By Dan Ninham
Jayden Petersen will be a sophomore next school year at Zimmerman High School in Minnesota. She is a descendant of the White Earth Nation through her maternal grandfather Dennis Sargent. Petersen is a multi-sport varsity athlete on the Elk River/Zimmerman Elks hockey team and the Zimmerman High School track and field team.
“One of my highest accomplishments was being invited to the USA National 15’s Development Camp for girls’ hockey,” said Jayden Petersen. “It was a five-phase tryout. Only 35 skaters made it from Minnesota in my birth year.”
The Developmental Camp will be held at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio this summer.
“I made varsity for hockey as a freshman and track and field as an eighth grader. I was able to make the All Conference Academic Team for my track team this year. I currently have a goal to continue to improve and get better every year. In the future, I aim to participate on a Division 1 hockey team,” added Petersen.
As an indigenous athlete, Petersen believes in the seven Grandfather’s teachings that help guide her. She said, “I feel my biggest Indigenous core value is the seven Grandfather teachings: wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility and truth. I don’t feel I can be the athlete that I am with only one of those teachings. I have to live and practice all of them to keep my goals and to also be the teammate my team needs from me.”
Petersen continues to achieve at a higher level and will eventually be representing the nation in hockey. She shared advice for others who follow her. “Never give up,” she said. “Always push yourself out of your comfort zone. You will never know what you can accomplish if you give up as soon as it gets hard. Always be a leader and a great teammate.”
“A coachable player goes a lot further than one who doesn’t respect their coaches and teammates. It’s okay to expect greatness. When you are a student athlete, remember that student comes first. Stay on top of your school work. This discipline will add values that you will use the rest of your life,” she added.
“Jack Christian was my first AAA hockey coach,” said Petersen. “One of my biggest supporters, Jack was one of the first people who saw the potential I had as a hockey player.”
Jack Christian was Jayden’s hockey coach from age nine to 12 years old. Jayden and his daughter Alex have been best friends for the last six years and their families have become very close.
“From the first time I was on the ice with Jayden, it was clear that she was a much faster player than most of her peers,” said Jack Christian. “As our opponents became more skilled defensively we worked to make sure Jayden could recognize her options to maximize all of the space available, and understand tactics and routes to maximize her effectiveness and also reduce situations where she would be “running into dead ends.”
“After watching Jayden play in her first varsity season with the Elk River/Zimmerman Elks it was clear that she understood how and where to use her speed to take advantage of all lanes and layers of the ice,” added Christian.
All athletes have a story within a story. Petersen began playing hockey on a boys’ team since there were not any girls’ teams in the area at the time. She said, “I made the highest level of the boys’ team for our association for the PeeWee AA level for two years before I transitioned to the varsity team. I was able to face the adversity of being the only female athlete on my team as well as the teams I was playing against.”
“I was able to gain the respect of my coaches, teammates, and parents. I was welcomed with open arms and had some of the greatest supporters and best years of hockey. Playing a different style and level of physicality has given me a different perspective of the game,” Petersen added.
Petersen will not only be representing the United States and the White Earth Nation when she laces up her skates to play with the National U15 team. She will also be representing her immediate family and her high school teams’ families.
