Introducing Women’s Hockey Life’s newest brand ambassador, Tina Carlson from Sweden!

Tell us about yourself!

My name is Tina. I’m 52 years old and live close to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. I started to play hockey as a goalie when I was 14 and continued for 12 years. 10 years later I was back on the ice with my two kids, a daughter born in 1995 and a son born in 1998. The three of us joined the kid’s hockey school at my former club in 2002 and since then I’ve been hooked on working as a volunteer for kids in general and girls in particular to create the best prerequisites for them to join the game of hockey. During those years I’ve been a coach for my son’s team, assistant coach for my daughter’s team, team manager, member of the board, project member to establish a new club and board member in this new club responsible for building up the organization around the girls’ and women’s teams.

I’m currently a member of the club’s Development Committee for girls and women’s hockey with the aim to create the best prerequisites for female hockey players in our community. I’m also back on the ice as a goalie for our female recreational hockey team, as well as being the team manger for this team where my husband is our coach and my daughter is one of my teammates.

What made you want to be a WHL Brand Ambassador?

To be able to grow the female world of hockey players and to move towards equal terms, expectations and possibilities between male and female players we need to work together – not only in our own community or country but also cross borders and I hope that by being a WHL Brand Ambassador this will grow my space for sharing my experiences and learning from others.

What are you most looking forward to as a #WHLAMBASSADOR?

To broaden my network of people engaged in female hockey and to learn how it works in other countries.

What’s something not a lot of people know about you?

I’ve just, at the age of 52, made my debut as a forward and I managed to score in my first ever game!

If you could sit down and have dinner with one female hockey player, who would it be and why?

Maria Rooth – Silver medalist in the 2006 Olympic games and the first Swedish female hockey player inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. She is currently running her own business, including an annual girls summer camp, being the number one expert TV commentator whenever there is female hockey shown on TV, holding seminars talking about her story of life and hockey, as well as transforming this to advice for others both within hockey and commercial companies. She is, in my view, a very strong woman, open-minded, inspiring and very inclusive independently who she meets and talks to. I admire her a lot and would love to hear more about her current view of female hockey in Sweden and what she thinks would be the best things to do to engage more girls to participate and to get more people to engage in the business.

What’s your dream for women’s hockey?

My dream for women’s hockey is to find the key to get more parents to bring their girls to the rink, for the parents to understand what a great sport this is, how positive the actual hockey practice is for their little girl’s body and brain, how much good stuff they will learn for life by being part of a team and how lucky they will become by having teammates. I also wish more parents would understand how inspiring it is to actually do things for others – to join the team of volunteers around female hockey to create the best prerequisites for the girls to join the game!

Interested in becoming a #WHLAMBASSADOR?

APPLY HERE