With around twenty percent of the world’s population currently experiencing some degree of lockdown, urged by government to remain indoors and cease all communal activity, we find ourselves in an unprecedented moment of collective lethargy, bound to our sofas and looking wistfully outdoors.

In response, we bring you a collection of the sportier moments from HERO’s archives, where Olympic-hopefuls, weekend racers and seasoned fanatics all rub shoulders, to ease your twitching limbs. Pumped-up teens colliding on ice in Canada’s junior hockey leagues, petrol-heads flying over dunes on dirt bikes and rodeo prodigies riding bulls in Montana, these images remind us of the freedoms we take for granted, and which for the coming months we may be forced to go without.

This week in our series we’re revisiting our 16-page story on the Jersey Hitmen, the junior ice-hockey team who compete for the highest honours at youth level in the United States Premier Hockey League, shot by Danielle Levitt, styled by Gary Armstrong and taken from HERO 19. For the last two seasons, the Hitmen have finished first in the National Collegiate Development Conference, an elite competition held entirely in the north-east of America. In the below story, we catch a glimpse of the team’s rigorous training routine, match-day preparation and how they unwind together after a big game.