adversity when slurs were used, but at the same time mentions that the positive has far outweighed the negative and that the large majority of people he has come across in hockey have treated him as he would have hoped to be treated.
Now, the group understands they have an opportunity to be treated as trendsetters of sorts. When asked if they had any hockey-related role models from the Asian community growing up, they each mentioned how there wasn’t a lot of people who looked like they do playing at high levels of hockey when they were younger. Their hockey role models were often top players from their hometown teams and off the ice inspiration often was credited to their families. With their roles as Division I hockey players and the recent uptick in Asian players in the NHL, there is an opportunity for that to change for the next generation.
“There’s been a presence from the Asian community on the team for a few years now, going back to Alex Riche,” said Matt Hayami ’23, whose father is Japanese. “I came in right after he left, but it honestly wasn’t something that impacted my decision during the recruiting process at all. I don’t think any of us really factored that in during our own journeys to Princeton, but it’s something we all took notice of early on during the season. It was really cool to look around the room and see that much diversity in a sport that doesn’t always have it at the forefront like that. It definitely added to making my senior season special to share this year with those guys.”
Jayden Sison may be a native of Paoli just a short drive from Princeton across the Pennsylvania border, but his family background has its roots thousands of miles away. In addition to his mom, who was born in Poland, Sison holds a deep familial foundation in the Philippines where his grandparents were born and raised before making their way to New York in 1970 where his father, Ed, was born. Today, the connection to his Filipino roots is most prevalent when the Sison family gathers around the table to cook and enjoy Filipino food.
At the same time, though, Sison has noticed that Asian culture and specifically his Filipino heritage is starting to be seen more and more in his favorite sport.
“There has been tremendous growth in the past few years when it comes to seeing people like myself and my family represented in the National Hockey League,” he says. “There are legit superstars of Asian/Pacific Islander descent who you can see on television every night in Jason Robertson and Nick Suzuki. Not only are there players on the ice, but teams are also taking the steps to host heritage nights which celebrate our culture. It was really inspiring to see the Winnipeg Jets go even a step further and host Filipino Heritage Night this year. That really stood out to me, these were not things that I had as a young NHL fan and they are really growing the game in our culture.”
The Jets created a unique logo for that night which incorporated prominent symbols and colors associated with the Filipino flag and culture, showcased local Filipino community groups and artists, and featured Filipino food at concessions stands during the event. Activations that Sison credited as opportunities to expose fans to a culture they may not have had a lot of interaction with in a new and exciting way.
On campus, the Asian Student-Athletes at Princeton (ASAP) collective is hoping to accomplish the same thing across the department’s 38 sports. It’s a group that Ma hopes to see his teammates connect with more over the coming years.
“As a community, we pride ourselves on our heritage and culture and we enjoy showcasing those things in a way that helps everyone else understand those traditions a bit more,” he said. “As a hockey team, we’ve focused a lot on our own culture this past season and it paid a lot of dividends. This coming year, I know myself, Jayden and Brendan are looking forward to connecting even more with our fellow Tigers in ASAP and finding ways to connect with people from similar backgrounds over our shared experience as Princeton student-athletes.”
For Ma, it comes down to visibility and opportunity.
“There is a lot of diversity in our program, and it’s increasing more and more throughout college hockey,” he said. “There is still a lot of room for growth, but I think it can’t be forced. It’s more important for players and programs to make the outreach and create opportunities for young players of all backgrounds. That is meaningful growth for the game.”
