Kylee Styles' perseverance has paid off with a one way ticket to Saskatchewan.
The 16-year-old Richmond goaltender leaves for Regina Aug. 29 where she will be spending her Grade 12 year at Athol College of Notre Dame as a member of the renowned Hounds hockey program. She will be suiting up for one of the Midget girls teams that annually compete for the national championship and attend highprofile tournaments throughout the season.
The hope is Styles can show off her talents to college and university scouts as a potential option in 2014. Not bad for someone, who up until recently, couldn't crack the rep level locally.
Styles has spent much of her career playing for boys teams after failed tries with rep programs in South Delta and Richmond. The difference is she refused to give in and kept working hard each summer to get better. It paid off two years ago when she played her first season of midget with a Richmond Minor boys team but was affiliated with the Pacific Ravens of the B.C. Midget AAA Female Hockey League. It got even better last season when she made the Ravens roster and went on to become one of three goalies named to the provincial U18 team.
"I just always felt I was better than the opportunities I was given and deserved more of a chance to show what I could do," said Styles. "It just pushed me to better myself. Instead of always hanging out with my friends in the summer, I was in the rink working hard to improve.
"I was looking for a new experience and something that was going to take me to the next level. One of the (Nore Dame) coaches approached me about the opportunity to play for them and I'm just really excited to be going."
Styles was a part-time goalie when she first began playing competitive hockey but always found herself diving on the ice to block shots. She figured she was born to be standing between the pipes.
"I just didn't last long as a player," she laughed. "We had a rotation of goalies but all I wanted to do was block shots. It was just a natural fit for me and started soon after to take it seriously with the extra training."
Much of her off-season work was done working with Pasaco Valana. It helped paved the way to an invite to last May's U18 B.C. Cup in Salmon Arm that featured the top 80 midget age players from across the province including eight goalies. She advanced to a second camp in Cowichan and was finally selected to Team B.C. that will be competing at the 2013 National Women's U18 Champion in Calgary come November.
Styles attended another week long camp at UBC in July that focused on strength and conditioning, along with team bonding. In the end, she has been named as the alternate goalie but has no regrets about the process.
"It was an amazing experience to the point where I really didn't mind being cut," she said. "A lot of players would have gladly traded places with me. Besides I still could end up going (to nationals) and will have to prepare myself for it."
For now Styles is getting ready for what will be a college-like lifestyle at Notre Dame.
She will be in a dorm room with other students and will have a flexible academic schedule that will work around her hockey commitments.
"I think that's what excites me the most. Just going to school that has that kind of a environment and not worrying about telling my teachers I might be missing something for hockey," added Styles. "It's a semester system with four classes a day with a lot of work on the ice. We are also expected to be volunteering in the community quite a bit."
As far as dealing with the cold prairie winter for the first time in her life, Styles doesn't mind the climate adjustment.
"We went to a tournament last winter in Regina so I kind of know what to expect," she said. "(Laughing) I just have to make sure I don't go outside after games with my hair wet like I'm used to doing."
