Haley Skarupa on Going for Gold

Haley Skarupa is a member of the 2018 United States Women’s Olympic ice hockey Team who took home a gold medal from the Winter Olympics this past February in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She is a three-time World Champion and also a Four Nations Cup Gold Medalist for Team USA as well. Haley graduated from Boston College in 2016, majoring in psychology. While at Boston College, she was named an All-American Collegiate Athlete and is currently the second highest points leader in Boston College hockey history, men or women, with 115 goals and 244 total points in her four years. Out of college, she was drafted 5th overall into the National Women’s Hockey League and was a unanimous All-Star Selection her rookie season for the Connecticut Whale. She is originally from Rockville, Maryland and graduated from Wootton High School in 2012. Most recently, she has joined the Washington Capitals organization as their Hockey Ambassador. She has brought her background and experience to help promote the growth of the game in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. She also works in Business Development for Klaviyo, a marketing automation software company in Boston, MA. In this episode, we discuss what Haley’s life was like as a kid (6:40), her experience as the only girl on a boy’s hockey team (8:35), where her courage and willingness to be brave came from (9:44), if there was ever a time her parents dissuaded her from playing hockey (13:07), the differences between playing on an all-boys vs all-girls team (16:57), would she have preferred to stand out or fit in when she was younger (23:07), if there are times in different hockey contexts where it was required for her to stand out or required for her to fit in (24:55), her experience at Nationals (28:57), what her experience was like at the Olympics and how she shifted her mind to be able to perform on the biggest stage (34:17), the mindsets of figure skaters (37:50), what it was like for her to get cut and how she handled it (42:04), role clarity (51:54), seizing opportunities (54:38), being able to change your role if necessary (57:01), what it was like winning a gold medal in 2018 (58:27), the response the community gave to winning the gold medal (1:00:30), the state of professional hockey for women and its goals (1:02:43), and promoting women’ sports in the US (1:05:11). You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @Skrooops28. Thanks so much to Haley for coming on the Podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening. -Brian