ASPECT Trust are thrilled to announce the first recipient of our 2024 Leading Athlete Scholarships – GRACIE HELLMRICH (Ice Hockey).

Having played ice hockey since she was 7 years old, Gracie was named in the NZ U18 Women’s Ice Hockey team for the 2nd time last year – this time as captain. Travelling to Bulgaria in January this year, Gracie’s team won 4/5 games sceuring Gold and winning promotion up a division. Locally, Gracie plays for the Queenstown “Wakatipu Wild” having won the 2022 National competition and finishing second last year.

Gracie says “My next goal for my future in ice hockey is to make the NZ Women’s Ice Fernz within the next few years. To do this I need to practice as much as I can, which means a significant amount of travel throughout the year. I want to work as hard as I can to improve throughout my season to achieve this goal one day, hopefully within 1-5 years.”

“I would also really like to encourage more people, especially young girls, and women to play Ice hockey, although it is expensive now, it may not be if we had an increase in numbers. I like to think that my team’s success in the World Championships will be publicised enough for more young people to gain an interest in the sport.”

Good on you Gracie and all the best for the year ahead, we all look forward to watching you progress towards your goal of representing the NZ Women’s Ice Fernz.