Hockey star Blake Bolden to NEPC crowd: Break barriers but set boundaries
Blake Bolden remembers when she started playing hockey as a 6-year-old Black girl.
She was one of only two girls in her league and the only person of color. To play a sport she loved for its speed and physicality, she faced racial slurs and bullying.
“I didn’t want to give those people who spoke negatively about me the satisfaction of seeing me quit,” Bolden told the luncheon crowd during her keynote address, “Overcoming Adversity with a Healthy Mind and Body,” at the New England Produce Council’s Produce, Floral and Foodservice Expo Aug. 25, in South Boston.
Bolden had to get used to standing out among an ice rink of white athletes, from high school to college to her professional athletic career.
She’s the first Black player to compete in the National Women's Hockey League and first Black player to be a first-round draft pick in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. In 2015, Bolden won the Clarkson Cup with the Boston Blades of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.
Today, Bolden is an ESPN reporter and National Hockey League pro scout — the first Black female at that, too.
But Bolden took it hard when she didn’t make the cut for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
“It ate away at me. I was really, really low. I was basically depressed,” she said.
She was working three jobs while playing hockey, because professional women’s leagues didn’t pay its players at the time.
Then, a 6-year-old girl came up to her after a game.
“She said, ‘Blake, you’re the reason I play hockey.’ It changed me. I had a new perception, a newfound purpose. I saw little Blake when I was 6 years old, needing someone to look up to,” Bolden said.
Bolden realized she could use her barrier-breaking position as the first Black female in the professional sport to encourage others like her to follow their passion, despite the odds.
She became really busy and had to learn how to set boundaries in her schedule to protect her health in mind and body. Bolden eats a plant-based diet, adding in some fish for those omega-3 fatty acids. She gardens, and that’s taught her several daily self-care tips, each with many health benefits:
- Get at least 15 minutes of direct sunlight;
- Drink a half ounce of water per pound of bodyweight; and
- Practice grounding by directly contacting the soil with her hands or feet.
“You can handle anything that comes your way if you take care of yourself, your mind, your body. You can’t be great if you feel low and are pouring out from an empty cup,” Bolden said.
The last few years we’ve all faced uncontrollable challenges, she said.
“What I can control are my actions, attitude, perspective and how I show up — by making sure it’s in line with my purpose, which I recently found,” Bolden said. “What do I bring into this world? Can I improve every situation that presents itself to me today?”
Dennis Shannon of food broker JOH came up to Bolden after the event and told her how much she means to the girls he coaches.
"I’ve been coaching hockey 46 years — from high school to college to little kids — and I have several little girls in my Monday night team, and they really look up to her," he said. "She’s such an inspiration."
