Get to Know: Hockey Star Skylar Podvey

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Written on Tuesday, 05 March 2013

Written by Kaitlyn Lipkin

Skylar Podvey’s world has been revolving around ice hockey ever since she was a little girl.  The 14-year-old 8^th grader from Montclair, New Jersey, loves everything about the sport she’s been competitively playing for the past nine years.

“I took skating lessons when I was 3-years-old, and then watched my first hockey game, and asked for hockey skates,” said Podvey. “I went to my first hockey camp when I was 4-years-old.”

The experienced defender has helped lead all of her teams in the past, and now she’s guiding her current squad, the New Jersey Colonials, to a district win, and a trip to Nationals in San Jose, California next month.

In previous years, Skylar won a U12 Tier 2 bronze medal, and U12 Tier 1 silver medal at Nationals. Last summer, her Selects Quebec team, won the Beantown Classic, and in individual achievements, Podvey has made the Atlantic District camp the past three years.  She also was recently accepted to the North American Hockey Academy high school (NAHA), in Jay, Vermont.

This will inevitably help Skylar to reach her goals of playing Division 1 college hockey, as well as aspirations of making the Olympic team.  In order to achieve those accomplishments, she trains by skating on a treadmill, and works out in her basement constantly.  She has proved herself amongst the boys, with whom she played with for the last six years.

“It feels empowering to be a strong female athlete.  It feels like I can do anything I set my mind to,” said Podvey.

Skylar is certainly someone to look up to; in the same way she admires other women athletes, like Cammi Granato, an American female ice hockey player, who was one of the first women to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November 2010.

“Cammi Granato is my favorite female athlete because she did so much for women’s ice hockey, and without her, I would not have these opportunities,” said Skylar.

She also compares herself to Angela Ruggiero, a four-time Olympic medalist and defenseman for Team USA.

“She’s like me because she also came from a state that did not have a lot of hockey, especially for girls,” said Podvey. “She had to play with the boys to start, and had to travel a lot.  She went away for high school and plays defense like me.”

If Skylar keeps at it, she should be able to accomplish the same things her role models have done.  She already believes that the greatest life lesson that she’s learned from hockey, is that you have to work hard to achieve your goals.

Skylar concludes, “Without ice hockey, I would not be the person and athlete I am today.”

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