• Ferwerda, Judy - 2021

There can be no discussion about girls hockey and the growth of girls hockey without the subject of Madison native Judy Ferwerda being brought into that discussion.  A person who has interest in any and all athletics, Ferwerda’s dedication to the birth and growth of girls hockey and to the cause of females in sports is legendary.  
 
Ferwerda’s relentless dedication to girls hockey helped jump start the sport at Tier I, and has led the explosion in numbers at Tier II.  She and her husband Dave founded the Wisconsin Challengers in the mid-1990s.  For many girls, the Challengers was their first opportunity to play for an all-girls hockey team.  Prior to that, there were few, if any, opportunities for girls, and those were, for the most part, only on boys teams.  Ultimately, the Challengers would evolve into the Madison Capitols girls program, but, more than that, it would create opportunities for these young women to participate in high school, collegiate Division I and Division III programs, the US National Team and eventually the US Olympic Team.

The journey for Ferwerda and her family was personal and involved a lot of time, energy and resources of their own as girls traveled from all over Wisconsin and the Midwest to practice or compete in Madison in the early days.  As one supporter of her induction put it “”Gas, miles and time became the Ferwerda’s currency, in exchange to create opportunities for us to play the game we love.”

Ferwerda and her husband Dave live in Madison and have two daughters, Jess and Amanda.