Fatima Al Ali discovered ice hockey when she watched the ‘Mighty Ducks’ movies as a youngster and it wasn’t until she was 21-years-old that she realised the sport was actually practiced in the UAE.

Starting off as the photographer for the UAE men’s ice hockey national team photographer, Al Ali joined the Abu Dhabi Storms in 2011 and has been playing since then.

A few years later, she joined the men’s league.

“What got me into the men’s league is that I took a punch in the face while officiating one of the games,” she explains in the video above (provided by Abu Dhabi Sports Council).

“I wanted to play with the men’s for a long time but it didn’t work out because I’m a girl, I’m local, so they had a lot of concerns. So I was working hard to just improve myself to get better so they can accept that I can play, I can compete, I can keep up. That wasn’t enough, so I think the punch was enough to prove to them that I can play with them.”

Al Ali drew international attention in December last year when she was chosen to be a global ambassador for the NHL and she hopes to promote the sport in the UAE, and get more women playing it.

“It’s not easy to get players into the game, because it’s kind of a different game, but it’s more acceptable than other games because we’re covered from top to bottom,” added the 27-year-old.

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