{"id":43291,"date":"2017-01-31T16:48:47","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T20:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=43291"},"modified":"2017-07-04T16:13:54","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T20:13:54","slug":"brock-prof-raising-the-profile-of-international-womens-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2017\/01\/brock-prof-raising-the-profile-of-international-womens-hockey\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock prof raising the profile of international women\u2019s hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a world where men\u2019s hockey dominates in profile, prestige and revenue, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) is turning to Brock University Sport Management professor Julie Stevens for advice on how to promote women\u2019s hockey around the globe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is worldwide interest in developing women\u2019s ice hockey programs, but the process is slow and requires a co-ordinated international effort and commitment,\u201d said Stevens, who was asked to speak on the issue at an IIHF conference in Russia last month. \u201cSince men\u2019s ice hockey generates so much money, it garners most of the attention, but some national hockey federations are beginning to seek advice on how to make women\u2019s ice hockey a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Julie<\/a>

Brock SPMA Professor Julie Stevens with former NHL hockey player Teemu Selanne.<\/p><\/div>\n

Stevens, who conducts diverse hockey research, was a lead presenter at the first World Hockey Forum held in Moscow. Her understanding of the unique needs of each country and knowledge of best practices for growing the sport has made her a sought-after expert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think fans in Canada and the U.S. realize how much women\u2019s hockey is played around the world,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n

In Russia, the Brock prof talked to members of the IIHF about how they could use similar strategies to men\u2019s hockey to build up their women\u2019s programs, \u201cbut also recognizing the need to adopt specific approaches which help to overcome the country-specific social, gender and economic barriers women face,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Stevens got interested in hockey at a young age. Her experiences as a competitive player and coach helped her cultivate a strong understanding of the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting out in a grassroots hockey system as a girl and then joining university hockey in the late 80s allowed me to experience hockey at a critical time for the sport in Canada,\u201d said Stevens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Ontario, when we were on the brink of losing our women\u2019s hockey varsity program, university administrators stepped in to save the sport. Their commitment taught me the importance of a strong governance system as a key factor to expand women\u2019s teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

By using university and club governance models as examples, Stevens regularly speaks to the many opportunities there are to develop women\u2019s hockey programs globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cMen\u2019s hockey developed because countries were extremely competitive with each other,\u201d explained Stevens. \u201cTo effectively grow women\u2019s hockey, I envision a more co-ordinated global approach that not only shares success stories among nations, but also recognizes that each country will need to develop at its own pace and with a method that best suits its unique hockey system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since attending the World Hockey Forum, Stevens has connected with sport leaders in Europe and Asia to do research and further develop strategies for building the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very fortunate to be in the position of helping open doors for future female athletes around the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In addition to her research accomplishments, Stevens is an assistant coach for the Brock Badgers varsity women\u2019s hockey team.<\/p>\n

\"womenshockey1\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a world where men\u2019s hockey dominates in profile, prestige and revenue, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) is turning to Brock University Sport Management professor Julie Stevens for advice on how to promote women\u2019s hockey around the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":43292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,3319,4052,1,4,5],"tags":[5505,4860,3696,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43291"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43297,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43291\/revisions\/43297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}