Skating freshman Mallory McCartney has been playing ice hockey for four to five years. She is also involved with track and cross country while playing ice hockey.      

     McCartney shares, “The type of training we focus on is cardio, strength, skating, and shooting skills.” During her practices, the athlete feels they are “well-rounded and challenging.” Her season is from late August to March, which is longer than most sports seasons. 

     One of her biggest accomplishments as a team is “winning a championship with [her] team.” McCartney’s position on the team is forward-wing, which allows her the ability to score goals. She feels “a sense of accomplishment” when she scores. 

     The freshman says, “the hardest part is having confidence. Players have to have a certain mentality and things can get in your head. Hockey is a hard sport within itself, so it is very easy to compare yourself to others, then perform worse because of the pressure. It is super competitive, and when you get down on yourself, it affects your game.” 

     During the game, she is “very locked in” when she plays with “no distractions.” She claims, “I am very focused and I know what I need to do; my head is nowhere else besides the game.”  The student hasn’t gotten hurt to a serious extent since she has started playing, “because [she] knows her limits.” 

     McCartney’s team is called the Baltimore Stars, and they are located in Baltimore, right outside of the city. She shared, “it is hard to get ice time because the boys teams get prioritized over girls, so usually our practices are later at night.” With their rink being over an hour away, it “gets tiring traveling so much.” 

     She has made “so many connections and friends” through her sport. McCartney’s parents are “very supportive.” The athlete says, “I am very good at balancing good grades with sports and having a social life.”

     McCartney got into hockey by always skating during the free-skate time when she was younger. One day while leaving the rink, her “dad randomly picked up a flier for ice hockey,” and she stuck with it from there. She is “very happy with [her] sport choice and satisfied that ice hockey is the sport [she] is pursuing.”