KENDALL’S STORY

Kendall Coyne’s route to becoming an Olympian began in an outdoor ice rink in a southwest suburb of Chicago called Orland Park, Illinois. Today, that rink is indoors, and is known as the Championship Rink inside of the Arctic Ice Arena. Over 20 years ago when Kendall first donned a pair of hockey skates, the city of Chicago wasn’t crazy about hockey like they are today. Many of Kendall’s friends in school didn’t know what hockey was, or thought it was weird that she was a girl playing hockey. While she never let any of that bother her, Kendall was a multi-sport athlete as a kid. She played baseball, basketball, softball, track, and hockey. She was just as passionate about other sports as she was hockey.

From a young age, Kendall’s speed always stood out among her peers. She loved to do everything fast like skating, stealing bases, running around the neighborhood, playing at the park and riding her bike. She loves to go fast.

Throughout Kendall’s career, there weren’t many other girls playing hockey so the majority of Kendall’s teams were all boys and her. As her love for hockey continued to grow, she asked her parents to try out for AA travel hockey. Kendall’s parents agreed because they saw how much she loved the game. Kendall did not make the team, and returned to house league. The following season Kendall was determined to make a travel hockey team. Not only did Kendall make a travel hockey team that year, she made a AAA boys team, playing against players a year older than her. By getting cut the year before, Kendall used that as motivation to become a stronger player.

Kendall’s youth hockey career continued to soar. She had to stop playing hockey games with the boys at bantam minors because the boys became a lot bigger than Kendall. However, she would practice with the boy’s teams and play girls’ hockey. She did this all the way until she went to college.

At 15 years old, Kendall got her first call from USA Hockey. She was asked to join Team USA’s U-18 team. As the youngest member of the team, she was ecstatic to wear the red, white, and blue for the first time. In 2009, at 18-years old, Kendall got invited to tryout for the 2009-2010 U.S. Olympic Team. After being cut, Kendall returned to Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Illinois for her senior year. In 2011, Kendall made her Senior National Team debut, playing in her first World Championship. Kendall also went on to play her college hockey at Northeastern University where she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both summa cum laude.

Since then, Kendall has become an Olympic Champion a World Champion and so much more. Currently she is the president and co-founder with husband Michael Schofield, of the Schofield Family Foundation. In 2020, the couple joined a new ownership group of the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). In the work to create a sustainable and viable professional women’s hockey league, Kendall is a board member for the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA). She is the founder of the Kendall Coyne Hockey camp which just completed its seventh year.

For her many achievements, on and off the ice, Kendall has received the honor of being named to the prestigious 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 List. In January 2022, Kendall’s highly anticipated book, As Fast As Her, was published by HarperCollins. The true, inspirational story of how Kendall broke down barriers to achieve her dreams, As Fast As Her reached #1 on the Amazon best seller lists in three selected young adult categories.

Without love, passion, sacrifice, hard work, commitment, and the support from so many including her family, Kendall would not be where she is at today.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

OLYMPIC GAMES

2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China – Silver Medalist

• Served as team captain. Finished with six points in seven games (3g 3a)

2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea – Gold Medalist

• Led the tournament with 21 shots; Finished with three points in five games (2g 1a)

US Women’s National Team

IIHF Women’s World Championship 6-time World Champion

• 2022: Herning, Denmark: Silver Medalist. Served as Team Captain. Finished the tournament with eleven points (1g 10a). Became the All-time Assists leader in Team USA World Championship History (41a)
• 2021: Calgary, Alberta: Silver Medalist. Served as team captain. Finished the tournament five points (2g 3a) and a plus-5 rating
• 2020: Halifax, Nova Scotia – Named to her 8th Women’s World Championship team; tournament was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic *