An upcoming young star in the hockey world, 13-year-old Paige Wards is preparing herself for her second-straight year in the boys’ league.

“I love it,” said Wards on playing hockey. “There’s so much background to it, so much to learn, and I just love how you have to work hard to succeed. I like learning new things, and after I put a lot of my time into it I realized I love it.”

She started skating just three years ago, saying it was a challenge at first.

“At the beginning, I couldn’t skate at all, and I didn’t know for sure if I’d be able to learn it. I just had to try really hard, and it got easier after a while. I had a lot of good help from instructors, and my dad would take me out to the rink a lot.”

Her father played hockey, which was a big inspiration for her to push herself in the sport.

“My dad played, so I’d play with him and my little bro, and we’d play road hockey and stuff. We watched it all the time too, and I just thought it was a really fun thing to do with the family background of it.”

Wards is a dedicated athlete. She does 200 sit-ups and push-ups each day, along with a 10-kilometre run. Even at her young age, she understands the commitment it takes to play such a demanding sport.

“I know that if I want to be good at something, I have to try hard and work on it.”

She also participates in volleyball, curling, basketball and soccer. She explained that these sports all relate to and prepare her for hockey in some way.

“I play a lot of sports, go for runs, and all that will just help keep me fit. I just love sports and being active.”
She played in three girls-only hockey camps put on by the Canadian National and Olympic Team members. Wards called the experiences a huge chance to learn, being under instruction from notable names in women’s hockey such as Meghan Agosta, Gillian Ferrari, Tessa Bonhomme, Correne Bredin, Amanda Tapp and Lyndsey Baird.

“It was an amazing experience,” she gushed. “I basically worship those women. I learned a lot.”

In all three of those camps, Wards won the overall award, which is presented to the player who excels most in not just hockey skills, but attitude, helpfulness and off-ice competitions as well.

She was also selected Queen for a day when Battle of the Border was in Dawson Creek, which let her have lunch and go in the dressing rooms with the national team athletes.

Last year, Wards had the challenge of playing for a boys’ rep team. She went through the try-outs process and proved herself as a force on the ice.

“It was a lot of fun,” she said of the experience playing in the boys’ league. “At first I didn’t know how I’d like it, but I knew it would be a great learning experience. After I got to know everyone more. it turned out to be so great experience.”

This season she’s playing with the boys again in bantam house. Always pushing herself, Wards is excited about the task of playing with people a year older than her.

“I think it will be more of a challenge, because the older guys are going to be a lot more competitive. The rep team was competitive too, but I think there will be a lot more learning for me. You learn a lot more in house league, and that will be good.”

Wards’ dream is to play for the Olympic Women’s Team one day.

She is only 13 years old right now, but has already shown incredible maturity and dedication to improvement. With that unstoppable attitude, her dream shouldn’t be so hard to reach.