Amanda Kessel, like most elite women’s hockey players, grew up playing on boy’s teams.
There were few female role models as all her coaches were male. She usually had a separate locker room from the rest of her teammates, and in some rinks she had to get dressed in a public bathroom.
“I didn’t have local role models that I could really look up to that were women,” said Kessel, a gold medalist for the United States women’s national team at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. “That’s why I’m very excited to be a part of something like this that can expand opportunities for girls to get involved in a really great sport.