AMBASSADOR SPOTLIGHT: | Viltaute Jasineviciute | Vilnius, Lithuania

I am from Vilnius, Lithuania. I am a student in high school. I play competitive ice hockey and I am a member of Lithuania’s women’s national team. My hockey story began thanks to one of my younger brothers. We are four years apart, so when he was 4 years old, our close family friends who had twin boys the same age decided to try out ice hockey. My parents thought that was a great idea and drove my brother to a practice. At the time, we did most things together. I was bored and cold, watching him crawl on ice with other kids. It looked so fun. I told my parents that I really wanted to try it too.

It was kind of weird at the time for girls to play. There were one or maybe two girls in the hockey club we were attending. My parents thought it was a great idea since both of the kids would be going to the same place, making it very convenient for them. I was so excited. I remember my brother’s first practice, where he did nothing but crawl on the ice, and it looked like so much fun. I was excited to just do silly things on ice. However, that did not happen. When I came to my first practice, I was assigned to train with older kids since I was not four and could already skate somewhat. I was introduced to more intense and serious training, including skating and puck handling. I loved it. I was kind of sad at first that it was more serious, but later on, I loved the challenge and the intensity. So, I got into hockey.

That was great. I was a very active kid and did a lot of other activities, like skiing, dancing, and swimming. So, it was hard to pick and choose at first. But later on, I made a commitment to hockey by quitting skiing and deciding to just focus on ice hockey. So, I trained and played with boys until I was about twelve years old and was introduced to women’s hockey. My mother, after I started playing, was a part of creating a women’s ice hockey club team in my city. She and her friends decided they wanted to start playing too. When I turned 12, there were multiple women’s ice hockey teams in Lithuania. I started playing for the team with my mom. It was kind of weird at first but also funny.

My whole family plays hockey. My youngest brother stepped on the ice with hockey skates before turning two years old. So, I started playing women’s hockey, and it really kept me going. At the time, I was having a rough time playing boys’ hockey. It was never easy. It was fun, but it was also very challenging mentally and physically. I was constantly getting mentally or even physically abused. I was considering quitting, but then I started playing more women’s hockey, and it really motivated me to keep going. In addition, when I was 12, Lithuania’s women’s national ice hockey team was created, and I got something to look forward to. I started attending national team camps. It was a whole different experience. I was so excited about the opportunity to represent my country in the near future.

The head coach, Bernd Haake, to whom I am so grateful, really kept us, the younger girls, motivated and supported in this process. He really cared about us and women’s ice hockey. I am very thankful for all he has done for the national team and women’s ice hockey community in Lithuania. Fast forward, the possibility of playing on the national team kept me going and working hard on and off the ice. It was a dream to play on a team where you are respected and seen by your teammates and coaches. Later on, at fourteen, I attended CHS High-Performance camp in Sweden. I was introduced to a whole different level of women’s ice hockey. A big appreciation thank you to the coach and advisor Harry Rosenholtz. His dedication and hard work to grow women’s hockey and guide players is unmatched. I am very grateful I got to know him. He is one of the best, changed so many players’ lives, and made so many ice hockey dreams come true.

At the camp, I met amazing people and coaches dedicated to hockey more than anything. It was so refreshing and inspiring. I was told about the possibilities of women playing ice hockey in different countries. Even for girls, you can go abroad and play in the U.S., Sweden, Switzerland, and so much more. I was not aware of that much. In Lithuania, it was just not a thing. It was more of a hobby after school type of thing. Obviously, boys were going abroad and playing, but girls? That was not a thing. So, I found out about the possibilities of going and playing ice hockey in the U.S.A. That was a huge dream of mine. I decided that I would play ice hockey in the U.S.

It was near the end of summer, and I started doing my research about schools and possibilities. It was a very hard process since no one had done it before me. I was going with the idea of becoming the first Lithuanian female to pursue ice hockey on the continent of North America. At the moment, I did not really think of all the things, like leaving my family thousands of miles away or that I had never been in the U.S. before. I was just working so hard all season long and contacting coaches. My last season of boys’ ice hockey was one of the hardest years of my life. I was very worried about the next season and how it would work out. In addition, boys were brutal. Most of the practices, I was crying and having panic attacks afterward. I was scared to go and practice every day after school. I could not get confident in my skills on ice. I was hiding it deep in myself, thinking I was the problem all along.

I was double-rostering on Lithuania’s national team, which played in the Baltic Women’s league, so it was something to focus on and get reconnected with my confidence and best friends. We had a great season and won gold in the Baltic League. It was a good experience, participating in something like this for the first time in history and achieving the best possible outcome. I had one of my best games ever in the final playoff game. It was great. A few weeks later, I got to go to my first IIHF Women’s World Championship, and I got to represent my country officially for the first time, at 15. I was so excited and grateful to have that. We went to Romania. It was the first normal structured tournament after a 4-year break, kind of. The team was excited. We had a great run, unfortunately, losing the goal of a gold medal to one goal.

At the tournament, I found out about the next season and that I would go to the U.S. to play ice hockey. It was a wonderful experience of a lifetime. I am so grateful I got to experience that. The next season, I became the first Lithuanian female ice hockey player to go and play ice hockey in North America. It was not easy. The adaptation was a challenge. I really had to learn and work even harder. At the end of the day, it all worked out, but I am still working on improving my ways and getting even better to really achieve the next level of hockey. One of my goals in the future is to play college ice hockey, and it is something I am very dedicated to.

I really want to grow women’s ice hockey. In my life, I did not have that many resources or opportunities at first, to know about possibilities in women’s ice hockey. I believe there still are players who are not aware and I want to bring it out more. Especially in Lithuania, I know there are girls who might be in a similar position. I want to connect with them and show them that it does get better and it is worth sticking with it. Many girls, still play boys hockey. It is not easy, but sharing your journey with someone, is helpful.

I am also big on mental health. Moving continents, playing boys hockey for seven years, has really impacted my mental wellbeing. I want to spread the word about it. The future of women’s ice hockey is here. I could not be more excited. WHL is a great place to be and work with. I remember listening to one of the first episodes of Jaclyn on women’s hockey life. She was talking about her journey. It was a few years ago, maybe 2019? 2021? I can’t remember the exact year. Her story about her journey and opportunities that came along the way, kept me motivated through. I remember crying one evening going on a walk and turning it on. It changed my whole perspective. I was really determined to work hard. It was one of the things that got me started on the journey of playing women’s hockey in the future. I would be glad to give back to the community of women’s hockey.

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