Representing her country
Izzy Clark looks to take her game to the world stage
Hockey in the desert? Why not? Izzy Clark is going out of her way to prove that good hockey players can come from anywhere.
The 16-year-old soon-tobe Yuma Catholic junior will spend her summer break in a different way than most kids from the Yuma area.
Clark will visit Roana, Italy in July as a part of Team USA’s Junior National inline hockey team to play in the World Championships. Roana is about 75 miles Northwest of Venice.
Competition will span from July 21 to 28.
She has been playing for 12 years and tried a little bit of everything before hockey started to stand out for her. Clark still also plays soccer for the Shamrocks. Hockey was a natural fit for her once she got on the rink.
“I used to do ballet and all of that girly stuff, but I don’t know. This sport came to be and I just dropped everything else for it,” Clark said.
“I love the intensity level. It kind of fits my character more.”
“Once she hit the floor she learned how to skate, and she hasn’t stopped yet,” Izzy’s mom Sue Clark said.
Unsurprisingly, there aren’t any ice rinks in southern Arizona, so inline hockey is the option for players looking to get into the game.
In inline hockey there are four skaters and a goalie, and they play on a slightly smaller rink. There is also no checking and no offsides.
“There’s a lot more emphasis on your stick handling and your individual skills because you can afford to hold on to the puck longer because no one is going to check you into the boards,” Clark’s coach with the Yuma Blaze Jeff Johnson said. “It’s kind of like how basketball is noncontact. If you go in the corners you can expect to get bumped. That’s not illegal, but a full-on body check is illegal.”
Over the last few months Clark has been practicing