Mary Croswell
Dear editor:
“A boy told me I skated like a girl; I told him if he skated a little faster, he could, too!”
In December, the NHL hosted its first-ever outdoor women’s hockey classic and later the first National Women’s Hockey League all-star game took place in its inaugural season.
Women’s hockey is arguably more popular than ever before. Girls’ hockey is one of the fastest-growing sectors in sports today.
Hockey is not just for boys or tomboys. There are now many competitive girls’ teams and leagues emerging across the country.
Girls now can choose whether to play with their peers or on boys’ teams. There was a time when being the only girl on the boys’ team was the only way to play hockey.
Girls now have choices to play on house league teams, co-ed, all girls, or try out for competitive teams. Not only has the number of girls playing hockey increased, but the quality of players has improved dramatically.
Female hockey is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, creating opportunities for girls at provincial, regional, and national levels. This allows female hockey players chances and exposure to compete at higher levels.
Girls no longer have a chance to play—they have choices where to play.
Many girls who started playing hockey probably can remember being cut from a boys’ team solely because they were a girl even though they could skate circles around most of the boys on the team.
For female hockey players like Hayley Wickenheiser, Caroline Ouellette, and Katie Weatherston, who broke new ground for future female hockey players, there are now thousands across the world who say “thank you” when someone tells them “they play like a girl. . . .”
(Signed),
Mary Croswell,
Emo, Ont.,
Proud hockey mom
of a boy and a girl!
