Ice hockey is a fundamental sport at Berkshire School and the Girls’ Varsity team has had a great season with some very gritty wins under their belt. This year, they added nine new players to the team alongside 12 returning players. According to four-year senior Julia Echavarria ‘25, “the program has absolutely grown from [her] freshman year. Across [her] four years, the team culture has changed, [their] coaching has changed, and [their] values have changed. Through all those changes [she] can confidently say that [she] grew with the program.” Julia voices that there has been exponential growth within the team starting with the team culture which has been carefully curated.
Many bonding traditions tie the team together such as everyone wearing the same outfit on game days, team breakfasts, team cooldowns, and much more. The environment is extremely positive and according to new sophomore Gabriella Ogunnupe ‘27, “everyone was welcoming and overall had a really fun and great energy.” During the period of settling into school, she felt that “There was always someone willing to help adjust or answer any questions that [she] had which was really helpful for the first couple of weeks.”
Not only does the team find significance in these traditions but they also pride themselves on how they treat others and the space around them. The locker room is organized in a particular way and is kept as clean as possible not only for organizational purposes but also to serve as a reflection of their minds. The locker room is like a second home to the Girls’ Varsity Ice Hockey and the clean space helps them have a clear mind for games and practices. The team has a schedule, which rotates weekly, with different people in charge of bringing necessities to practices and games. This idea of organizing everything so the players can have a safe space connects to what Billy Roberts, a licensed therapist at Focused Mind ADHD Counseling said in an article by Krista Reuther. Roberts said, “Living space can directly impact mood and anxiety. With increased clutter or disorganization in a person’s personal living space, it can feel like there is no safe space to recover from life” (Reuther). To be able to leave everything out of the rink and have a couple of hours of thinking of nothing but hockey can be extremely helpful in being the best players they can be.
Craig Whiting, Jackman L. Stewart Center manager is an extremely important person to ice hockey at Berkshire. He communicated that “It gives [him] great pride to see [the Girls’ Hockey team] push tables together and have, especially on game day, morning breakfast and lunch and all that… [they are] a very close-knit group.” He went on to say that he doesn’t “see that with all the sports.” There is nothing like ice hockey to bring people together and bind students through unbreakable friendships. It is clear that girls varsity ice hockey has a special community or as Mr. Whiting describes it “a glow”.
With the end of winter approaching, it is important to shine a light on the hard-working Girls’ Varsity Ice hockey team, who hope to make it to the ice hockey playoffs in the first week of March. The team has come a long way beating some very strong teams and will continue to use their determination to make it to the playoffs.
Sources:
https://www.turbotenant.com/business-building/how-your-living-space-affects-your-mental-health/
