designed to celebrate the girls around the sport they love to play.
The last game changer was Florida being host to the USA
Team. That group of elite female athletes would go on to become
presence in Florida helped direct female sports to the forefront
for many girls throughout most of the 2017-18 season, especially
those with an interest in the sport.
All of these factors aligned over the past year to help stretch
the overall USA Hockey
membership for girls age
6-19 to over 400 for the
the days of having only 50
or 100 girls who played
hockey at all age levels in
Solverson recalls, back in
the late 1980’s and early
1990’s there were less
than 40 girls in Florida who
years later that number
grew to around 100. Now
we have reached 400.
number in the next five
years.
registered girls travel teams. The Tampa Bay Crunch formed 14U
and 16U travel girls teams in their inaugural season in Wesley
Chapel with Florida Hospital Center Ice as their home. The Florida
Bulldogs formed a 14U girls team with more of a state-wide
competed at SE District Cham-pionships in Virginia. The Bulldogs
14U team advanced
to USA Hockey
With more than
one team in more
than one program,
S o l v e r s o n a n d
Novotny realized
that now was the
time to focus not
only on the teams,
but mapping out a
more sustainable
and scalable model.
The Structure of Florida Girls Hockey
the past successes and failures, Solverson and Novotny quickly
This structure would need to reach farther than the purview of
a few teams, passionate coaches and parents, and beyond the
knew, in general, they needed to retain a state-wide model, as
well as look at ways to help programs grow the number of girls in
their own programs. Florida Girls Hockey was born. It is organized
level depends on the level below it for support and sustainability.
re-sources can join forces
with local rinks without
support the growth of girls
playing across Florida.
Girls Hockey can also tap
established networks linking
with resources outside the
Sunshine State and through
USA Hockey channels to
enhance the experience
they provide participants.
As Novotny and Solverson
energy to female hockey
through the years, they have
well. For example, they are
Sports (UWS) to provide enhanced content relevant to female
athletes. UWS is a program being developed by Title IX pioneer
and heralded hockey coach/adviser Digit Murphy to provide
By looking beyond the team and at the overall program, they
GIRLS
From page 27
See GIRLS, page 29
Former standout goaltender and current Alliance Girls team
/WWW.FLORIDAHOCKEYLIFE.COM