From Youth1.com : Written by Kaitlyn Lipkin:
Sunday, 15 December 2013…
In sports history, it was women like Billie Jean King, Pat Summitt, Mia Hamm and others who helped pave the way for future female athletes to succeed in athletics. Not only could they play, but they could compete with the boys as well, and 13-year-old hockey player Abigail Levy is living-proof that their efforts did in fact reach young girls across the world.
Levy, an 8th grader from Congers, New York, has been competitively playing ice hockey for five years now with both the girls and the boys. She got her start in the sport after watching her older brother’s hockey games and has been excelling ever since as a goalie who currently plays for the Ramapo Saints.
The net minder proved that not only could she skate with the boys her age, but was able to compete alongside the older boys as well, as she is a 2000 birth year player playing up in the 1999 boy’s AAA.
“It feels very good to be a strong female athlete,” said Levy. “I am very happy to have the ability to compete at high levels.”
When you take a look at all of the accolades Levy has earned since her start in hockey, it comes to no surprise why she plays with older competitors. In just this year alone, her boy’s Spyders summer select team won the CT Jr. Islanders Invitational, she was the Player of the Game twice for her girl’s team in the Silverstick Aurora Tournament, she won the Shattuck St. Mary’s 2013 Girls Hockey Camp Player’s Player Award and went to Nationals for the girl’s New Jersey Colonials squad in San Jose, California.
All the success could easily be credited to the hard work Levy puts in on and off the ice.
“My goalie coach now is Stephen Valiquette. I also go to goalie training at Cutting Edge Ice Academy in Elmwood Park, New Jersey. I think I have been successful because I am a multi-sport athlete (ice hockey, volleyball, basketball, softball),” said Levy.
While the present has offered much to celebrate for Levy, she also focuses on her ice hockey goals for the future, as she hopes to play for a strong Division I college team and eventually compete for the girl’s USA National team.
With all that Levy has accomplished already at such a young age, it seems as though she’s on the right path to achieving those goals. She’ll also have to keep in mind about what she said is the biggest life lesson she’s learned from ice hockey.
Youth 1.com
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