Standing before the largest crowd they had ever played for with over 1000 people, Marlie Berglin (12) and Lily Andreassi (12) felt a rush of adrenaline as the referee blew the whistle to start the gold medal game at the 2024 World Skate Games for roller hockey in Italy, Sept. 2. 

Berglin and Andreassi have been playing ice hockey for eight and 14 years, respectively, and they both started playing roller hockey for Westview in their freshman year. Just one year after being introduced to roller hockey, they were selected to play for the US Junior Women’s roller hockey team at the Argentina World Skate Games. This year marks their second year playing for the team. 

To get to the final match, team USA won against the four other teams in their bracket, which gave them an automatic bye to the semi-final game. In the semi-finals, they beat Italy 5-0, securing a spot in the finals against Spain. Berglin said she knew Spain was going to be a difficult match because the team had known each other for a longer time. 

“It was definitely our hardest game because before that, we were undefeated,” Berglin said. “We knew that Spain was going to be a difficult match because they have been playing together for a long time whereas we only had one practice tournament. We weren’t scared of losing, but we all knew it was a possibility because they were a great team.” 

Even though this was Andreassi’s second year representing Team USA, she said that her nerves were still high while playing for the team.

“It’s a lot more intense because the girls we’re playing are the best of the best in the world,” Andreassi said. “You have to be ready for a lot more than you do with the lower levels we normally play. You’re one of 15 other girls who get to wear the jersey, so it’s a big honor.”

The games were held in the Pala Bolino Arena in Roccaraso, a small mountain town in Italy. Though Roccaraso is only home to about 2,000 people, Berglin said the crowd did not disappoint.

“So many of the locals and a lot of the other teams would show up and watch the games,” Berglin said. “We had a crowd and it was loud and it was very exciting. It was fun to feel the exciting energy and vibes.”

In addition to the fans in the stands, Berglin said that her team’s constant encouragement and uplifting coaches kept her energy high during games.

“Especially on the bench, we would cheer each other on, and we would talk to each other in between plays,” she said. “Our coaches wouldn’t yell at us, they’d walk us through what they were seeing and what we could do better. There were no bad vibes on the bench.”

Before games, Berglin said that the team tried not to put too much pressure on themselves, which helped motivate them to play their best. 

“We hyped each other up, we’d blast music in the locker room, and we’d do a dance circle before the game,” Berglin said. “It wasn’t a scary, intense moment [during games]. We tried to make it as fun and lighthearted as possible because that’s when you play the best.”

At the end of the first period in the final game against Spain, the US was down 4-0. However, they managed to score at the beginning of the second period, which lifted the team’s spirits. Andreassi said that her team didn’t stop fighting until the very end. 

“The one goal really helped push us to try to come back even though we weren’t winning [and] we knew we had little time,” Andreassi said. “I was trying to push forward because I knew the game wasn’t over until the period ended.”

The team lost 4-1 to Spain, securing the USA team a silver medal for the second year in a row. Berglin said she was still happy with how they played.

“We played really well,” Berglin said. “We put in all of our effort and we ended up losing, but we were the only team that ended up scoring on them and we fought till the last minute. At first, I was like, ‘oh, we got second again and a lot of us will never play with each other again,’ but it was a really fun experience and we fought, so we were more proud than sad.”

Before the World Skate Games, the team was chosen from talented players all over the US. Most of them didn’t know each other. The team had only played one practice tournament to see how they worked together. Even though they hadn’t been playing together for very long, Berglin said they connected quickly.

“We were spending every minute of every single day together because when we were in Italy, we didn’t see our parents that often,” she said. “We got really close with one another. My favorite part was probably our team outings in our free time because we would walk and go get gelato at an Italian place or do fun team-bonding stuff that wasn’t in our structured time.”

As well as their team, Andreassi and Berglin also got to know the girls on the other teams from the nine other countries. After the game, as per the tournament’s tradition to swap merch, the team was bombarded in the locker rooms with the other teams. Even though they didn’t speak the same languages, the girls traded with each other by gesturing and pointing to the shirts or jerseys that they wanted. While she didn’t trade her jersey, Andreassi came back to the US with practice shirts from Italy. 

“We couldn’t even get out of our locker room because there were just so many people who were trying to come in,” Andreassi said. “A couple of them knew English but not many of them. It was just a cool experience to be able to talk to people without knowing their language.”

At the end of the tournament, all the teams got to celebrate together with a big party. 

“It was super cool because everyone was dancing together,” Berglin said. “The language barrier didn’t matter, it didn’t matter that we didn’t understand the music or that all of us were playing against each other hours ago. It was just really fun and [there were] great vibes.”

Andreassi and Berglin got to experience the rich culture of the town and the kindness of the locals while exploring the small town. 

“You just walk around town and you’d see so many people waving hi and saying ‘USA’ even though Italy is playing [in the tournament],” Andreassi said. “The experience of being with such good people, wearing the jersey, and going to Italy was super fun. It was just a great experience overall.”