First Annual Women's And Girls' Ball Hockey Tournament Held At Community Rink; Inspires New Flyers Charities Initiative

On a sunny fall Saturday at The Rink at Community Park in Gilbertsville, PA, the sound of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck," the sight of girls and women of all ages milling around in full hockey gear, and the palpable feeling of excitement in the air can only mean one thing.

Natalie Van Druff and Lilly Walter are continuing their mission of growing the game of hockey in their community.

Back in August, Van Druff and Walter, two pre-teen girls who took it upon themselves to save their local ball hockey rink from turned into pickleball courts, were able to officially open the The Rink at Community Park after a $200,000 donation from Flyers Charities helped to create a state-of-the-art facility for anyone to discover and nurture a passion for hockey.

"I want to grow the game and get more people involved in hockey because I feel like hockey is one of the best sports," Walter said. "You don't really need experience to start and, for deck hockey, you don't need balance or anything. You can just get out there and do it. I just want to grow the game for everyone so that way people can get involved in hockey and just love the game as much as we do."

Related: Flyers Charities Help Officially Open Renovated Ball Hockey Rink

From the very beginning of their crusade to save the ball hockey rink, Van Druff and Walter, who both play hockey themselves, have been on a mission to bring a love for hockey to anyone in the community, but specifically wanting to see more women and girls represented in the game.

"We're happy for every kid to get into hockey," Van Druff said. "But we especially want to grow it for girls."

That mission was certainly accomplished with the excellent turnout of participants in the tournament, including a number of women who have played ball hockey at the upper echelons of the sport.

"It's fun, especially because it's a girls' tournament," Walter said of playing in the tournament. (Van Druff wasn't able to participate due to a concussion, but she was still involved in running the show as Junior Tournament Director.) "That's how it all started, [with] girls' pick-up hockey. Some players have never played before, others have, and it's great that they've decided to play today."

"It's amazing that we got so many girls and women to come out and play," Van Druff agreed. "It's just really cool because this is basically how our whole project started, because we just wanted to get more women and girls involved in hockey."

The two girls, who have been best friends for years, were over the moon to be putting on the first of what they hope to be many more events at the rink, geared toward getting their community involved in the sport.

They have big plans for the future, including "stuff with pets, stuff for children in hospitals, children with cancer" along with holiday events for Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Their admirable effort to save the ball hockey rink also inspired Flyers Charities to announce their "Rink Revive Project," an initiative that "aims to eliminate financial barriers and revive play spaces to grow the game of hockey [and] aspires to identify communities and programs that need financial assistance, equipment, rink repairs, programming, and coaching assistance to play hockey."

There's plenty more to come from Van Druff and Walter as they continue to deliver on their promises for "hockey rinks everywhere" and making the sport more accessible to anyone who's interested in picking up a stick.

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