A Skaters Sacrifice

Morris Dalla Costa, Free Press Sports Columnist

Hana Stevenson's ankle only hurts when she skates and when she shoots. When you considers how big a part shooting and skating are in inline hockey, it would seem the tiny English woman has some sizable obstacles to overcome.

But when you travel as far as Stevenson, pay as much money as she has to get to London, Ontario, and love the sport as much as she says she does, pain is not going to prevent you from playing.

As the Federation of Roller Sports men's and women's inline hockey championship heads into the weekend at Western Fair Sports Centre, one realizes there are as many stories off the playing surface as on it.

That shouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering the teams that have come here have come from the four corners of the globe and the players representing them have sacrificed a great deal for the love of the sport.

Stevenson arrived from England with her teammates on the British team early this week. As she was playing soccer on the ground outside her residence at the University of Western Ontario, she stepped in a hole and sprained her ankle.

She sums up how the injury has had on her: "Devastating."

Not devastating enough to damper her spirit. She has taken treatment for the injury and will play despite advice to the contrary.

"It affects my skating more than anything else and my shooting. I've played twice since. It's quite painful."

But she intended to suit up for her first game of the tournament last night against New Zealand.

Stevenson intends to make the most of the time she is going to spend in Canada since she'll be here for almost a month. Following the FIRS tournament, she'll participate in the Can-Am Cup and then the World Inline Cup, as will others on the British team.

It's the opportunity of a lifetime, paid for in pounds, time and dedication, which is why a injury depriving any of the players of a chance to live the tournament to the fullest would be so unfair.

Stevenson is travelling with her father. The cost of her trip alone is well over 2,000 pounds (almost $5,000 Cdn) It's a common thread with inline players. Not many countries provide sponsorship dollars for their teams. Many teams are obligated to do whatever fund-raising they can, and what isn't covered is paid for by the players.

It seems representing your county can be a costly thing.

"That's why some of our players couldn't afford to come," Stevenson said. "We lost our two best players and we had to bring in some younger players. We have no sponsorship. We have to pay for our tracksuits and T-shirts, water bottles. We have to play for training.

"(The sport) is not very appetizing in England. There's still not many girls in the sports. Everything is about guys. There's nothing advertised. (You) see nothing on the TV; everything is soccer, rugby and cricket."

Some of her mates also play ice hockey. Stevenson has tried it four or five times with a less than successful result.

"I keep doing the inline stop," she said. "I can do the stickhandling and my shot's becoming very good. But I can't stop. I tried to stop once and hit one girl and it was like a domino effect. I can't iceskate to save my life."

Stevenson will be 18 next month and has been playing inline since she was 13. Even though there are several inline associations in Britain, it isn't always easy to train.

Stevenson found out she was going to play for this team in January and the squad had been able to get together for only a few training sessions.

"I have to travel a lot. Sometimes we train at 10:30 at night until 12. It's an hour-and-a-half away for me. I get home at three in the morning and then I've got college at 8.30."

Why do it?

"Why not? I like the sport," she said as she hobbled off, bandaged ankle and all.