Let me tell you a little bit about Hayley. Hayley started playing ball hockey later in life. She’s always been an athlete, but when she picked up ball hockey about ten years ago she loved it.
Hayley has always been a good player, but in the coed leagues she played defense and mostly threw the ball up the boards to clear the zone. She was tough to get around because she was very fast with a lot of endurance, but she was never a scoring or passing threat. All that changed about two years ago when she got serious about improving her game. She began coming to our United Women’s Ball Hockey Foundation (UWBHF) skills clinics each month. She learned the foundations of holding a stick, stickhandling, passing, and shooting. Hayley, like most women, was a sponge for new information. She had played ball hockey for ten years, but this was the first time she was learning the mechanics of hockey, starting with the basics.
This past April I played with Hayley in our coed league. She got the ball on defense, made a pass to a teammate, cut down the middle, collected a pass back, and put the ball top corner on the goalie.
The progress Hayley has made is a testament to her willingness to put in the hours of practice to become a better player. Hayley is just one example of the improvements many women have made through the UWBHF skills clinics. As the coach of these clinics, it warms my heart to see the improvements women are making in their games. Players are becoming better passers, shooters and stickhandlers, and are more confident carrying the ball.
If you would like to find out when the next skills clinic is, please reach out to info@uwbhf.org for more information.
