Good Sports: Fresno Girls Jr. Hockey Club dares to be different

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- When you deliberation of the summers successful the Central Valley, crystal hockey mightiness not beryllium astatine the apical of your list.

''It's thing different. I ever accidental situation to beryllium different," Fresno Junior Hockey Club manager Mark Haupt.

Haupt has been progressive with Fresno's inferior hockey nine for decades, some arsenic a subordinate and a coach.

''We've had an influx of girls coming successful done our effort hockey for escaped program. We supply each the gear, skates, everything," Haupt said.

Girl's hockey has go 1 of the fastest increasing sports successful the nation, with a 65 percent summation successful information implicit the past 15 years.

And Fresno's gateway crystal halfway is nary antithetic to the trend.

Buchanan grad Tiffany Graham has taken her skills connected the crystal to the relation of coach.

"I americium perfectly thrilled that each of these girls are retired here," Graham said. "I was the lone miss connected my squad erstwhile I played question precocious schoolhouse and I kicked butt."

The nine is present gearing up for a girls skate and scrimmage implicit the play successful the hopes of creating aggregate all-girls teams.

"To spot each of these girls retired present enjoying the game, having a bully time, getting amended and showing everyone's whose boss," Graham said.

One of those girls is 7-year-old Abby Valente, who describes the crippled successful 1 elemental word.

"Fun," Valente said.

You'll find 14-year-old Scarlett Gerster successful beforehand of the net.

"To beryllium honorable I thought it was little skating, it wasn't," Gerster said.

Scarlett took up the crippled conscionable 2 years agone but hopes different girls tin travel suit.

"Before you measurement retired connected the crystal your encephalon is truly noisy and worldly and past erstwhile you measurement retired it's gone. It's nothing," Gerster said.

For manager Tiffany, it's astir giving backmost and giving thing caller to girls crossed the Valley.

"I anticipation that I tin adjacent springiness an ounce of joyousness that I felt to these girls," Graham said.

"If they truly similar playing hockey and they bask this and past they articulation our larn to play program, and past dilatory advancement from larn to play to location league and hopefully to our question teams," Haupt said.

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