Brydie Wedesweiler, the daughter of Tim and Caroline Wedesweiler and granddaughter of Narrabri residents Frank (dec) and Lyn Wedesweiler, has achieved the remarkable feat of representing Australia at the World Women’s U18 Ice Hockey championships in Jaca, Spain, at the age of 16.
Brydie flew to Melbourne in 2023 for try-outs to represent Australia at an intense weeklong ice hockey selection camp.
The 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship Division is now underway at the Pabellon de Hielo, Jaca, Spain.
The competition, taking place from January 8 to 14, has the U18s team competing in the section Division I, Group B against countries Norway, Poland, Spain, Chinese Taipei and Korea.
Brydie firstly headed to Italy where the team honed their skills at a weeklong pre-tournament training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport’s (AIS) European Training Centre in Varese.
This was the first time all the members of the Australian team had trained together, as some of the girls currently live and play ice hockey in North America.
Using the newly refurbished Acinque Ice Rink at the centre, a classic European rink that has seen recent upgrades to the rink, boards, dressing rooms, swimming pool, plus warm up and storage areas, the opportunity to utilise the AIS facility brought the chance for the girls to train in a high-performance environment.
The Wedesweiler family moved from Australia to Canada when Brydie was just three, and she first put ice skates on shortly after arriving in the cold climate region.
Brydie soon found herself playing ice hockey with the boys at the tender age of five and continued to play the sport until she returned to Australia in 2021.
Settling back in Australia with her family at the Central Coast, Brydie registered to play hockey at Warners Bay ice rink in Newcastle.
Since then, she has represented the Newcastle NorthStar Juniors at Bantam (U15) level.
This competition sees the team competing against teams from the Central Coast and Sydney.
Upon her return from Spain, Brydie looks to continue to play representative hockey and concentrate on her studies as she heads into Year 11.
Brydie Wedesweiler with her father Tim Wedesweiler and grandmother Lyn Wedesweiler.
