As Girls Hockey Continues to Grow, Kristine Wing is Working to Get More Women Behind the Bench

Over the past 15 seasons, girls hockey in the United States has seen a participation increase of 36.5%.

With that increase in players, there is further opportunities to grow the coaching ranks, which is only 7% female, according to Kristine Wing, USA Hockey's coach-in-chief for female development. One of the refrains surrounding the PWHL has been, “If she can see it, she can be it,” and Wing wants to make sure that line of thinking extends to coaching pathways for women. 

At the Women’s Frozen Four in Minneapolis in late March, Wing helped facilitate a weekend of education and networking for women coaches and those who coach girls and women. 

This was the third year of holding women’s coaching events in conjunction with the Women’s Frozen Four. There have been events in the past as part of wider USA Hockey and continuing education efforts at the men’s Frozen Four, but Wing said it was important to have these events tie to a wider celebration of women in hockey.

The events aren’t just for women, but the focus is on coaching girls and women and making sure that the opportunities are there for people who have not traditionally had them.

"This clinic gave me insights and best practices to use to help continue to develop female coaches, skaters and goalies in our association,” said Ben Young, girls director and board member of the West St. Paul – St. Paul Saints Co-op. “It was also so beneficial to participate in-person and to share first-hand experiences, journeys, and knowledge with so many coaches dedicated to growing the women's game in USA Hockey. This was a first-class event and Kris and her team should be truly proud of this clinic.”

Everyone who presented at the clinic was a female USA Hockey coach developer from Minnesota or Wisconsin, said Wing. In addition to skills- and systems-based sessions, the clinic included options including “Supporting and Keeping Females Involved in Hockey” and “Nuances of Coaching Females.” 

Wing led that second session, and she said her role with USA Hockey is to increase the numbers and involvement of women in hockey, particularly in coaching and education. One of her goals, she said, is to get coaches of any gender to understand the biases and barriers that exist that affect players and may keep women from coaching. 

“We need to be intentional. How do we get more females involved? How do we support the women who are already involved? What are the challenges that they face being a female?” she said. “Everybody should be able to show their knowledge and be able to know that they're respected because of the skills that they bring in, but we know that is not always the case for female coaches.

“Hockey is hockey, but if we want hockey to be for everyone, we need to know about everyone. We need to know what’s good for them and what makes them tick. The game of hockey is the same, but there are differences between how we train and treat females and males.”

The weekend included a reception where attendees gathered to watch the Women’s Frozen Four semifinals. Front office representatives of the PWHL’s Minnesota Frost, as well as representatives of The Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, an interdisciplinary research center at the University of Minnesota, attended and the focus was on celebrating women in hockey, Wing said. 

The Tucker Center created Coaching HER, “A coaching resource that helps sport coaches of girls challenge the status quo and the taken-for-granted assumptions of what it means to coach girls.”

Wing said USA Hockey is a champion of the resource and includes information and links to it as part of their continuing education for coaches. 

Wing hopes that the conversations at the Women’s Frozen Four are just the start and that the idea can be adapted and shared with districts or associations at a more grassroots level.

She wants to challenge the status quo on structural inequalities like making sure girls are given appropriate locker room facilities and women coaches aren’t kept from advancing beyond leading 8U, as well as focus on smaller things like securing a provider for menstrual products in all bathrooms and locker rooms at girls’ national tournaments. 

Everything trickles down and has an impact, Wing said. In Minneapolis, Bemidji State head coach Amber Fryklund made a point to name a drill she taught after Kendall Coyne-Schofield instead of defaulting to naming it after a famous male player. There was intentional usage of inclusive language, including “defender” in place of “defensemen” and an avoidance of the word “guys” for the collective group. Those changes have little impacts and let the players know they are in a safe space. 

Wing said she’s had to tell men who coach girls to keep hair ties in their coaching bag and tell them to remind their players to put up or braid their hair at tryouts so coaches can see their name or number. She also hopes to make conversations about menstruation the norm, instead of seen as taboo. 

“Having these conversations may be difficult if you're the only female in your association, or the only female coach who is surrounded by other male coaches,” Wing said. 

USA Hockey has a Girls and Women’s homepage with resource links and Wing said the coaching continuing education portal does, as well. She also wants coaches and associations to reach out. Every district has an associate coach in chief of female development, but Wing is also available to make connections. 

“I see myself as the middle of a spider web,” she said. “My job is to spin that web and reach people and bring people into that network that can help and really make that web grow and be stronger. My best practice is going to be to help continue to develop female coaches.”

Everyone who becomes a coach can point to a positive coaching influence they had earlier in their life. To grow the ranks of women who coach in the future, it’s important that the girls who are playing hockey now are given a positive playing experience with a coach that understands that they need different training, different nutrition and different support. 

“We want the girls to be able to speak up. We want to give them permission to challenge you as a coach — not be disrespectful but challenge you and not be afraid to make mistakes,” Wing said.

“Getting our females to be confident and to enjoy and want to continue to be with hockey is a huge thing. We want that hockey world to be friendly, where they can be themselves and they can be respected for their ideas and opinions and views.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

Source: usahockey.com