One of my favorite activities that I have become involved in is the USC Women’s Ice Hockey team. The girls from the team became some of my closest friends here at USC as soon as I joined.
Me with fellow rookies in our hotel room in Vegas!
Though I’ve been nearly obsessed with hockey for quite a few years now (Go Kings Go!), I’d never played hockey a day in my life before joining! In fact, I was pretty inexperienced at skating too. After just a couple practices, I fell even more in love with the sport, with a whole new appreciation for the athletes that I love to watch on TV. Hockey is exhausting! Although joining a team like this with no experience may seem intimidating, the coaches and the rest of the team make all the rookies feel so welcome. Coach rewards effort; he loves to see the rookies go out during a game, be completely lost, and fall over with every step, if it means that we are learning and having fun. If you spend any time around our team, you will quickly discover that winning is the last thing on our minds. Although we are pretty happy when we do:
The team on the ice after our first win!
For the last few years, the team has traveled each spring to a tournament in Las Vegas. Last season, our team won our first tournament game ever! We didn’t get to see nearly as much of the city as we planned because it turns out that playing up to two games of hockey a day for three days can really wear you out! Once the tournament was over, we had one last night to eat dinner, go shopping, explore, bond, and send off our seniors with some great memories of the team.
Team dinner after the tournament. We’ll miss you seniors!
Although it is a pretty regular time commitment, I’ve found that hockey is one of the activities that I never want to miss. Aside from our weekly practices, we schedule lots of team bonding activities, like breakfast at Jacks ‘n’ Joe, day trips to San Diego, and sleepover study parties during finals! Rookies are also matched up with a big sister who showers you with anonymous presents and love until the Big-Little reveal on the last day of the season. My big, Kelly, is a VSA too, so we get to have a lot of fun together.
My big (and fellow VSA), Kelly, and I on Big-Little Reveal Day!
If you’re curious about joining the team or just want some more info, feel free to ask me, visit USC Women’s Ice Hockey’s Facebook page, or email wice.usc@gmail.com. [author title=”Author” author_id=””] Button Text
Your choice is just fantastic and all of the pictures of women’s ice hockey team are just fantastic.. 🙂