Girls Can Play Hockey, Too
Thanks to efforts from organizations like USA Hockey, girls are getting an opportunity to play just like the boys.
Lisa Chesson was a defenseman for the U.S. Women’s Hockey National Team that won a silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Chesson played for the U.S. in three International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championships, scoring seven points in 15 games. The team won two gold medals and a silver in those championships.
But when I interviewed Chesson in 2018 for a story on USAHockey.com, she hadn’t forgotten the teasing she endured playing on all-boys teams as a kid in Illinois.
It didn’t matter that she was good enough to be selected to play on an all-boys All-Star team. She went on to play college hockey at Ohio State as well as professionally in the National Women’s Hockey League.
The attitude toward girls playing hockey has shifted over the years, something Chesson is happy to see.
“I was called a lot of names growing up, being the only girl playing,” she told me. “Now, you get comments like, wow, you girls are really good. In the NWHL, people (came) to watch our games for the first time and they’re hooked. You can’t have an opinion on it before you see it. It’s definitely changed for the better.”
Paving the Way
There are a number of reasons for this positive shift. The success of the U.S. Team has vaulted girls hockey into the spotlight. Team USA has won Olympic gold in 1998 and 2018; silver in 2002, 2010, 2014; and bronze in 2006.
It’s always an honor for girls to meet high-profile male athletes. But having older women like Chesson to look up to who have achieved the same success in sports is even better. In one girls clinic she attended, Chesson presented her medal for all the participants and parents to see. She’ll never forget the looks on their faces.
“One of the girls actually asked if any of us had won any medals during our careers,” Chesson said. “After the Q&A, all the girls had a chance to come and see it and take pictures with it.”
Chesson and other Olympians have been willing to lend their time to travel around the country to many youth hockey programs and help promote the game for girls. Amanda Kessel, who led the U.S. Team to gold in 2018, is another example of being the only girl on a team of boys. The commitment by the NHL and USA Hockey toward growing the girls’ game has made a big impression on her.
“If they play it, they end up loving it,” Kessel told me in a 2019 story. “It’s really cool to see how far women’s hockey has come. Growing up, I didn’t have these kinds of opportunities.”
Equal Opportunity
It’s only natural for girls watching their brothers play sports to develop an interest. But if they never get the opportunity to try, they may never know whether the sport is right for them. Thankfully, those opportunities are becoming more widespread each year.
According to USA Hockey, the growth of girls and women’s hockey has grown 34 percent. In the 2018-19 season, nearly 83,000 gave the sport a try. A national championship for girls is held each year. The IIHF sponsors a World Girls Ice Hockey Weekend each October to promote the game globally. USA Hockey offers a camp for elite teenage girls to develop skills and learn from top-level instructors.
Like boys, it’s important to start girls in hockey early. Twice a year, youth programs around the United States host a Try Hockey for Free Day, where both boys and girls ages 5 to 9 can try the sport at no cost. Interested participants can then sign up for Learn to Skate and Learn to Play programs in their area.
The Co-ed Factor
What if girls want to play hockey with boys? It’s not a big issue at the early ages, since body checking isn’t introduced until later. But as girls get older, the question becomes a bit more complicated.
Some parents are adamant that girls need to play on all-girls teams, fearing the game becomes too rough to play with boys. But USA Hockey American Development Model Regional Manager Emily West feels parents should at least have a conversation with their daughters and allow them to have input.
“When they actually ask their daughter, “Do you want to continue playing boys hockey?” or “Is the physical side of the game affecting you mentally?” she is often quick to reply that it doesn't bother her and she would like to continue playing with boys,” West explained in a USA Hockey Q&A post. “In other situations, when those questions are asked, girls may say they want to make the switch to an all-girls team. The point is, it’s important to ask the questions and have a two-way conversation before any decisions are made.”
Not every youth program has an all-girls team. If girls want to continue playing, they may not always have a choice. But as more clubs commit to promoting the benefits of girls hockey, this will become less of an issue. The most important thing to consider is girls should have the same opportunity as boys to develop skills in a sport they love. The social benefits are important as well.
“They get to meet new friends outside of their school and outside their normal activities,” Jessie Thompson, manager of youth hockey development for the Washington Capitals youth program told me in an interview last month. “They get to have a little bit of independence when their parents are not on the ice. It’s a really great way for girls to try a sport they might really enjoy.”
Sports should be all about inclusion, and hockey is no exception. Every program needs to give children an equal shot to try any sport they choose. Fortunately, governing bodies like USA Hockey are taking this to heart.
Hot Takes and Great Reads
I received some great response from last week’s issue regarding whether kids should receive participation awards or earn them on merit. Some comments have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
David G wrote, “if children aren’t allowed to ever feel disappointed, how can they build the desire to improve themselves?”
Joe R commented, “the problem is actually the parents, not the children. Perhaps when parents stop fist fighting at any competition and let the kids work it out naturally, we could return to a sane competitive environment for children.”
And Kevin A said, “I’m against participation trophies, as well as things like refusing to keep score or standings… All of that is really more for us parents to feel better than anything. I guarantee every kid knows when they mess up/do great, and what the score of the game was.”
Keep those comments coming on this topic or others you read in the newsletter. You can easily contact me by hitting Reply on any email post, or leave a comment after each article on the website. Your feedback really does matter.
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Congratulations to Sammy Smith, a student-athlete from Boise, Idaho, on being recognized by USA Today as one of their High School Sports Awards honorees.
During her freshman year, Smith earned the Idaho High School Activities Association’s titles in both the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs in the Class 5A state meet. Her accomplishments helped her school to a first-place team finish.
Smith became a finalist for the USA Today Rising Star honor this past August. She also plays soccer, runs track, skis, and somehow finds time to organize a charity for underprivileged youth while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in the classroom.
Read her amazing story here.
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Streaming youth sporting events has become a booming business over the past several years, thanks to services like FloSports and AthletesGoLive.
Two other services have joined forces in the youth sports streaming space. Baller TV, which streams volleyball, basketball and other indoor sports, has acquired NextPro, an on-demand youth sports filming and recruiting company. NextPro streams over 150,000 outdoor events in 40 states including soccer, lacrosse, baseball and softball. This will now allow viewers access to both live streams and on-demand content for indoor and outdoor events.
Click here to read the full story.
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Former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver has started a flag football league in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Driver’s goal is to introduce kids to football while getting to know the city’s first responders.
“This is a game we’ve been playing our entire lives, unfortunately sometimes we don’t get that opportunity because a lot of kids from the inner city just can’t afford to play this game,” Driver told NewsOn6.com.
Driver, who played with the Packers from 1999-2012, picked Tulsa as the first city in his league because he has friends and family there. Here’s hoping more current and former professional athletes follow his example.
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Finally, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an interesting article on how two area parents find a way to juggle watching all three of their children play college sports in two different states.
It’s hard enough to do that when they’re playing youth sports in the same area. But it gets even crazier if they all end up going to college and playing at that level. Andrew Koester is the starting quarterback at Slippery Rock (one of my favorite names for a college). Allison Koester is a volleyball player at Fairleigh Dickinson, and Annie Koester plays volleyball at Clarion.
If they had grades for parents, this family would all get an A+ in my grade book.
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