austin FiT magazine

In the spring of 2000, Tammie Valentini rediscovered a passion she had abandoned some 13 years before. At 31, Valentini revisited hockey, a game she learned when she was 10.
“After returning from the airport one afternoon, I picked up an austin FiT magazine and saw an ad for women’s hockey,” says Valentini. “I couldn’t believe my eyes.” After calling to find out how to get involved, Valentini called her brother, Pat, to have him send her hockey gear. Her third call was to her former hockey “coach” — Valentini’s sixth grade best friend, Vicki Crimmins, who taught Valentini to play hockey.
Valentini remembers that her parents, Rudy and Jean Valentini, were not exactly thrilled with the idea of her playing hockey. They had long been immersed in the sport, watching their son play, but couldn’t fathom their only daughter playing, too. So Valentini pushed harder, making her dream to play hockey her “all I want for Christmas” plea. Her parents caved and Valentini became the self-proclaimed worst player on one of Michigan’s all-girl hockey teams.
The “rink rat” grew up in hockey rinks, watching from the sidelines as her brother played but, it would seem, Valentini hadn’t picked up his skills. So Crimmins taught Valentini how to skate and play. Yet, Valentini’s efforts seemed to be in vain until her shining moment came during a semi-final game in the State of Michigan playoffs. To her and her teammates’ surprise, Valentini scored the game-winning goal!
“It was nice to see how awful she was and watch her become such a great hockey player,” says Crimmins. “She is definitely the most competitive person I’ve ever met. She wants to win.”
From fighting for the right to play to fighting on the ice to win, Valentini now devotes a minimum of four to five hours weekly to playtime and says, as an adult, she rarely practices. She plays alongside about 50 women, 15 of whom she knows well as part of her team. The team competes in anywhere from six to eight tours yearly and has won 12 of their last 13 games, traveling to Vancouver, Tucson and Daytona Beach, Florida.
When she’s not competing on the ice, she’s coaching on it. Assistant coach for two years on an all-boys team, Valentini helps teach 7- to 10-year-old boys how to play the game she loves. And it’s that love that keeps her playing at the age of 34.
“I like everything about it; it’s a very strategic game. I continually learn different strategic aspects of the game and can always become a better player; it’s a challenge.” Challenging herself and others is a life goal for Valentini who went from playing a sport where women weren’t welcome to now shaking hands with male coaches after a win by the Squirts team she coaches. “The best is when you beat the guys, and they have to congratulate the women!”