Helping girls feel empowered in the rink

Monroe Township Youth Hockey (MTYH) hosted its first Girls Hockey Clinic last month. 

The clinic was catered towards girls ages six to 19 (the same age range of MTYH’s program) interested in learning the fundamentals of ball hockey in an empowering environment with other girls and women instructors. While youth hockey leagues in town and in surrounding areas welcome girls onto the teams, it is still predominantly a boys’ sport, which can feel intimidating to girls on teams or girls who want to get involved. 

There were about 25 girls who participated in the clinic, split between two age groups of 8 under and 14 under. The clinic consisted of two 1.5 hour sessions on August 11 and August 18 at RJ Amandeo Rink at Owens Park. 

The clinic was spearheaded by Sophia Simpson, an 18-year-old hockey player from Bellmawr. She served as an instructor for the girls, and she also brought in a few guest instructors: A couple of friends and teammates from Team USA Ball Hockey and Team New Jersey Ball Hockey and her father, who was her initial inspiration to play hockey.

“I’ve been playing ball hockey for 14 years. Growing up, I was the only girl. I wanted to make a name for myself after being told multiple times that I couldn’t,” Simpson said.

Despite the challenges, Simpson has excelled in ball and ice hockey. She has made it to Team New Jersey and Team USA several times. She will play ice hockey collegiately this upcoming year at Sacred Heart University as she starts her freshman year. 

While making a name for herself as a hockey player, she became inspired to help other girls have hockey careers, too. 

“I wanted other girls to be able to have a better experience [with the sport] growing up than I did, so that’s why I decided to start this clinic,” she said. 

She ran her first clinic last September in her hometown of Bellmawr, and it brought in about a dozen girls ages four to ten. One participant’s parent told Simpson that this would be a great opportunity in Williamstown, as there are many girls who participate in MTYH program of about 200 players. After getting in touch with MTYH board and its president John Witz, the clinic was scheduled.

“I think it’s important for young girls to see that they don’t have to stay within the traditional boundaries of what people expect them to play. I have two daughters, and one of them absolutely loves hockey, so this is something that hits close to home for me,” said MTYH board member Matt West, who was excited about the girls clinic.

“I want her, and all the other young girls who love the game, to have the same opportunities to play, compete and grow in a sport that they’re passionate about,” he continued. “There’s no reason it shouldn’t have a strong female presence. We’re just trying to do our part to help make that happen.”

Simpson and Witz both said the clinic was a great success, and they said the participants also shared how much they enjoyed and appreciated the experience, as well.

“I thought it was important to teach the fundamentals on how hockey actually works and not just throw them into drills and tell them to go play,” Simpson said. “We spent a lot of time working on the little things and the little tweaks that matter.”

Simpson noted that a lot of these ball hockey basics are often overlooked or expected of players when they join a team. This can feel overwhelming if a player does not already know what they are doing, and it can negatively affect their self-confidence. She wanted to help the girls feel more comfortable with their skills, so they can feel more comfortable and confident in their skills and self when in the ring. 

“I was observing at the clinic, and you could just see the girls are so interested in playing and learning,” Witz said. 

“As an organization, we’ve been trying to get (more people) introduced to the game because it’s still kind of a niche sport,” he continued. “We had a good mix of folks who had been involved with our program before and just wanted to take the opportunity to go through the clinic with Sophia, but also folks who had never touched a hockey stick before. This (was) a really good opportunity for them to come out and see what it’s about.”

MTYH offers co-ed ball hockey leagues for children and teens of all ages. It currently has around 200 players involved, Witz said. He also said that they do have a good amount of girls on the teams; however, he can tell there can be a difference between the boys and girls. He wants to see more girls feel confident and excited to participate in ball hockey. 

“I’ve been coaching this league for a really long time,” Witz said. “I think in my observation (at the clinic), I was able to see the difference just from afar. I’m used to being in those huddles (with the team), and I try my best to make sure the girls feel part of the team, but you can tell there’s a bit of a distance there.”

“When it is only girls out on the rink together, there’s just a level of comfort and confidence,” he said. “They were involved, they were joking with each other, they were having a good time on the rink. There was just a different kind of comfort level there, which was huge.”

Simpson and Witz said there was value in building personal relationships and trust with each other, and this was just as important as learning proper stick handling or how to shoot. The girls gradually became less afraid to mess up, and they were not afraid to ask questions or for help, which made Simpson feel accomplished as a coach. 

“Once they started to grasp the concept of what they were doing, you could see the excitement on the girls’ faces, no matter the age. They knew what they were doing, and they looked a lot more confident to go into their seasons and prove these boys wrong, which was the whole reason I started this,” Simpson said. 

“Now that I see these girls so happy to learn, I want to teach everyone the basics,” Simpson said. “(Their excitement) really just made me feel like I’m doing this for a good reason, and I will continue to do this.”

Simpson and Witz said they are planning to host more Girls Hockey Clinics in the future. They hope to fit it in throughout the fall season, but if that does not work out, they will at least hold one in the winter between the fall and spring seasons for further development of current and new ball hockey players.