The players of the French ice hockey team take part from April 24 to 30, 2022 in the D1A World Championship, the second world level. The competition takes place in Angers. The opportunity to talk about this sport and especially its women’s section, little highlighted in France. There are only 2,500 licensees in the whole country and only one senior national championship, the young players play in mixed teams. At the Dijon Hockey Club, they are 22 members for 207 in all. In 2021, a women’s section was created to give more space to the discipline
Bringing a team to life
Jean-François Jurado is the head of the section. He also created an association, Les Reines du puck, which brings together around twenty players aged 14, 15 or 16. They come from all over France and come together to play in tournaments, only between girls. Introducing girls to team life was Jean-François Jurado’s first objective: “sometimes they can feel left out even though they are part of the team”.
Same observation for Auxanne, 15, she has been playing since she was 3, always with boys. She likes the side “raw” of this reputedly masculine sport, but playing with the girls really pleased him: “it’s different, the girls play more tactics and then the atmosphere is different, we laugh more”.
Discover professional women’s hockey
The other objective is to make people discover professional sport. In February 2022, the association took the members to Sweden. They were able to meet professional players there, including two players from the France team, who play in Sweden. A useful discovery for Clémence, she is in sport studies and is destined why not for a career as a professional player: “we really saw that it was possible to play professional sports. It opens doors and we say to ourselves that it is not impossible”.
In the meantime, Clémence will encourage the players of the French team in Angers, for the end of the competition.
– Pauline Boudier