**The 20-year-old splits her time between her job as a teaching assistant, men’s and women’s league teams and the Great Britain national team**
As Ellie Wakeling poses for photographs on the ice, her Romford Junior Raiders team-mates take a few playful jabs: “Ooh! What are you doing?” “Very pretty!”
They shoot pucks along the floor at the defender, trying to put her off. Despite the teasing, it is obvious that the 20-year-old is not to be laughed at. She is the only female playing in England’s male National Ice Hockey League Division One. In fact, she is the only woman playing in the top two tiers, as no women currently play in the league above, the National Division.
A staple pick for Great Britain’s national women’s team, too, Wakeling is not just at the top of her game, she is nearly at the top of theirs. And it is clear the bond between Wakeling and her Raiders peers is strong and genuine.
“They treat me like I’m part of the team,” Wakeling says. “They don’t separate me or make me feel like I’m different because I’m a girl. We all tease each other and I give it back! It’s part of the hockey changing-room chat.”
She adds with a smile: “They teased me for about 10 minutes but all the boys are asking if they will be in the background of the pictures now.”
Wakeling started playing ice hockey in Chelmsford at the age of five before moving to Romford Raiders for her final two junior years. Here, she was offered the chance to play for their senior men’s second team at just 16 years old.
“You have to prove yourself,” Wakeling says. “I put pressure on myself to make sure I do the things I have to and do them well.
“I know I’m not as strong as the fully grown men I go up against, so I have to do something different to counterbalance that. I’ve got to be good with my stick battles rather than hitting someone and sending them flying – I know that’s not going to happen.
“You have to be confident with what you can do, but, of course, it’s in the back of your mind: ‘I’m not as strong as them, how am I going to do this?’ So, it’s more of a mental battle. It’s not about doing the skills, it’s about trusting and believing that you can.”
**’A lot of the men say it’s unfair; that they can’t hit me’**
While governing bodies around the world grapple with biological categories in sport, the NIHL is open to all players regardless of sex. But as impressive as her achievement is, not everyone agrees with Wakeling’s presence in the league.
“Most of the time, the reaction to me playing is positive,” Wakeling says. “You have the odd coach that says, ‘You’re a girl, you shouldn’t be playing in this league’. I’ve had that a few times.
“Some players are against it, too. They say it’s unfair because they don’t feel they can hit me, so think I’m giving them a disadvantage.”
Ice hockey is a fast-paced, physical battle, and “hits” are an essential element of the sport, involving a player making contact with another to disrupt them or separate them from the puck. This kind of body checking can be penalised if done in an illegal way or recklessly.
“I can see it from their perspective,” Wakeling says. “You see it in my games – I quite often get hit and fall over because I’m not as big or strong, but it doesn’t hurt.
“Coaches have always said to me, ‘if you weren’t good enough, we wouldn’t play you’.
“If I have the ability to play in that league I should be treated the same. They should be able to hit me and not be any more likely to get penalties.
“If I want to play in a league where there are big hits and men playing, then that’s up to me.”
**’Ice hockey needs more funding and more exposure’**
While Wakeling can compete in a men’s league where physicality dominates, in international women’s ice hockey and the top tier of the women’s sport in England – the WNIHL – body checking is not allowed and a continued area of contention.
“I think if checking was allowed in women’s ice hockey the game would run more smoothly and have more intensity,” explains Wakeling, who splits her time between her day job as a teaching assistant, Romford Raiders, national team duty and her WNIHL side, Bracknell Queen Bees. “But at the same time, there’s a bigger range of ability within leagues. Because of the non-checking rules, players don’t know how to take a hit or safely give one out, so on the inevitable occasions it does happen, there’s a higher risk of injury.”
The risk of injury raises more issues than missed game time at this level. The sport remains underfunded and elite players often have to pay out of their own pockets for treatment, something Wakeling had to do herself after separating the acromioclavicular joint in her shoulder while competing in February.
The WNIHL is pay-to-play and even NIHL One players rely on sponsorship as most do not receive compensation for their appearances.
After our meeting in Romford, Wakeling travelled to Korea for the Women’s World Championship, where she is in action for GB, who are looking to justify last year’s promotion into Division 1B. It is the first tournament in which Ice Hockey UK has been able to provide sticks free of charge to the team. Prior to this, personal equipment, bar jerseys, helmets and gloves, was the financial responsibility of the players.
By the age of 10, Wakeling was training with England and has been involved in the national pipeline ever since. She sees visibility and sponsorship as the key to developing the sport across all levels. “Ice hockey in general needs more funding and more exposure,” Wakeling says.
“It’s a small sport in this country, so it must be on show for people to know it exists. It would be great for more young people, especially girls, to see ice hockey, see that it’s fun and see it’s possible and exciting to play as a woman.”
She is a minority in a minority sport but she is making a major impact.
If you have never been in an ice hockey game, I recommend you give it a go. For around £12 (average ticket price to NIHL games) you get to enjoy two hours of great, fast and exciting play with a passionate crowd of fans.
You find families with their toddlers, groups and pensioners all mixed together having great fun and standing passionately behind their team, win or lose. You find players playing for the logo in front of their shirts, not for the name on the back.
You will be made feel welcome by the regulars and people are happy to explain the rules to you, and the offside rule is easy to understand 😉
>“I know I’m not as strong as the fully grown men I go up against, so I have to do something different to counterbalance that. I’ve got to be good with my stick battles rather than hitting someone and sending them flying – I know that’s not going to happen.
>“You have to be confident with what you can do, but, of course, it’s in the back of your mind: ‘I’m not as strong as them, how am I going to do this?’ So, it’s more of a mental battle. It’s not about doing the skills, it’s about trusting and believing that you can.”
>“I can see it from their perspective,” Wakeling says. “You see it in my games – I quite often get hit and fall over because I’m not as big or strong, but it doesn’t hurt.
No comment
So, im confused. If there is a mans league, and a womans league, why is she playing in both? And how many men are playing, or are allowed to play, in the womens league?
I dont doubt her skill, and ability, she has done tremendously well, but i doubt if men would be allowed to play with the womens team, so why is she allowed in the mens? And she admits that men feel unconfortable around her, and feel the need to avoid hurting her.
Either we have a single hockey league that has the best players regardless of gender (my preferred option) or we keep the segregation.
Edit: it really is amazing how any comment pointing out the discrimination towards men is always downvoted. If a man had tried to enter the womens team, of any sport, this place would be full of comments complaining about it.
Also also, clearly no one read the part where i advocated for equality in gender neutral teams, and praised this womens skill. I guess being sexist requires no thought for people.
Some sports should have mixed leagues added. Esp if skill level and weight class are more of a factor you can measure individually on
…so when cis people do it, it’s praiseworthy?
Like, fair play to her it’s impressive, but the Torygraph have pushed so many articles about how trans people competing in sports will ruin sports and is bad etc because you should only compete in the category for your birth sex. And yes, this goes both ways because the media complained about trans men competing too (see Mack Beggs)
So why is this different? It’s still someone competing in a different category to their birth sex.
I think she’s brilliant. People moaning about men not playing in women’s teams are idiots. The world cup winning USA women’s football team got thrashed by the Dallas under 15s team. Nicola Adams was a great boxer but would you really like to see her fight Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury. Chess, darts and snooker fair enough but more physical sports have an open and a women’s category. Ellie Wakerling is good enough to be in the open category. She’s great.
Elite ice hockey and England are not words that go together!
At best you are talking kiddy grade ice hockey when compared to Canada !
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Article contents (not behind paywall):
**The 20-year-old splits her time between her job as a teaching assistant, men’s and women’s league teams and the Great Britain national team**
As Ellie Wakeling poses for photographs on the ice, her Romford Junior Raiders team-mates take a few playful jabs: “Ooh! What are you doing?” “Very pretty!”
They shoot pucks along the floor at the defender, trying to put her off. Despite the teasing, it is obvious that the 20-year-old is not to be laughed at. She is the only female playing in England’s male National Ice Hockey League Division One. In fact, she is the only woman playing in the top two tiers, as no women currently play in the league above, the National Division.
A staple pick for Great Britain’s national women’s team, too, Wakeling is not just at the top of her game, she is nearly at the top of theirs. And it is clear the bond between Wakeling and her Raiders peers is strong and genuine.
“They treat me like I’m part of the team,” Wakeling says. “They don’t separate me or make me feel like I’m different because I’m a girl. We all tease each other and I give it back! It’s part of the hockey changing-room chat.”
She adds with a smile: “They teased me for about 10 minutes but all the boys are asking if they will be in the background of the pictures now.”
Wakeling started playing ice hockey in Chelmsford at the age of five before moving to Romford Raiders for her final two junior years. Here, she was offered the chance to play for their senior men’s second team at just 16 years old.
“You have to prove yourself,” Wakeling says. “I put pressure on myself to make sure I do the things I have to and do them well.
“I know I’m not as strong as the fully grown men I go up against, so I have to do something different to counterbalance that. I’ve got to be good with my stick battles rather than hitting someone and sending them flying – I know that’s not going to happen.
“You have to be confident with what you can do, but, of course, it’s in the back of your mind: ‘I’m not as strong as them, how am I going to do this?’ So, it’s more of a mental battle. It’s not about doing the skills, it’s about trusting and believing that you can.”
**’A lot of the men say it’s unfair; that they can’t hit me’**
While governing bodies around the world grapple with biological categories in sport, the NIHL is open to all players regardless of sex. But as impressive as her achievement is, not everyone agrees with Wakeling’s presence in the league.
“Most of the time, the reaction to me playing is positive,” Wakeling says. “You have the odd coach that says, ‘You’re a girl, you shouldn’t be playing in this league’. I’ve had that a few times.
“Some players are against it, too. They say it’s unfair because they don’t feel they can hit me, so think I’m giving them a disadvantage.”
Ice hockey is a fast-paced, physical battle, and “hits” are an essential element of the sport, involving a player making contact with another to disrupt them or separate them from the puck. This kind of body checking can be penalised if done in an illegal way or recklessly.
“I can see it from their perspective,” Wakeling says. “You see it in my games – I quite often get hit and fall over because I’m not as big or strong, but it doesn’t hurt.
“Coaches have always said to me, ‘if you weren’t good enough, we wouldn’t play you’.
“If I have the ability to play in that league I should be treated the same. They should be able to hit me and not be any more likely to get penalties.
“If I want to play in a league where there are big hits and men playing, then that’s up to me.”
**’Ice hockey needs more funding and more exposure’**
While Wakeling can compete in a men’s league where physicality dominates, in international women’s ice hockey and the top tier of the women’s sport in England – the WNIHL – body checking is not allowed and a continued area of contention.
“I think if checking was allowed in women’s ice hockey the game would run more smoothly and have more intensity,” explains Wakeling, who splits her time between her day job as a teaching assistant, Romford Raiders, national team duty and her WNIHL side, Bracknell Queen Bees. “But at the same time, there’s a bigger range of ability within leagues. Because of the non-checking rules, players don’t know how to take a hit or safely give one out, so on the inevitable occasions it does happen, there’s a higher risk of injury.”
The risk of injury raises more issues than missed game time at this level. The sport remains underfunded and elite players often have to pay out of their own pockets for treatment, something Wakeling had to do herself after separating the acromioclavicular joint in her shoulder while competing in February.
The WNIHL is pay-to-play and even NIHL One players rely on sponsorship as most do not receive compensation for their appearances.
After our meeting in Romford, Wakeling travelled to Korea for the Women’s World Championship, where she is in action for GB, who are looking to justify last year’s promotion into Division 1B. It is the first tournament in which Ice Hockey UK has been able to provide sticks free of charge to the team. Prior to this, personal equipment, bar jerseys, helmets and gloves, was the financial responsibility of the players.
By the age of 10, Wakeling was training with England and has been involved in the national pipeline ever since. She sees visibility and sponsorship as the key to developing the sport across all levels. “Ice hockey in general needs more funding and more exposure,” Wakeling says.
“It’s a small sport in this country, so it must be on show for people to know it exists. It would be great for more young people, especially girls, to see ice hockey, see that it’s fun and see it’s possible and exciting to play as a woman.”
She is a minority in a minority sport but she is making a major impact.
If you have never been in an ice hockey game, I recommend you give it a go. For around £12 (average ticket price to NIHL games) you get to enjoy two hours of great, fast and exciting play with a passionate crowd of fans.
You find families with their toddlers, groups and pensioners all mixed together having great fun and standing passionately behind their team, win or lose. You find players playing for the logo in front of their shirts, not for the name on the back.
You will be made feel welcome by the regulars and people are happy to explain the rules to you, and the offside rule is easy to understand 😉
>“I know I’m not as strong as the fully grown men I go up against, so I have to do something different to counterbalance that. I’ve got to be good with my stick battles rather than hitting someone and sending them flying – I know that’s not going to happen.
>“You have to be confident with what you can do, but, of course, it’s in the back of your mind: ‘I’m not as strong as them, how am I going to do this?’ So, it’s more of a mental battle. It’s not about doing the skills, it’s about trusting and believing that you can.”
>“I can see it from their perspective,” Wakeling says. “You see it in my games – I quite often get hit and fall over because I’m not as big or strong, but it doesn’t hurt.
No comment
So, im confused. If there is a mans league, and a womans league, why is she playing in both? And how many men are playing, or are allowed to play, in the womens league?
I dont doubt her skill, and ability, she has done tremendously well, but i doubt if men would be allowed to play with the womens team, so why is she allowed in the mens? And she admits that men feel unconfortable around her, and feel the need to avoid hurting her.
Either we have a single hockey league that has the best players regardless of gender (my preferred option) or we keep the segregation.
Edit: it really is amazing how any comment pointing out the discrimination towards men is always downvoted. If a man had tried to enter the womens team, of any sport, this place would be full of comments complaining about it.
Also also, clearly no one read the part where i advocated for equality in gender neutral teams, and praised this womens skill. I guess being sexist requires no thought for people.
Some sports should have mixed leagues added. Esp if skill level and weight class are more of a factor you can measure individually on
…so when cis people do it, it’s praiseworthy?
Like, fair play to her it’s impressive, but the Torygraph have pushed so many articles about how trans people competing in sports will ruin sports and is bad etc because you should only compete in the category for your birth sex. And yes, this goes both ways because the media complained about trans men competing too (see Mack Beggs)
So why is this different? It’s still someone competing in a different category to their birth sex.
I think she’s brilliant. People moaning about men not playing in women’s teams are idiots. The world cup winning USA women’s football team got thrashed by the Dallas under 15s team. Nicola Adams was a great boxer but would you really like to see her fight Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury. Chess, darts and snooker fair enough but more physical sports have an open and a women’s category. Ellie Wakerling is good enough to be in the open category. She’s great.
Elite ice hockey and England are not words that go together!
At best you are talking kiddy grade ice hockey when compared to Canada !