Tuesday was the first game of the 2019 Women’s World Cup when American women played against Thailand — and they were ready. Yet while playing crackerjack soccer, they are, at the same time, embroiled in a lawsuit with the U.S. National Soccer Federation. Why? Because they are paid less and valued less for their work due to their gender.
Sound familiar?
Those of us old enough to remember, recall tennis in 1973 when Billie Jean King played Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes and began the fight for equal pay for women tennis champions. It was a quarter of a century ago, yet the battle for equality in women's sport is far from won.
Here in Santa Ynez, girls are also doing amazing things in sport. And they are not only doing it in traditional sports we see women play, such as tennis, soccer or softball, but excelling in sports we don’t often equate with female players.
Hannah Marmorstein of Los Olivos, is a 17 year-old ice hockey whiz. It is not easy for someone living in the Santa Ynez Valley wanting to play this rapid-fire and exciting sport. Hannah must travel to Goleta for her practices on the ice.
She has always loved sports. As a little girl she began with soccer, then went on to fencing, karate and volleyball. But, when she saw ice hockey, she was hooked.
Hannah loves team sports, loves being part of a group passionate about the game they are playing together. This year, as a high school senior, she played hockey on three teams. And in the fall, Hannah's dream of playing ice hockey in college will come true when she goes to St. Olaf’s College in Northfield, Minnesota to play Division III women’s ice hockey.
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As far as she and her family know, she’s the first girl from any of the teams she’s played with in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara County, to be invited to play college hockey. But, the road to being a college athlete in ice hockey was not easy for a girl (or her family) from the Santa Ynez Valley. There aren’t a lot of girls playing ice hockey in this area. So, Marmorstein has had to play on teams where there have been, at most, only one other girl.
What’s it been like playing on teams with mostly, or at times, exclusively, only boy players? With her usual grace and confidence, Hannah says mostly the boys treat her like a sister. They have been respectful and she has been lucky enough to have coaches that instill that in their players.
But ice hockey is a physical game, with players slamming into each other. Marmorstein says that boys have had to get used to slamming into a girl. And she has learned how to play with confidence, moving the puck away from the boards and around the rink, despite players pushing and shoving her.
She has also learned the mental skills necessary to play highly competitive sports — and the mental toughness to visualize success. She says sometimes she stays awake at night, thinking of the plays and movements on ice she wants to accomplish the next day in a game or practice.
Hannah has learned a lot from playing a difficult sport. She says the persistence she’s learned in hockey, in staying with the puck, has helped her in life. When she didn’t get immediate answers from college hockey coaches, she kept phoning the school — staying with it until she got to speak to the athletic director.
She says it was hard to advocate for herself, but she credits hockey with helping her become more self-assured. She also describes learning greater acceptance of her own strong, athletic body.
In order to be successful in anything, young people need role models. They need to see players who look like them, so they can imagine that someday, they can achieve their goals. Hannah describes Kendall Coyne, who plays for the U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey Team, as her personal role model.
She met Kendall at ice hockey camp, and even got to hold her role model’s Olympic gold medal. Now, Hannah Marmorstein herself, wants to be a role model. She coaches and mentors younger girls who are enamored with the sport of ice hockey.
When I was a young girl, sports were something boys did. Girls watched boys play; sometimes we got to be cheerleaders. That’s all behind us.
Right now I am cheering for Hannah Marmorstein in her college ice hockey career at St. Olaf’s, and for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. I hope they win both on the field and in their lawsuit for equal pay.