The pictures above are of the first girls hockey players in the country of Georgia. Ten girls between the ages of 11 and 14 participated in the World Girls' Ice Hockey Weekend in mid October 2013. While it may not seem like a huge turnout, for Georgia, which has only 335 registered hockey players total, it was a success. The girls were all experienced skaters through figure skating, so after gearing up they focused on stick and puck work and playing a mini-game.
The country is trying to bring the sport of hockey to a non-traditional hockey area, but also to build a women's hockey program which may see success faster than a men's program.
“It was a bit challenging because we just started the program for boys a few weeks before. We established a new club there and thought: ‘Why not doing it for girls as well?’", said Alexander Vashakidze, the Georgian Ice Hockey Federation’s General Secretary. “With the girls’ hockey event we tried to prove that hockey is not only for men."
The Georgian Ice Hockey Federation is looking to the Hungarian U18 women's team for inspiration as they quickly developed and made it to the top division and into sixth place ahead of teams such as Russia, Germany, Switzerland and others.
“For the men’s national team it looks unrealistic that we could ever beat let’s say Canada or the United States or Russia. In girls’ hockey it will be rather possible to catch up,” Vashakidze said.
The next World Girls' Hockey Weekend will be October 11-12, 2014. If you're interested in more information in the event, or how to participate, head over to the IIHF page for more details.
(Photos: GIHF)