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| Image by njaj from freedigitalphotos.com |
Olympic gold medalist Angela Ruggiero did just that in 1998 as a member of the Team USA women's ice hockey team.
Angela is an internationally known athlete for her skills in ice hockey. She's been a member of the Olympics Team USA four times, voted the #1 hockey player in the world by Hockey News, and serves as President of the Women’s Sports Foundation, dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity.
She was a member of the 1998 U.S. Olympic
Gold Medal Team, 2002 U. S. Olympic Silver Medal Team, 2006 U.S. Olympic Bronze
Medal Team, 2009-2010 U. S. Women’s
National Team and 2010 U. S. Olympic Silver Medal Team
In 1992, Angela learned that
women’s hockey was going to be an Olympic sport in 1998. From that point on, at
twelve years old, she trained hard with one goal in mind, to go to the Olympics.
When she was fifteen in 1995,
Angela was invited to a training camp for women’s hockey. At the end of the camp a team would be chosen
for the 1996 U S Women’s Select Team. The 1998 Olympic team would be made up of
members of the Select Team. Angela was competing against experienced high
school and college players. As one of the youngest players, Angela knew she had
to work hard to prove herself in order to secure a place on the team.
According to her book, Breaking the Ice, her dad taped a dollar
inside of her helmet before she left for camp. “When you make the team, use
this dollar to go buy yourself a soda to celebrate,” he said.
At the end of the training camp,
Angela was thrilled and excited when she was chosen for the team. But instead of using the dollar to celebrate
by buying a soda, she kept it taped to the inside of her helmet as her lucky
dollar bill. Angela went on to play in the 1998 Olympics and on other
championship teams. She still keeps her lucky dollar bill in her helmet every
time she plays.
To learn more about Angela Ruggiero, check out Chapter 10, Showing the Boys, in the Girls Succeed e-book available at these major online booksellers.
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