Tera and I are joined by Ashley Holmes, the Assistant Coach in Chief for Female Coach Development in the Minnesota District (that’s a mouth full!!).

Ashley shares her story of growing up playing hockey in the Alexandria area, how that led to playing at the University of North Dakota and then on to coaching.

An important part of her coaching journey is that she was ASKED to coach a 12U hockey team. Without that invitation, she is unsure if she ever would have found her path in coaching.

So, hockey associations, and mainly MALE ALLIES (because you are currently the majority in hockey), remember to ASK females to coach. Many of them will not step up without an invitation.

Within her role at USA Hockey, she is working to attract more female coaches to get involved in the coach developer role and NORMALIZING seeing women in leadership roles within USA hockey, MN hockey and within the youth levels.

She also hears from many female coaches throughout the state of MN who are facing similar challenges.

She regularly hears females express encountering the challenges below:

• Feeling like you aren’t welcome
• Having people second guess your abilities
• Males with less experience getting a coaching position rather than you because it’s a higher level and females aren’t seen as capable at that higher level
• Not having their voices heard
• Having to prove their competency when their male counterparts are automatically granted competency

It’s a challenge for those female coaches to want to continue coaching within the game when they are volunteering their time AND having to overcome all of the situations at the same time. They start to question, “Why am I doing this? Is it even worth it?”

This leads to a challenge in retaining the female coaches who are willing to step up.

Lastly, we talk about how the move away from USA hockey’s ADM model and community-based hockey is producing fewer top level female talent within the State of Hockey. Parents having an understanding of the ADM model and its value is vital to continuing to be the State of Hockey on the female side.

She is also focusing on bringing MN female coaches together to help support each other and be resources for each other. If you are a MN female hockey coach, look for an invitation to a MN female coaches GroupMe and reach out to Ashley at any time with questions. She is here to support you!

Contact info:

Ashley Holmes - ashley.holmes.usahockey@gmail.com

USA Hockey Female Coaches GroupMe - GroupMe - Join the group for USAH Female Coaches

Reach out to Tera and Sarah if you have any questions or if you have a story to share.

TwoWomenWhoGiveaPuck@gmail.com

Tera and Sarah sit down with Alicia Pelton, the Program Director for Coaching HER from the Tucker Center, a research center at the University of Minnesota that researches girls and women in sport.

Coaching HER is a coaching resource that helps sport coaches of girls challenge the status quo and the taken-for-granted assumptions of what it means to coach girls. We are helping coaches minimize gender inequalities and to coach differently.

Coaching HER tackles central and unaddressed issues which negatively impact girls’ and women’s performance, self-perceptions, sport choices, and experiences: coaches’ unconscious gender biases and stereotypes.

During this episode, Alicia shares with us the inequity she saw between her son’s hockey experience compared to her daughter’s and what she did about it.

We also discuss the fact that sports were created for men by men and continue to be coached by men and designed around men, i.e. sport equipment.

However, women are different. Our hormones are different, we injure differently, we hit puberty at different times, AND we are treated differently in society.

So instead of looking at the sport of hockey as a boys sport and the girls simply exist in it, we may need to rethink the design of the sport so we can meet the girls where they are at and appreciate what they bring to the game, rather than trying to fit them into the existing model.

The game of women’s hockey may look different than men’s hockey; however, it is a BEAUTIFUL game and embracing the differences can help to expand the sport for females.

This is important because when girls play, they are more successful in life.

They are healthier, they have healthier families, they have less depression and anxiety, they’re healthier in every way and succeed occupationally.

AUDIO WARNING - some of the audio is a little rocky!! Good ol' technology... It doesn't always cooperate.......!

On this episode Tera and Sarah chat with Topher Scott from The Hockey Think Tank about the value of community based hockey, for everyone, and especially for female hockey players. The less accessible hockey becomes, the fewer females there will be in the sport.

Topher’s mission is to get people to recognize the importance and the power of the front of the jersey again. Meaning, no one has made it to higher levels alone and creating a supportive community around your daughter during her playing career, better enables her to develop all of the important life skills that lead to success on the ice.

We touch on the mental and physical health challenges within the youth hockey and youth sports experiences and Topher shares his advice with parents on how to manage this, THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

Topher also highlights that a well balanced approach MAY include saying “No” to your daughter even if she LOVES the game and wants to play in ALL the hockey programs coming your way. Saying “No” to something DOES NOT mean your daughter’s hockey career is over! It may actually enhance it!

We end the conversation talking about the benefits of the unique community model that Minnesota Youth Hockey has and why it has enabled us to become THE STATE HOCKEY.

Here are some of the top reasons that the community model is AMAZING:

1. It attracts the best coaches
2. It gives the kids something bigger to play for, which accelerates their hockey development and improves their mental health

It is a MUST listen for anyone immersed in the youth hockey world!!

Topher references his podcast with Kendall Coyne-Schofield. It’s a great listen to hear about the challenges the top USA female hockey players faced with USA hockey.

https://thehockeythinktank.podbean.com/e/episode-5-kendall-coyne/

Topher is a wonderful hockey resource. Check him out at www.TheHockeyThinkTank.com and subscribe to The Hockey Think Tank Podcast on your favorite podcasting app!