Venla Hovi Leads as Coach for Harvard University Women’s Ice Hockey Team

Venla Court, a former national team forward, has left her previous job and taken up a position at Harvard University. The surprising turn of events came about due to challenges in her coaching career which led her to seek new employment. The prestigious Ivy League school, located on the east coast of the United States, provided her with this new opportunity.

As a Finn, Court is in the unique position of working for Harvard as the coach of the women’s hockey team. She often finds herself in awe of the conditions she gets to work in and the prestigious nature of the institution.

Court has an impressive record as a player, having won two Olympic medals and reaching the finals of the World Cup home games in Espoo five years ago. She was drawn to coaching and worked as a skills coach for the Winnipeg Jets organization and later coached the Metropolitan Riveters from New Jersey in the North American women’s professional league PHF last season.

However, when the series crashed and the club went down with it, Court found herself jobless and had to start looking for a new position. Despite this setback, she received several job offers, including one from Harvard, where she felt she wanted to be.

Now, as the assistant coach for the team under head coach Laura Bellamy, Court finds herself in a different environment. She works with very intelligent and cultured players, and part of her job involves bringing European players to the team. All the current players are North Americans, and Court is tasked with making the team more international.

In this challenging role, Court admires her players who are in quite difficult programs and managing to excel at a top level. Some of them aspire to become surgeons, engineers, economists, and psychology students, while others hope to continue their hockey careers professionally.

Court, who is married to 2018 Olympic champion Amanda Pelkey, feels fortunate that both of them are based in the same city. She believes that it is a privilege to work at such a prestigious institution and is grateful for the opportunity every day.