Reaching our future goals
We appreciate you stopping by. We would like to encourage you to get to know Ryan and the vision we seek to honor.
In December of 2020 Ryan O’Korn suddenly passed away. We lost a son, brother, friend, mentor, counselor and coach.
Ryan spent his life in service to others. His aura inspired everyone around him. Most of his time was spent mentoring and helping people be their best selves. His mission was made possible by an almost superhuman ability to filter out anything he deemed meaningless to focus solely on things that mattered.
Ryan developed a love for the beauty of fair and honorable competition. His love for it began early on through observation but he developed a great interest in hockey. Eventually, he took what he learned through observation, fascination, and study; and put it all to action. Ryan chose to be a goalie and went on to play through college, expanding his knowledge even further. Shortly therein Ryan took up teaching his younger brother from
“Learn to Skate” through high school.
Ryan believed he had more he could and wanted to offer. He began to volunteer coach for several years. Coaching peewee teams through club collegiate, Ryan’s goal remained steadfast; “Help get every player he could get the chance to reach the next level of their potential.” Nothing made him smile more than seeing a struggling player reach their epiphany moment when something clicked and their dedication paid off. Ryan sought to help everyone even if only he could see their capability (not just in hockey but in life)! Ryan’s life philosophy was something to the effect of “nothing worth having is easy, put in the work to be the best you.”
We have established this fund to honor what Ryan believed in, taught and represented. The Goal of the ROK Award is to acknowledge and reward a player that gives their heart to what they do. Someone who demonstrates a level of hard work that inspires those around to rise above adversity.
· Hardworking “No-quit” attitude
· Always more to learn mentality
· Willingness to push ones self to another level
· Is a positive influence both academically and athletically
· Demonstrates understanding of what it means to be a team on and off the ice
The ROK Award” (The Ryan O’Korn Memorial Fund) is a non-profit organization that has been created to honor the legacy of Ryan O’Korn (ROK) and to promote the characteristics which he stood for as both a coach and mentor during his life. His name was synonymous with the word selfless and he believed that a “one-team mentality” could be indomitable. It would only take one player, with this mindset, to be used as the foundation of a team. Ryan looked for this player on every team he coached. His coaching staff nicknamed this type of player a “rock.” We came to define a rock as a player that makes everyone around them better, regardless of their role on the team. We want the ROK award to be a gift in recognition of those players that lead by example using a hardworking, no-quit, and selfless mentality.
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