I grew up a frustrated tomboy in San Francisco. I didn’t get to play a lot of sports, because I was a MUSIC GEEK. My mom actually went in to my middle school to tell my gym teachers I wasn’t allowed to participate in certain activities, since I needed to keep my fingers intact for the violin.

Luckily, my mom DID send me for ice skating lessons the summer I was nine. There was one tiny little ice rink in SF at the time, I remember the ice sheet was small and round, and there was always a puddle of water on one part of it. I loved skating, except for the fact that I had to wear an oatmeal-colored figure skating outfit dress-thing that my mom knitted for me. (It was really a work of art, but I couldn’t appreciate back then. Ok, even now, I wouldn’t want to wear it.) And of course I was in figure skates. There was definitely no hockey in SF when I was growing up!

I discovered hockey when I was in grad school in Boston. A few guys in my department asked me if I wanted to play on an intramural team. It seemed impossible to me that I could just start playing hockey! But I was lucky to be in an environment with many opportunities for beginners, and I was soon hooked.

ELEVEN YEARS LATER, and I’m still in love with this sport. I also love proselytizing about it. I’m still excited about this league because I think it’s done a fantastic job of bringing players of various skill levels together, and providing a safe space for beginners to learn about the game.

And now I’ll be on the beginner end of things as well…I’m looking forward to playing between the pipes this season!