Shira Pellegrino

On The Ice

Freshman Shira Pellegrino shares her passion for ice hockey

Hannah Cole editor-in-chief

Ice hockey is an intense, high impact sport that is typically a male-dominated. However, freshman Shira Pellegrino holds a passion for playing the sport.

Pellegrino ice skated for four years before deciding to pursue hockey. While Pellegrino had other skating sports to choose from, such as competitive figure skating, she ultimately wanted to play hockey.

Most kids start playing at a young age and Pellegrino said she worried that she started too late. However, her mom encouraged her to try it anyways and helped her find a new passion.

“I like the skating part,” Pellegrino said. “That’s always been my favorite. I want to do speed skating [as well] but they don’t have that in Kansas.”

Hockey is a fun opportunity for Pellegrino but she also must work to manage a busy schedule and keep up with training. On top of school, Pellegrino attends practice every Tuesday and Thursday. Occasionally, she and her team meet up on Sundays as well.

“We practice in Independence and in a rink in Shawnee called KC [Ice Center] and some days we have practice on Sundays in St. Joe,” Pellegrino said.

Most people think recreational ice skating rinks only appear in the winter, but Pellegrino and her team practice and compete all year round. Despite the time commitment, Pellegrino tries to maintain a balance between school and hockey.

Photo courtesy of Shira Pellegrino

“It’s travel hockey. So it’s basically all year round like from the beginning of August to the end of April,” Pellegrino said. “Then there are camps for the summer season. It just takes up a lot of time because of traveling. [However] the practices aren’t until 7:30 at night so I have a lot of time right after school to do my homework.”

While the girls train hard, Pellegrino explained that there are some differences between girl’s hockey and boy’s hockey. For example, Pellegrino said the game is less physical and more mental.

“In girls hockey, there’s no checking, so there’s not as much physical contact,” Pellegrino said. “There are girls out there that get pretty physical but [overall] it’s a lot more mental and we focus on working together. The boys have these fighting concepts and are more physical.”

Overall, Pellegrino hopes that more girls try hockey. She and her team want to expand the sport and show others how fun it is.

“This is the only Kansas City girl’s team and when I first started playing last year, they had me playing on a boy’s team. At a certain point, the boys got bigger than a lot of the girls and it’s dangerous for [girls] to be playing with them because you might get hurt,” Pellegrino said. “So it’s really good that places are trying to make a team for girls.”