With all the issues tied to sport today, from Deflate Gate to the wreck of a season the Knicks are having, it is nice to find a unique voice, a refreshing reminder of what good can come from sport, and how one can take the gifts given them to “Pay It Forward,” a trait that brands, and business partners love attaching themselves to.
Such is the case with New Jersey native and University of Wisconsin star student-athlete Brittany Ammerman. During the summer of 2013, she took a month-long trip to Africa during the offseason with Health by Motorbike, an organization dedicated to supplying health camps to women. From that sprung something even more remarkable for the Pre-Med major and Badgers star, she has been on a mission to help and empower women in seven remote Kenyan villages, doing it with education about nutrition and health care, and with the launch of a women’s soccer league. The league is called Nikumbuke, which means “Remember me” in Swahili.
Near the start of her five-week trip, Ammerman bought a soccer ball from a street vendor in Nairobi, figuring it would help entertain children and provide some diversion for everybody, only to be stunned that the women who they were counseling about nutrition and maternity issues were instantly and completely taking with the ball and the game. The result has been an engagement and a drive, with the help of one of the world’s greatest female soccer players, Julie Foudy, to use sport to change the lives of these women thousands of miles from both Madison and River Vale.
We caught up with Ammerman to ask her about hockey, soccer and her new life’s mission:
Growing up in River Vale, did you ever think you would be tied to starting a soccer league literally half a world away?
No, I never thought I would be tied to starting a soccer league half a world away. I had always dreamed of going to a developing country for a number of reasons, particularly health-related because of my dream of becoming a surgeon, but I never thought this is what would come of my original trip to Kenya in 2013.
Who were some of the local coaches and teachers who influenced you to get to where you are now?
My 7th and 8th grade math teacher, who was also my middle school soccer coach at Holdrum Middle School in River Vale, Maria Giannantonio (Mrs. G) inspired me to be a better student and a better person constantly.
Girls hockey is not exactly top of mind in Bergen County, how tough was it to engage in a sport you loved so much?
My parents were the reason I was able to continue playing ice hockey as a girl in an area where hockey in general was not very popular. My mom and dad would drive me over an hour each way to practice in Morristown, NJ 3-4 times a week as well as travel to tournaments across the country and Canada. My parents also supported me going to high school for 5 months each school year in Stowe VT at the North American Hockey Academy. It was easy for me to pursue my dream of playing hockey because my parents were so supportive and helpful.
Tell us about your relationship with soccer legend Julie Foudy and how she has helped in your mission?
Julie Foudy has been an amazing mentor and supporter in helping gain awareness and funds for the soccer league. She constantly tells me that the soccer league is my “baby” so to speak and she is just there to help me make the connections. But she has impacted me in an unbelievable way, showing how selfless she is and how much she values the ability sport has to impact people, especially women.
How has your experience as a student-athlete in Madison helped you prepare for the work you are looking to achieve in Africa?
Being able to attend a world-class University like UW-Madison through playing hockey has allowed me to connect with amazing professors, take awesome classes, shadow surgeons in the hospital, and compete for a world-class athletic department. I think UW-Madison has allowed me the opportunity to travel to Kenya and take part in this journey. I have been challenged in the classroom and on the ice in ways that has molded me into the person I am and has molded me to take on this challenge of funding a women’s soccer league in Kenya. I think it important to note that this soccer league could not have formed without the prior health projects of the nonprofit Health by Motorbike that I originally traveled to Kenya to support. It is also important to note that we are not being “saviors” and saving these women; we are simply raising funds to provide them the means they need to participate in sport. They asked for the league and the expansion of the league, I am just helping to provide them the minimal material things they need to enjoy playing soccer while keeping those means within their lifestyle.
You still have a way to go in your academic and athletic career at Wisconsin; any thoughts to continuing on in athletics after you are done?
I was invited to attend USA Hockey camp this summer in August, but decided to decline my invite. I am enjoying playing hockey for the right reasons at UW- to have fun, be with my teammates, and try to win a National Championship- and am looking forward to beginning my journey to become a surgeon and enter medical school. I feel that I have accomplished everything in my sport- besides going to the Olympics- and I feel my academic and life dreams are calling my name and I am ready to begin achieving dreams outside of hockey. That is not to be confused with the passion and love I have for the sport of hockey and the appreciation I have for where it has gotten me. Without the sport, I would not be at UW-Madison, I would not be getting a world-class education, the opportunity to travel to Kenya, and so on. Simply put, in March my hockey-playing life chapter will close and my medical career/Kenya dedication chapter will open.
How do you think your experience in Africa will help you as you pursue a career in medicine?
My experience in Kenya has given me perspective on the importance of women’s health and women’s empowerment. It has allowed me to see that many countries in the developing world have yet to take health and women’s health seriously. I am planning on getting a dual MD/MPH (Masters in Public Health) degree so that I can continue to work in developing nations. I think having the experiences in Kenya will ultimately make me a more personal and dedicated doctor. It has allowed me to develop relationships with women half way across the world that I have kept in touch with.
What is the message you would like to make sure you share with young people in and around New Jersey?
Message I would like to share: Always try to make a difference and be remembered for something other than your talents. I could easily be remembered for my hockey talent alone but I have strived to be someone more than just a girl that plays hockey. Hockey has been a great journey and my talents in the sport have aided in getting me to the point I am at now, but I have also managed to work hard enough to make a difference in other people’s lives and be remembered for something other than my athletic ability.
