Senior Angela Martinez has been playing on hockey teams in the city her whole life. Before the pandemic, she played for an all-girls team in Upper Manhattan. She currently plays on the co-ed Hockey in Harlem team. She sat down with me to talk about her experiences as a girl on a hockey team.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
I heard that you are part of a hockey team. Can you tell me a little bit more about the hockey team you’re on?
I started when I was seven years old. It’s co-ed, but mostly males. I play left wing. It’s hard sometimes to play in a group and that is such a competitive sport. It’s very rough, but you eventually get used to it, take the hit.
How did you get involved with hockey?
Honestly, I don’t remember. I just remember having a pair of skates on my feet and I’ve just had to learn. I kept falling and falling, but I eventually got it. I think my dad was the one that saw a flier that there was a hockey team that needed players and he signed himself, me and my siblings up.
What’s it like being a girl on a co-ed hockey team?
It’s kind of lonely sometimes, but I eventually found another player and I spoke to her and we both share that struggle. It is hard because they [the boys] don’t give us the same opportunities. Like they don’t want to pass to us because we’re females, or they’ll think we’ll mess it up or something. Eventually, I spoke to my coach about it and he gave the boys a talk and stuff and we eventually all got along.
When I think about hockey players, I think of bigger players and it’s a really rough sport, as you said. It’s physical. But I’m looking at you and I see a rather petite young woman. How much does your size impact your game?
There are benefits to being smaller. I could navigate through them [bigger male players] a little bit better, just squeeze through them and steal the puck. And I move a little bit faster than them. Sometimes it depends on the player, but when it comes to checking, I have to apply more pressure because I’m smaller. So I put more pressure onto them when I check them into the boards. Then it’s a little bit harder for me to do, but I’m still able to to get it done.
![](https://pacernyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_7972-600x600.jpg)
What would you say is the best thing about playing hockey? What’s your favorite thing about playing hockey?
I like the skating part. Chasing people down and the adrenaline it gives me.
What is the most challenging?
Ohh, I feel it’s the shooting.
What do you mean by that?
They shoot the puck into their net. I feel like that’s a little hard. I’ve been playing for a long time and I can’t do it. Sometimes I’ll struggle if I see the crowd looking at me, then I get nervous.
Do you think you want to keep playing hockey? I know you’re about to graduate. Are you going play at the next level or is this just something that you’ve enjoyed doing as a young person?
I wouldn’t want to go professional or anything, but I think in college, club hockey would be nice. I would definitely like to do a club just to keep playing the sport and exercising,