DOWNTOWN
words by SIRI FREEH photography provided by the LAMOUREUX TWINS
gold
the
Lamoureux Twins
mission for women
greater than
WINNING AN
“
Olympic gold medal. It is beyond what most of us could ever imagine achieving. A feat most of us would define as our proudest moment.
WE GREW UP
with a mentality that we were going to be given the
same opportunity
58
a r e a wom a n
| areawomanmagazine.com
But for the Lamoureux twins, Jocelyne and Monique … it’s not. Don’t get the ladies wrong, "Monique and I are so proud to win a gold medal,” says Jocelyne. But their proudest moment would change many more lives than just their own. Their story began in the frozen tundra of North Dakota. Beyond the winters and plentiful ice it provided for practice, the budding hockey stars found many more advantages to calling the Midwest home. “We
were able to be in so many different activities, which really helped us as athletes,” Monique points out. She explains that in larger cities, youth typically focus on one sport due to population size and time it takes to navigate rush hour traffic. But in North Dakota, Jocelyne proudly shares, they could do it all, “Dance, swimming, soccer, cross country — whatever season, that was the sport we played.” But beyond the external, growing up in the Midwest developed something even greater internally. The very spirit of the region of the country — hard work and determination — was instilled in the women. And it was from the very moment they first hit the ice. “We would go to different tournaments growing up and in women’s hockey no one came out of North Dakota,” Jocelyne remembers. “We didn’t [even] have girls’ teams growing up so we played hockey with the boys.” They were not going to be cut any slack, “We grew up with a mentality that we were going to be given the same opportunity.” Little did they realize how much this would prepare them for the purpose and mission they find themselves called to serve to this day.