MIAMI — Women's hockey is growing in South Florida, from the pee-wee level all the way up to the college level, and the University of Miami Women's Hockey Club team is part of that surge.
Head coach Justina Holland, a former player, rebooted the women's hockey club program at the University of Miami in 2021. She rebuilt it from the ground up, taking on every task herself as a college student.
WATCH BELOW: Women's hockey growing at University of Miami
"Yes, all by myself. I did. I had to find some girls that wanted to play. I had to find a league. I did buy jerseys, get ice time, like everything. Every single little thing you can think of, I had to do myself," Holland said.
At first, the team had only six players and no subs, and they competed in a women's league.
"We didn't even have any colleges to play against. You're playing against grown women, and that was a little bit humbling, but we had a lot of fun, and that was kind of the start of your year. So from there, it kind of picked up. The year after, we had UT Tampa, USF; they joined. Then we got it going, and you get teams like Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, and we're slowly building up the South to what it is right now," Holland said.
This year, the Canes have 14 players, and Holland credits social media for helping to spread the word and getting more students on skates.
"It's everything we gained almost 7,000 followers within like a month," Holland said.
With more people seeing the pictures and videos they post on Instagram, the more support they see. Co-captain Alex Meola wants the team to become a flagship club on campus and says the camaraderie is what makes it special.
"We just have such a good time with each other. It's like it's hard not to. And that's the beautiful thing about club sports is like it brings you back to that first initial reason why you started playing hockey, right?" Meola said.
With more and more interest in skating the club's way, Holland says anyone can gear up.
"You don't have to be the best player ever. We have girls from all different levels. So it's more of like if you know how to play, you want to play, like come join. That's kind of the vibe: to have fun," Holland said.
