We at L.A. Parent take pride in sharing resources we find in our community for families who have neurodivergent children. We profile businesses that you may not know, services that might be helpful and a variety of education and social events throughout the Los Angeles area.

This month we’re sharing a sports team. Meet the California Condors Special Needs Ice Hockey team, the first of its kind on the West Coast. It is a volunteer-run and nonprofit that, since 2006, has been providing a safe, fun and instructional environment for neurodiverse children and adults (boys and girls, men and women), with players age ranging from 5 to 55 years old. The Condors are a member of the American Special Hockey Association, which serves 135 affiliated organizations and 9,000 members with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities across the country. The team is also member of USA Hockey and, perhaps most importantly, a member of our community.

We connected with Rita Eagle, a clinical psychologist who specializes in special needs and who started the Condors in 2006, for some background.

“I did it to find a way that my son could continue to play hockey since moving from Toronto to L.A. in 2001,” Rita says. “In Toronto, he played on the Grandravine Tornados, the first ever ice-hockey team for kids and adults with developmental disabilities. It took about five years to find ice time and interest in special-needs ice-hockey in the L.A. area. Beginning with just a handful of players, it grew and grew and became the inspiration for several other teams now formed or forming in California. For some time, however, the Condors were the only team for kids and adults with special needs in California and even anywhere on the West Coast.”

And how did it grow?

“I managed the team for 12 years. I was known as the Condors ‘mother hen,’” Rita says with a smile. “I gave the management over to another parent, Christine Fleeger, who had been assisting me for about two years in 2018. She worked brilliantly in that role, and then tragedy struck when she died without warning in July 2019 – a tremendous blow to her family and to the players and Condors families who loved her. We were blessed that Peter and Dana Janis, parents of one of our players for seven years and also of a son without disabilities who had served as a helper, stepped up to care for the team. They have been working tirelessly and admirably in many roles, not only to keep the Condors going, but expanding the nature of the program as well.”

Indeed, Peter and Dana did more than step in. Together, they manage most aspects of the team, from board meetings to fund raising to ice rink rental. Peter even helps out on the ice as a coach.

Their son Alex is 30 years old, and this month celebrates 10 years on the Condors. As Peter says, the team and its families have grown into their community.

“It’s been everything to him,” Peter says of Alex. “The friends he has that come over to the house are Condors. The social events he attends are with the Condors. It’s been great.”

Rita has stayed on the Condors’ Board of Directors, too, and now watches with pride as the team competes.

Practices are held at Icepolex in Simi Valley every weekend except holidays, with the team taking a break most summers. The season runs from the fall through the spring, and sometimes into the summer. There is no designated head coach because a variety of coaches and helpers – typically teenagers with hockey skills – work together on the ice. 

The Condors have played the SNAP Flyers, a team from Santa Clarita, and against the Ventura County firefighters and LAPD. They are working on a matchup with a team in San Diego. The biggest events are the tournaments, which require travel to other cities (or states) and are run by ASHA or USA hockey. Over the years, the Condors have traveled to Ottawa and Toronto in Canada, to Texas, Utah, Michigan, San Jose and Arizona. 

“It’s hard to know who benefits more from their participation — the kid helpers who are in love with helping out the Condors, or the players,” Rita says. “All our coaches are volunteers, although some are licensed coaches. Our coaches are hockey-loving dads of one or more of our special-needs players, and all are dedicated to working with every kid on the ice, regardless of the player’s ability.”

If you’d like to get involved with the Condors, visit https://www.condorhockey.com or contact Peter Janis at 818-518-4622 or peterjanis@gmail.com.