{"id":66543,"date":"2021-11-21T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/?post_type=bu-article&p=66543"},"modified":"2023-04-21T10:42:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T14:42:00","slug":"hometown-star","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/magazine\/articles\/2021\/hometown-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Hometown Star"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Photos by Michelle Jay<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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Professional hockey player Sammy Davis juggles her sport and her studies\u2014 all while advocating for the next generation of women athletes<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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November 21, 2021<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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Boston has a long line of professional sports royalty.<\/strong> Rarely, though, do athletes have as strong a connection to the city as hockey star Sammy Davis. Tom Brady was from California, David Ortiz (Hon.\u201917) from the Dominican Republic, and Bill Russell (Hon.\u201902) from Louisiana. <\/strong>Davis (CGS\u201917, Sargent\u201919, Wheelock\u201920) grew up in suburban Pembroke, Mass. She played high school hockey at Tabor Academy<\/a> in Marion, Mass., just like Travis Roy (COM\u201900, Hon.\u201916). Then she starred at BU for four seasons. On April 28, 2020, the Boston Pride<\/a> selected the hometown star with the first overall pick in the National Women\u2019s Hockey League (NWHL) draft\u2014and less than a year later they won the league title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just her local roots that differentiate Davis from Boston\u2019s sporting elite. There\u2019s also a mammoth salary gap; even the best women pro athletes can rarely count on their paycheck to make a living. As she competes at the highest level, Davis is also pursuing her doctorate in occupational therapy at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. And she\u2019s advocating for women athletes so future generations won\u2019t have to make the same sacrifices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis and her siblings played a lot of sports growing up\u2014she competed in soccer, field hockey, and softball\u2014but ice hockey quickly became her favorite. \u201cI love the camaraderie and the team atmosphere,\u201d she says. \u201cKnowing that you have 20 friends, 20 people that care about you\u2014it\u2019s a family.\u201d Her father took her to see the Terriers play at Walter Brown Arena\u2014even though he\u2019s a Northeastern alum\u2014and she attended hockey camp at BU. \u201cIt was always BU,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sammy Davis, a forward on the Boston Pride, plays in a semifinal game of the 2021 Isobel Cup playoffs in Boston in March 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Davis made an immediate impact in her first collegiate season<\/a>, earning a spot on the Hockey East all-rookie team. By the time she graduated, she was the program\u2019s sixth-highest scorer of all time. And no goal was bigger than the one she scored during overtime of the 2019 Beanpot to beat Harvard and give the Terriers their first title since 1981. Her BU experience extended into the classroom\u2014Davis was a four-time Hockey East All-Academic Team selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A misfortune on the ice during a sophomore season practice set her OT career in motion. A flying puck fractured the tip of her pinkie despite the padded hockey glove she wore. After surgery, Davis worked briefly with an occupational therapist. She was already planning to enter Sargent College as a junior, but the experience focused her interest. \u201cI just fell in love with the profession,\u201d she says. She began talking to OTs about their careers and shadowed one who worked with preschoolers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was another injury that led her to BU Wheelock. After missing her junior season following double hip surgery, Davis decided to stay at BU for a fifth year to complete her athletic eligibility. That gave her time to earn a master\u2019s in special education, which she hopes will help her if she ends up working in a school setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she neared graduation, Davis knew two things: she wanted to continue studying occupational therapy and she wasn\u2019t ready to walk away from hockey. She considered playing professionally in Europe, but, she says, \u201cI\u2019m a Boston girl through and through.\u201d So, after she was drafted by the Pride, Davis enrolled in the MGH Institute of Health Professions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balancing school and hockey necessitates a grueling routine, but Davis makes it work. \u201cSports have always been such a big part of my life,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve found that playing hockey makes me a better person in other areas.\u201d She\u2019s out of bed at 6 am for her daily morning workout in the summer. Then it\u2019s off to class all day, and, finally,  Pride practice at about 8:30 pm\u2014a concession to the fact that the women on the team all need to maintain second careers to support themselves. \u201cI get home at 11, go to bed, and then the next day it\u2019s the same thing again,\u201d Davis says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not exactly a formula for peak athletic performance\u2014and the gender disparities are not lost on Davis. \u201cWhen I was younger, I used to say, \u2018I want to play in the NHL,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cNow that there is a league that girls can look up to, it\u2019s amazing. But we still have a long way to go. I would love to get to decide to be an OT or a professional athlete. You don\u2019t get to choose right now, because you can\u2019t make a living being a professional athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now that there is a league that girls can look up to, it\u2019s amazing. But we still have a long way to go. I would love to get to decide to be an OT or a professional athlete. You don\u2019t get to choose right now, because you can\u2019t make a living being a professional athlete.<\/div>