Bulldogs Spread Out Across Globe for Summer
Players Spend Break Working, Studying and Training
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - In a few weeks, they will be back in New Haven for the start of the 2009-10 academic year. But for now, the members of the Yale women's ice hockey team are spending the summer spread out across the globe working, studying and training. In addition to typical summer activities like hitting the beach, they're also doing things like volunteering at a school for underprivileged children; observing open heart surgery; studying Portuguese in Brazil; researching Coventry Cathedral in England; and working out with Olympic team hopefuls.
Here's a look at what they're up to:
Junior forward Lili Rudis (Chicago, Ill.):
"I've spent the past six weeks in Brazil studying
Portuguese language and Brazilian culture. The Yale program brought
20 students to the coastal town of Paraty for two weeks and Rio de
Janeiro for the past month. As an environmental engineering major,
I am learning a lot about the way a mega-country like Brazil deals
with preserving its natural resources while continuously growing
its economy. Also, working out at my gym in Rio has been hilarious
- I think that I might be the only female in the city who allows
herself to break a sweat in public."
Sophomore forward Becky Mantell (Princeton, N.J.):
"I have spent the majority of my time this summer working
as a marketing intern for a website called PlaySportsTV.com.
Besides working and keeping in shape for hockey, I have been
enjoying my time at home with my family and friends from high
school. In August I am volunteering at a preschool for
underprivileged kids for a few weeks. It's a great program that
I've done for the past four summers. Bu basically I'm really
excited to come back to school and have a great season!"
Sophomore defenseman Heather Grant (Toronto, Ont.):
"I decided that my time might be better spent in New Haven
taking classes and working out. I spent June and July taking
physics and physics lab and working out with our strength and
conditioning coach (Joe Maher). Even though my body is often sore
and tired, I think that living in New Haven this summer was the
right choice, academically and athletically. I finished my courses
in early August and am returning to Toronto to finish out the
summer."
Sophomore forward Lauren Davis (Morrison, Colo.):
"This summer has been my fun summer. I figure that next
summer will be the time to take some summer classes and find a job.
That is for next summer. This summer I have been spending a lot of
time at the rink and I have been going to Jazzercise with my mom.
Spending time with friends has also been a top priority (yes, we
went to the midnight premier of Harry Potter). I went to Las Vegas
for the first time with my mom and decided that it is one of the
more interesting places I have traveled to."
Sophomore forward Aleca Hughes (Westwood, Mass.):
"This summer I've spent most of my time training and
playing hockey. I've been out to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for two
10-day skating sessions, where I've been working on improving my
stride and speed. I will head out there for the final camp in a
couple of weeks. [Junior forward] Bray [Ketchum] has also been
venturing to Milwaukee with me. It's a pretty hopping town. So far
we've seen the County Zoo and next camp we're looking forward to
the State Fair and some live country music to kill time in between
skating sessions. The rest of my time has been spent bouncing back
and forth between Westwood and Vineyard Haven, Mass. When I'm in
Westwood, I'm usually at the rink with my brothers and friends. And
while in Vineyard Haven, I'm out fishing, waterskiing, or at the
beach with my friends and family."
Junior goaltender Jackee Snikeris (Downingtown,
Pa.):
"For the first half of the summer I was living in Florida
working for a pulmonologist (lung doctor). It basically consisted
of shadowing him doing hospital rounds, seeing patients in the
office, and helping him with the electronic medical records. I also
was allowed to see various procedures like a bronchoscopy and
colonoscopies (ew!) and surgeries including a lung lobectomy,
hernia repair, and an open heart surgery. It was a great experience
and my first real look into the medical field. I also
instructed a girls hockey camp at the local rink where I live and
now for the rest of the summer I'm just working a few days a week
at a psychiatrist office where my mom works, continuing to work out
and getting on the ice a few times before heading back to
school."
Freshman defenseman Jamie Gray (Calgary, Alta.):
"I have mostly been working out, working, and out on the
water all day swimming, boating and wakeboarding. Now that I am
back home my mom has my sister and I working around the house for
her so that will take up most of my day as well as training and
going to free movies (since I work at the movie theatre). I am
starting to get packed for the year and am so excited!"
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| Dani Moncion and Genny Ladiges on a four-wheeler in Ontario. |
Sophomore goaltender Genny Ladiges (Almonte,
Ont.):
"I haven't been up to much lately other than working at the berry
farm and the local pub in Almonte to make some extra cash.
One weekend my parents and I went up to [freshman forward] Dani
Moncion's house on Round Lake and it was a ton of fun. I haven't
been in about two-three years so that was pretty cool because I got
to water-ski for the first time and go four-wheeling and all of
that hickish stuff hah. For the rest of the summer I have two camps
in August and about four more hours with the goalie instructor I've
been working with now."Sophomore goaltender Genny Ladiges
(Almonte, Ont.):
Freshman forward Natalie Wedell (Arden Hills,
Minn.):
"I have been training with Potter's Pure Hockey and
playing in the local D1 league. Nine of the women that I train with
are trying out for the Olympics. The pace has been intense. Each
week, we skate three days, run two days, and lift five days. On
skating days, we average about six hours of training. The D1 league
which just finished added two game nights each week. In August, I'm
coaching a Midwest Selects team in addition to training."
Freshman defenseman Emily DesMeules (North Pomfret,
Vt.):
"Hockey wise this summer I've been playing in the NEWHL
college league games in Boston and I played in Chowder Cup. I
also played with a really stacked team at the NAHA Summerfest
tournament! We had Noemi Marin and Jess Koizumi among other people
and it was really fun to play with those players; they made the
game so easy. What else? I've picked up some other tournaments and
games here and there as well. Plus I've been working out a
lot and visiting friends in various places. Summer has been fun but
I can't believe it has gone by so fast! I'm really excited for the
season to start though, and to see the new rink, meet everyone and
all that!"
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| Samantha MacLean, Jamie Gray and Jen Matichuk with some friends at the Calgary Stampede. |
Freshman forward Jen Matichuk (St. Alberta,
Alta.):
"My summer started when I returned home from living in Calgary all
year on July 6th. I went to the Calgary Stampede that day with
[freshman defenseman] Jamie Gray and [junior defenseman] Sam
MacLean. It was an absolute blast and I am really glad I was able
to spend a day with Sam before meeting the rest of the team. She is
the only one on the team in the same residential college as me
[Silliman] so she told me all the great things about it. The past
few weeks I have basically been training everyday preparing for the
season. Although, I did have to take a break from training because
I had all four wisdom teeth removed on the 17th. It was a terribly
painful recovery. But now that that is over I am looking forward to
instructing a hockey camp from August 10-14. I am really looking
forward to the year!!"Freshman forward Jen Matichuk (St.
Albert, Alta.):
Freshman forward Alyssa Zupon (Basking Ridge, N.J.):
"I traveled to South East Asia for three and half weeks
with my family. I visited Thailand (Bangkok, Krabi, and
Chiang Mai), Vietnam (Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Ho Chi Minh City),
Singapore, and Japan (Tokyo)."
Senior forward Berit Johnson (Wayzata, Minn.):
"I am in England with my dad right now. I am doing
research for my senior essay. I know it is a bit early, but I
decided to do the trip this summer so that it wouldn't conflict
with hockey. I am in Coventry right now -- my paper is on the
destruction of the Coventry Cathedral during the 1940 Blitz, its
reconstruction and rededication, as well as Benjamin Britten's War
Requiem, which was written for the rededication. I have been
to the ruins of the old Cathedral and the rebuilt Cathedral -- both
are amazing. Other than that, I am spending my time in
archive rooms -- nerdy, I know. The rest of my summer has been busy
with my marketing communications internship at Compellent and
hockey games and workouts."
