All Caps All Her: How Jessie Thompson is Growing Women’s Hockey with the Washington Capitals

Lee MJ Elias [0:00 - 0:58]: hello, hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome to another episode of our Girls Play Hockey. I'm Lee Elias, joined by my co host, Haley Scammura. And today we're thrilled to welcome Jesse Thompson to the show. Jesse is part of the team behind the Washington Capital's All Caps all her initiative, a program that's working hard to elevate, connect, and inspire, inspire girls and women in hockey through events, mentorship, visibility, and community. All words we love on this show. Whether it's bringing local players together and leaders together, hosting unforgettable game day experiences, or simply giving girls a platform to be heard, Jessie and her team are building something incredibly special. Today we're going to dive into the story behind All Caps. All her talk about how a strong community can spark confidence and belonging and explore what NHL teams can do to move the women's game forward. Jamie, welcome to our Girls Play Hockey. 

Jessie Thompson [1:00 - 1:00]: Thank you. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:01 - 1:04]: Yeah, let me try that again. Jesse, welcome to our Girls Play Hockey. 

Jessie Thompson [1:04 - 1:18]: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here to have this conversation and obviously to be able to chat with you, Haley, who's also been a big part of this platform. So excited to be here and chat all things girls hockey. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:19 - 1:41]: Well, Jesse, we're excited to have you, and I'm going to give you a heads up right now. I don't know why. I just had a Ron Burgundy teleprompter moment where it says Jamie on my rundown and I looked up like that's not her name. So I just corrected it right away. Look, we're all honest here on the show. We're honest here on the show. Her name is Jesse, everybody. For listening, let's start here. For those who may not know what is All Caps all her. And how did that initiative get started? 

Jessie Thompson [1:41 - 3:15]: Totally. So backtrack couple years pre Covid. I'm lucky enough to be part of the youth hockey development team with the Washington Capitals. And our main mission is to. To provide memorable experiences for all kids in the DMV area, but to also to really increase the value of playing hockey as a child so that you're a lifelong fan of the sport and of our team. So many years ago, we're doing all these youth hockey programs and emails kind of start trickling in a little bit of, hey, you know, my daughter's 13 years old. Do you have a program that she could be in a couple weeks later? Hey, you know, my twins are nine and they're kind of finished with soccer. Is there a program, an all girls program? So Our team kind of just started to put those emails into a folder and we kept saying, one day, one day we're going to be ready. We'll have a space where we can create these programs for young girls. And In December of 2021, we did it. We launched all capsule her, which is a full platform and initiative in our organization. So it's not just about girls programs on the ice or programs for women on the ice. We have four different pillars and it's about providing opportunities, but also amplifying the voices, the stories, the experience of the incredible women and families in our area who are also making the game a better place for women and girls. So here we are about three and a half, almost four years later, with a super robust platform that we are so incredibly proud of. 

Hayley Scamurra [3:18 - 3:27]: Oh, that's awesome, Jesse. Love to hear that. So you said it's not just people on the ice. So, like, who does that include and what kind of stories are you guys telling? 

Jessie Thompson [3:27 - 4:27]: Sure. So we have four different pillars within our All Caps on her platform. So the first one is youth and adult programming. So that's when we have created these on ice and off ice programs for girls and for adult women to get in the game at multiple different levels. The biggest ones being our learn to play levels. So we have a Girls learn to play for girls ages 7 to 14, which is where we've really found that sweet spot. You know, you've got those 11, 12, 13 year olds who they don't love dance anymore, they don't love soccer anymore, and they want to try something new. But in hockey, it's usually too late. You know, you've got kids playing hockey since they were four years old. So we want to make sure that there's a place for them to learn and maybe see if hockey could be their lifelong sport. And same for adults. We have over 50% of the adults that are in our learn to play. You're nodding your head, Hayley, because you've been on the ice with them. They're hockey moms whose kids play hockey. And now there's a place that they can learn. The average. We have 18 to 63 year old women in our program. 

Lee MJ Elias [4:27 - 4:27]: Wow. 

Jessie Thompson [4:28 - 4:37]: It's awesome. And I would say a good handful of them using their teenage son's old gear, which is always a nice smell in the locker room. 

Lee MJ Elias [4:39 - 4:41]: That's one way to connect. Yeah, exactly. 

Jessie Thompson [4:41 - 6:40]: It's so cool because hockey is now a family sport when it hasn't always been a sport that the whole family can play together. Because we have a Place where these adult women can actually learn, engage with their community. And then you have their kids coming with signs saying, go, mom, for the very last class. It's awesome. So, you know, coupled with many other programs, that's kind of our first pillar. Our second pillar is coach and referee development. So we are really trying to better coaches and officials in the area, both women coaches and officials, as well as coaches and officials of the women's game. And some more things coming within the next season or two, specifically on the official side, which we're super excited about. The next one we have is families of hockey. So that's kind of the big one. And that's our storytelling component. So. So that's where we are being able to amplify the voices of those in our community and show some people who might be behind the scenes, some people who are at the forefront of the sport, moms, coaches, rink managers, things like that, that we can share what they're doing to make this game a better place. And then the last one is business development and networking. So we are super proud within our monumental sports and entertainment organization, that we have a lot of women leaders in our company throughout all places in the organization, not just with the Caps. So we kind of noticed that we have the opportunity to help young women and girls learn about being in sports and working in sports. So we've started to develop different networking opportunities. One of the biggest things we have is our Women in Sports networking event where we have undergraduate and graduate women come out to Capital One arena, we do a little networking event, and then they get to enjoy a Caps game, which is always fun. So kind of a 360 approach to just the community in general and how we can really do our best to continue to amplify the game. 

Lee MJ Elias [6:41 - 7:43]: You know, I'm taking some notes here, Jesse, and there's a few cool things here that you brought up, you know, from a hockey standpoint. One is that I wrote this. You know, it's never too late to start playing hockey. One of the things that happens in our game, especially at the youth level, is I'm gonna. I'm gonna say this question and I'm going to let everybody know in the audience. It's such a ridiculous question I hear more often than people think, which is, well, it's too late to start. They'll never make a college team if they start now. That is a crazy thought to be thinking if you are only getting into youth sports with the thought of a collegiate scholarship, which, by the way, in hockey is a whole Nother Like. Like world with juniors and things like that. That's not why your kids play sport. Okay. It's just not. If you're getting in for that reason, you're. You're very likely to be disappointed down. Down the road. Okay. I've said this on the show before. We had a. We had a mom one time that said, well, I just hope there's an ROI at the end of this for my kid to get the money back that we spent. And it's like, that's not the way to be approaching the game. 

Jessie Thompson [7:43 - 7:43]: Right. 

Lee MJ Elias [7:44 - 8:11]: All right. We had a good conversation. But I will say that there's never an age. I started at 12. Right. It's just. It's just you. If you want to play hockey, play hockey. The other thing I wrote down here is I love that you're inviting women to come out and learn the game, because we tell parents this all the time. If you've never played, to be fair, a lot of hockey parents have played. If you've never played highly, suggest you get on the ice at least one time. You will immediately stop yelling certain things at your kids at practice. 

Jessie Thompson [8:11 - 8:13]: We say that all the time. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:13 - 8:40]: Yeah. Skate harder. Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes. They should be skating hard, but there's certain things you can do or can't do. Right? So. So I encourage everyone to do that. Not to mention the perspective of being on the ice. Same reason we tell players, hey, jump in net for a game. Right? Understand what it is to be a goalie. And then the last thing with the family initiative, I love everything about this program. And again, while it's centered around women and girls, this sounds like something that we should be doing across the board. 

Jessie Thompson [8:41 - 8:51]: Definitely. I think there's so many things to what you just said. The biggest one being, you know, maybe 10, 20 years ago, the people who played hockey, it was a very niche subset. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:51 - 8:51]: Right. 

Jessie Thompson [8:52 - 9:05]: What we are trying to do is widen the amount and the type of people who can play hockey and being able to try it, specifically try it, because if you don't love it. Totally fine. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:05 - 9:06]: Yeah, totally fine. 

Jessie Thompson [9:06 - 9:32]: Awesome. That you were brave. You were courageous. You opened yourself up to a new experience. And hockey can be so intimidating. We all know that. But it can be one of those lifelong sports like tennis, pickleball, running type thing. We have an incredible woman named Linda who just retired from the sport of hockey at 85 years old in our women's league. 85 years young. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:32 - 9:34]: We give a round of applause for that. 

Jessie Thompson [9:36 - 9:51]: And Linda kept saying, I don't need to be the fastest one, I don't need to be the strongest one. But as long as my body is able to, to lace up my skates and to get on the ice, I love to do it. So we want more 85 year old Linda. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:52 - 9:57]: I don't think Linda's. Linda's not going to get a college scholarship though. Jesse, we talked about. 

Jessie Thompson [9:57 - 10:00]: No, that may be true. Never say never. 

Lee MJ Elias [10:00 - 10:03]: That's fair too. It's all about the joy. 

Jessie Thompson [10:04 - 10:47]: It's all about the joy. There's so much to the sport specifically for girls that is teamwork and leadership development and learning skills that you really cannot learn in another sport. That is so much more valuable than a college scholarship and so much more valuable than playing travel hockey and going to tournaments every weekend. There are some girls in our program who their life desire is to play rec hockey and play with their friends and get on the ice and at 9:30 on a Saturday morning and have fun. And that is our goal, is to create those experiences where those girls can play and have the best time in the sport. 

Lee MJ Elias [10:48 - 11:13]: I love that. And, and that is the real ROI on really use sports, not just youth hockey. Right. Is, look, one of my favorite phrases that I tell everybody, parents, kids, coaches, and this is so true, is that you will face more adversity in a weekend of hockey and you will in a month of life. Right? And it's like your kids are getting a masterclass in youth hockey of how to deal with life. Sorry, I didn't mean interrupt you there. 

Jessie Thompson [11:14 - 11:15]: That was a good quote. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:17 - 12:31]: It's true, right? I mean, when you think about the ups and downs of a hockey game, you don't go through that in a normal day. I mean, you might once or a few times in your life, but our youth kids go through this every single weekend. If you're in a showcase weekend, it might be five times. Right. So, you know, I don't expect children to act like adults all the time, but the truth is when they get to adulthood, they are, they are insanely prepared. We always talk about how Kobe Bryant would do three practices a day. Your kids are. If, if you're positioning them right, I should say that parents. Right. If you're positioning them right to, to have a growth mindset and not a fixed mindset, they're getting these life reps early. Right. And, and to be fair, if you get too many of them early, that can be a problem too. So you got to find that right balance. Jesse, I want to bring this up too. You know, a lot of NHL teams are starting to kind of sprout up their own version of. It won't be called all Caps, all her, but. But programming like that, I think a lot of it. Yeah, right. That'd be funny if another team called it. Why do you call it all cap work? We're a different team, but you've had an impact across the league. So a question I want to ask is, obviously there's some sustainability here of what made you successful, but when you talk to other NHL teams, and I'm hoping that you do, you know, what are those conversations like or what are the big aha moments for other clubs of, you know, I didn't think of that. That that's a great way to make this sustainable. 

Jessie Thompson [12:32 - 13:17]: Yeah, that's a great question. And I think one of the things that is unique to our youth hockey world within an NHL team is we're not competing with each other. The girl who works for the Penguins is one of my close friends and good allies. We don't speak about what happens on the ice, but in the world of youth hockey, we're not competing. Unlike, you know, the ticketing teams and the marketing teams, etc. So we are all within all 32 clubs, super close. And we bounce ideas off of each other weekly, if not daily. So it's really fun to be able to hear what's working for other clubs, but even more valuable, what's not working. 

Lee MJ Elias [13:17 - 13:18]: Right, right. 

Jessie Thompson [13:18 - 14:32]: So all 32 clubs are so different. What's going to work here in the D.C. area is certainly not going to work in Tampa or is certainly not going to work in Seattle. But it's. We're able to say, hey, you know, we're doing this try hockey for free concept. Have you guys done it? What was the success? And then Molly in LA can tell me. You know, we tried to pair it with street hockey and it actually didn't work. Going from inside to outside to inside to outside, and then that's valuable. I can take that back and say, okay, if we want to do street hockey and ice hockey, let's do it on two different days type of thing. So it's really fun to be able to share those wins of. Yeah, you know, we did a girls try hockey for free day last year that Haley was at, and we had 513 girls try hockey in one day. Here's some of the best practices. And now there's other clubs doing it on the same day to kind of get a whole nationwide concept, which is awesome, but also to share those, hey, you know, we tried something and it didn't work. Let's kind of work together to put our heads together and see how we can increase the value of whatever program it is moving forward. So it's really fun to be able to collaborate with other clubs and just learn from each other. 

Hayley Scamurra [14:33 - 15:17]: Yeah, that's awesome. I remember, I remember that day very well. I think the biggest piece was like helping the kids with their equipment because especially for the try hockey for free, a lot of those parents did not have hockey experience. They're like, what, what is this thing? And it was like a shin pat. And I'm like, all right, we'll put this on first. Like, and then the order of operations, like, that was. That was the toughest piece for sure. And then once they got on the ice, I mean, they all loved it. They all had so much fun. And then, Jesse, I love when you're out there with them and maybe they try it for like two seconds, they get off and you're like, hey, you tried it. Great job, proud of you. You can get off. It's okay. So I feel like that's a great lesson for everyone, is that, you know, as long as you try it, you know, that's okay. 

Jessie Thompson [15:17 - 15:46]: Yeah. We talk a lot about the concept of trying something and what that word really means in our minds. The success of, you know, let's say it's a six year old girl getting on the ice in full gear, which is so intimidating, and staying out there for the full 90 minutes is the exact same success of, you know, those two little girls who were out there last year that were so brave and they got on the ice and about 90 seconds later they got off. 

Lee MJ Elias [15:47 - 15:47]: Yep. 

Jessie Thompson [15:47 - 16:35]: We want to make sure that their first touch point with the sport is positive, no matter what that looks like. Whether it's. We had a couple kids last year who they got the gear on and they decided they didn't want to go on the ice. And we celebrated that they were courageous enough to do something that was really physically intimidating, putting on all that gear. They're going to leave saying, those older girls around me were so proud of me for doing that. They play hockey, maybe I could try again. That's the same ROI we talked about as that 6 year old who skated for the full 90 minutes and says, I want to play hockey for the rest of my life. So especially with young girls and young kids in general, that first touch point being positive is going to set the foundation for the rest of their time in the sport. 

Lee MJ Elias [16:36 - 19:00]: So, Jesse, my question is, when my daughter does not Want to eat something on her plate? How. How do I positively. No, no. Actually, what we do is we try and encourage. Just take one bite. And if you don't like it after the one bite, we do have to say, don't psych yourself out, but all the parents at home nodding right now. Yeah, that happened. You know, another thing that you said here, that's funny. This is such a good reminder. You know, we did an episode recently about benchmarks for each age group, and we got a lot of feedback from parents that they were very surprised in a positive way that, like, after 10U or 12U, they thought their kid was supposed to be way farther down the line. It's shocking to parents to hear that after 10U, you should not know how to run a 2124 check in the offensive zone and have power play. Like, that's just not a thing that. I mean, there's introductions to that, right? So I, I just wrote here, it's funny how we go, and this is like, day one of the first rule of hockey is it's okay to fall down. Like, that's pretty much across the board. You're going to fall down, and that's okay. And I, I wrote, here we go from it's okay to fall down to shoot the puck. Shoot. Shoot them, get out. You know, it's we. We go so fast from the basics to this advanced stuff. It takes a long time to cook a hockey player. You know, I tell parents it's going to be a decade from when they start to. When they really start getting it. It really does take that long. And obviously there's variance. Some kids pick up certain things faster, but no matter. It's like driving. Like, you don't really know how to drive the first year you're driving. Right. It takes time. And I love the positive approach because. And this is where I'm going with this. I think we forget sometimes this is not just in hockey, just the development mindset. Right? We're all very encouraging when we're teaching our children to walk. It's a wonderful, magical time, and we're very encouraging. But the second they don't know how to shoot on a power play, it's like we've. We've lost the ability to. To do that. And it's like, we. I. You gotta parent multiple directions, parents. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that everything should be this encouraging, wonderful moment, but we gotta keep it in perspective. And I love that you're doing that, especially. I know we have listeners Hearing like they went on the ice for two seconds and got off, that's they tried something new. Like that lesson will go so much further. Right? Yeah. 

Jessie Thompson [19:00 - 19:29]: And that time frame of you're falling down and then you're doing a power play, that's where you find the joy. When you talked about finding the joy of the sport, the sport that's the interim of you want to continue those positive associations so that your kid wants to learn about the power play and wants to learn about how to be a better teammate. If you continue to reinforce those positives, it's going to help their development long term. 

Lee MJ Elias [19:29 - 19:29]: Right. 

Jessie Thompson [19:29 - 20:06]: And then, I mean, we, we cycle back all the time, especially for girls. You want to foster that positive environment in a sport that is so fun, physically and mentally intimidating. And that's why I feel like our programs truly have been so successful because the coaches on the ice are women and your parents are not allowed to be standing on the bench. And we have girls that graduated from our girls Learn to Play who are coming back on the ice with the younger girls to tell them how much fun they have and show them. So it's those positive associations and finding the joy that is the long term success. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:07 - 20:33]: Yeah. And also the representation. Right. Because we say this on the episodes a lot, that for me as a guy, I've always seen men playing hockey at the highest levels. Right. But for my daughter and, and this is different today than it was 10, 15 years ago. But to see a woman coaching, to see other women play professional hockey, Olympic hockey, you've seen it now, right. And, and now it becomes possible. Haley, go ahead. I saw you had a thought there. 

Hayley Scamurra [20:33 - 20:49]: Yeah. Well, I was going to ask you, Jesse, like, what's, what's the rate? Do you guys have like those kind of numbers that girls who are in the learn to play program who then continue to play hockey and how do you kind of cultivate that to make sure. Not to make sure, but to, you know, help them take that next step. 

Jessie Thompson [20:50 - 22:14]: Yeah. So over 75% of them are continuing to play hockey after they go through our learn to play 1, 2, 3 programs. So we sort of restructured where we used to just do. Fall was learn to play, winter was learn to play and spring was learn to play. And then we realized they really want a progression and we want to be able to graduate a pretty 360 hockey players. So we kind of changed it to Learn to play one, Learn to Play two, Learn to play three. And by the time summer rolls around again, you might not be doing a power play, but you know what a power play is and you know what off sides is. You might not be able to be on sides all the time, but you know what you're supposed to be doing. Um, so I think that's really helped with retention too, is they're not just continually stick handling and passing and shooting. They're connecting the dots of the game. And then that's really when they decide, I want to continue playing and go into a house league or a rec league, something like that. And I think players like you are the reason that those positive associations for role models now exist. Exactly like you were saying, they're doing this learn to play program and trying something new. And then they might go home and watch a PWL game at 7 o' clock and see that there's something that they can attain if. If that's their goal. So the role that role models play in girls hockey is so important. 

Lee MJ Elias [22:15 - 22:47]: It's awesome that you're going into that because one of the cool things about where we're at today, at least in my opinion, is we're doing this show called Our Girls Play Hockey. You have an Olympian and a PWHL star on the show. We have an NHL representative from a team on the show. It's a new day and age for women's hockey. Right. But that doesn't mean there's not still barriers. Right. So, you know, we've had, we'll call it an aggressive expansion in the women's game in the recent years, but what are the barriers that still need to be overcome or what are the glass ceilings that we don't know about? 

Jessie Thompson [22:48 - 26:32]: Yeah, the. There's two big things. Ice time and cost will always be barriers. And just in the world of hockey, and there's no magical solution if somebody has one. Please tell us what the solution is. Those will always be issues, but what we're doing is trying our best to overcome those issues how we can in our community. So cost, for example, equipment is so expensive. We all know this. That's not a. That's not a new topic. We have an incredible partner in leveling the playing field, which is based out of Baltimore and Silver Spring in the area, and they collect gently used sporting equipment for all sports. But they are partnering with us specifically for ice hockey. So if any girl in our Girls Learn to Play program comes to us and says, I want to be able to play, but you know, we can't afford a full set of gear just to see if she likes it for eight weeks, we will connect them with loving the playing field to get a gently used set of gear that they can use for eight weeks no matter what. We've had a couple girls who want to try goalie, which we love, but of course, completely understandable. Their parents don't have the means to make an investment for a full set of goalie gear, again to try it out for eight weeks. Maybe she loves it, maybe she doesn't. So we're really fortunate to have them as an awesome partner, and that really helps overcome that barrier to trying the sport. And then I think another barrier that we really have overcome is the stigma around hockey being a very boys hockey, girls hockey. There's not necessarily a happy medium. So one of the things that we did when we launched the all Caps or her platform is we put out a statement that said, if you feel safe and comfortable playing in our programs and you want to play, call, come on in, no matter how you identify. We were very conscious of the fact that there's the pronoun her in our platform, but we also wanted to make a place for anybody to play in our programs. And I've talked to Haley about this before. We laid that foundation, and the players in our programs created that community all on their own. So I would say in any given, you know, one of our adult learn to play programs, I would say between 10 and 15% of the players identify as female or don't use she her pronouns. And I have a folder in my inbox of the emails that we've gotten from players saying, you know, I'm 40 years old, and I've never found a place that I felt like I belonged until I'll capsule her until you opened the doors. And this is pretty impressive because I usually start crying when I say this, but that is a huge barrier in hockey, and we've really tried to be intentional about making our programs welcoming, safe, inclusive. Haley knows we tell all of our coaches ahead of time. We talk about language, we talk about inclusivity and making sure that we can respect how everybody identifies on the ice. So I'm very proud that our organization laid that foundation, But I can't take any credit for the community that the players have created. They're so supportive, and they are so encouraging of each other, and it's so cool to see that there's players who are playing in our programs that felt like they never could have played hockey because of how they identify. So I'm really proud of that. And I think that there's NHL clubs and teams in the area, as well as nationwide, who are following that lead of saying, you know what? Hockey's hockey. We're just excited to have a place for you to play. 

Lee MJ Elias [26:32 - 28:08]: You know, I want to follow up on that because it's a topic that stirs a lot of people in a lot of different direction nowadays. And I always say when it's brought up, you know, because I get asked, what do you think about this? Like, like, like I'm some sort of authority. But what I always say is this, I said, I return it as a question, is, do you think that anyone who wants to play should be able to play, regardless of what your stance is on the issue? I mean, it could really be either. Either direction on this. Do you think people that want to play hockey should be able to play and feel welcome? Right. And if the answer is no to that, we're not the show for you. If the answer. And again, this is both sides of the aisle. I'm not, I'm not. This has nothing to do with. Absolutely Right. And. And the answer is, if someone wants to play, who the hell am I to tell them not to play? I also think that you brought up a larger point here. You know, we're talking about the ROI and the development, and, you know, if our other co host, Mike was here, he'd say it. Development's important, but the community is importanter. Like, the community. Yeah, the community is everything. Like, the community goes beyond your ability to play. It's, you know, everyone who wants to play should be able to play, period. Right. It's just that simple. I don't go beyond it with that when people ask me that. So I love that the doors are open. And look, I understand what you're saying. It warms your heart to hear I feel welcome here. Everyone should feel that way somewhere. All right, Everyone. And congratulations and. And, you know, I'm nodding to you for. For making that type of experience right. Yeah, go ahead. 

Hayley Scamurra [28:08 - 28:26]: Haley and Jesse, I think you can definitely take credit for building that community because it starts from the top. And so I kind of wanted to get your thoughts on, like, how you do start that community you mentioned, like having girls who are in the Learn to Play program come back and help. Like, how did you get that going? And are there any other kind of stories you wanted to share with us in terms of the community? 

Lee MJ Elias [28:26 - 28:27]: So. 

Jessie Thompson [28:27 - 30:22]: Totally. So when we started, I was, let's do it all. You know, I'm so excited. And then I have to remember, at the end of the day, I work for a business, so I have to make sure that I'M doing things intentionally and smart because I want to serve our community as best as possible. But I want to make sure that it works and it doesn't fail. And from a business standpoint, it's a good choice for our organization. So we started with these two Learn to play programs. Our Girls Learn to play and our adult women's Learn to Play. And we recognize that it's going to take a while to build to get full registration in these programs. And it didn't take that long because word of mouth is so helpful and so important. So I think what we did is we put the word out there. We had, we invited some of the women that play in our women's league to be some of the coaches on the ice for our adult learn to play so that they could get to know each other and eventually they'd be playing together. So we really started to think about the ecosystem and kind of how we can fold back into ourselves. We had ambassadors like you coming on the ice. We have players who are moms who wanted to volunteer in our girls learn to play program, stuff like that. So that being able to find coaches intentionally who wanted to give back to the sport was huge. And then the biggest thing is we had, I think 15 girls in our first one. We wanted to make sure those 15 girls had the time of their life so when they graduated, they could tell their friends they had the best time. And then in the next one, I think we had 25. And now we're full with 45. So just making sure it all goes back to those positive touch points, positive experiences, and the word of mouth marketing does the work for us. 

Lee MJ Elias [30:23 - 31:16]: We always say the, the best. The best way to market hockey is to let hockey players talk about hockey. Because as fun as our commercials are and things like that, there's once. Look, I love another quote. You like my quotes today? One of my favorite ones ever. And this is. I can't attribute this to me. Like, I actually, I don't think anyone knows where this came from. But if you play this as one that just rings so true or if you're involved in the game, you don't have to play. It's. Hockey's not something you do, it's something you are. And the first time I heard that, it just made total sense to me. Right. It's not the only thing that you are. Right. You're a lot of. But it, it is part of my identity. Right. It's not my entire identity. I gotta keep saying that. But you know, hockey is something that is part of who I am. Right. And, and I don't. I'm not saying other sports don't have that, but I think we can all agree he's a little bit of a different level with that. 

Jessie Thompson [31:16 - 31:41]: Absolutely. When I played, I started playing at 13, so. Talk about playing. The concept of being on the ice for 45 to 90 seconds at a time was so mind boggling. But there's still things I think about of like you can do anything for 45 seconds. If there's something I'm scared of or something I'm avoiding doing, that's a good. 

Lee MJ Elias [31:41 - 31:42]: Way of looking at it. 

Jessie Thompson [31:42 - 31:53]: When you get on the ice, you have to give. I mean, Haley, you know best, but you're, you're not just chilling for 45 seconds. There's only five other people on the ice with you. 

Lee MJ Elias [31:53 - 31:56]: She won't make the team if she does that at her level. 

Jessie Thompson [31:56 - 32:38]: Yeah, but it's, it's. You can do anything for 45 seconds, so you have to give it your all, no matter what. And that, that concept is so unlike any other sport. You know, I also played lacrosse and I played defense growing up, and there's times when I'm not moving my feet for 90 seconds. So that concept is, is huge. And we think about that all the time when we're teaching the sport of, you know, this is something where you have to be able to find the energy and the confidence in you to give it everything you've got for that one minute and then you get to take a break type thing. So I think that's where those lessons of teamwork and leadership really come into play. 

Hayley Scamurra [32:39 - 32:53]: Oh, that's awesome. I love that. So in terms of, you know, do like NHL athletes and staff kind of play a role in building the culture of inclusivity and what have you seen from the players and the organization to kind of help you in that mission? 

Jessie Thompson [32:54 - 33:59]: Yes. I could talk for a long time about this, but we're very lucky as an organization to have the players that we do. Our players love the community. They love being involved in youth hockey. I think we have a lot of young players on our team, which helps as well. You know, they were playing youth hockey a couple years ago, but it's. It goes a long way to have somebody that is so high profile coming on the ice with these kids or saying how important a program is, things like that. We have a lot of hockey dads, hockey girl dads on our team. And when we started all capsule hurt, it was so cool to see their reactions of there's a place that eventually my daughter could play and she can learn and play with the Caps in the Caps jersey, with the Caps brand. So it's just been really cool to see their involvement and the positivity that they have, especially for all caps on her programs, but also just youth hockey in general. We're very lucky in that regard. 

Hayley Scamurra [34:00 - 34:25]: Yeah, definitely. I think because you have such a great foundation, I think it makes it easy for them to just hop on the ice and they just have fun with the kids. And then like you said, it's just like the positive touch points that they can have at the game and someone they're seeing on their screen often who's there helping them out. So I think that's really incredible. For sure. So for anyone listening who wants to replicate something like all caps all hurt in their own community, what's advice that you would have for them to get started? 

Jessie Thompson [34:28 - 36:08]: Start small. Yeah, again, I was so excited and I think it wasn't just me. I can take not so credit. This was an entire organizational wide effort. So when I say I, I truly mean her team. Just start small, do one or two things really well and build off of it. If we had done all of the programs that we have now, if we tried to do those all four years ago, we would have completely failed. We wouldn't have had the resources, the time, the energy, the finances, et cetera. So start small, do a couple things really well and then grow, be intentional. Don't just do things just to check a box. Like, we really listened to our community and started with the two programs that we knew our community wanted the most and we built from there. We also started with the two programs that we knew could be good for our business and we would be able to grow off of those. Like I said, at the end of the day, I work for a business and I have to make sure that the work I'm doing in the community is good for our business and then do it together. Like you cannot do anything alone. And finding the community of all caps on her is, is and will be the number one thing I will be proud, most proud of in my career for the rest of my life. It has changed the landscape of girls hockey in the DMV area. I know it's going to change even more positively, but it's just so incredible to see how many people care about what we're building and want to be a part of it. 

Lee MJ Elias [36:10 - 37:27]: Jesse, it shows the power of community. You know your advice there, just so everybody knows, not just great advice for Building a girls hockey program, that's just great advice. Right? You know, if you're building a business or you're building something like all of that pertains. And look, the one thing I want to stand out there again within the community is. Is you said this, and I think this is actually a mistake a lot of hockey programs and businesses make is you said, listen to the community. There is. There's a lot of ego in our sport and a lot of people think, I know how to do this. And it's just, you know, you said it earlier in the show. There's 32 NHL teams. You got to listen to each other, you got to learn from each other. And even though you might be leading the way here, right. You. It's different for everybody. And 32 teams means 32 different ideas. And I always tell hockey coaches, you know, we're not the first coach to ever coach the game. You know, there's. There's a lot of people out there. There's a lot of communities out there to learn. And I think that if, if. And this is. You said this before, too, when I wrote this down, that growth, mindset, not a fixed mindset is so important. Not, not just for the kids. We always say it to the kids. All right. The truth is, you know, if we, if we operate in the fear of people under, oh, I don't know, something. I haven't seen it. 

Jessie Thompson [37:27 - 37:28]: It's. 

Lee MJ Elias [37:28 - 37:35]: You're not going to grow. You. You got to be on a. Bashful with learning and understanding. You don't know everything. And that should be exciting. 

Jessie Thompson [37:36 - 37:36]: That's so exciting. 

Lee MJ Elias [37:37 - 37:39]: Yeah. Yeah. And I love that you've championed this. 

Jessie Thompson [37:40 - 37:40]: Thank you. 

Lee MJ Elias [37:40 - 38:02]: I did want to. I wrote this note down, too. You had said earlier that you talked to Pittsburgh. Now you said you might not discuss Penn's caps, but we can do that on this show. Jesse, if you. This is your chance to dive into that live on Internet broadcasting. No, I'm just kidding. I won't make you do that. Captain. Very well known rivalry, but we give. 

Jessie Thompson [38:02 - 38:08]: The Pens kudos for all they do in their community because they do a great job. All, truly, all NHL clubs. 

Lee MJ Elias [38:08 - 38:14]: See, that's the business knowledge coming through again. You just did that. Haley, do you have any other questions before I close this out? 

Hayley Scamurra [38:14 - 38:31]: Oh, man, I don't think any other questions. Just really proud of you and all the work that you're doing. And it truly shows, like, your passion for the game and it. It seeps into the community that you've helped build. And I got. I'M lucky enough to have been a part of it and will be in the future for sure, once I'm maybe a little less busy. 

Jessie Thompson [38:32 - 38:33]: Little busy. 

Lee MJ Elias [38:33 - 38:34]: Just a little. 

Hayley Scamurra [38:34 - 38:52]: Yeah. Whenever I get a chance, you know, she always welcomes me with open arms, so. I really appreciate you and the CAPS organization as a whole. And you can see the growth that they've started in the DMV area. Like, women's hockey is grown exponentially. Like, it's absolutely insane. And it's because of the work at that level, for sure. 

Jessie Thompson [38:52 - 38:56]: Well, thank you. And anytime. We are excited to have you back. 

Lee MJ Elias [38:56 - 38:59]: Yeah. When she's not in the Olympics or professionally playing. 

Jessie Thompson [38:59 - 39:00]: Like I said, just a little busy. 

Lee MJ Elias [39:01 - 39:23]: I like. I like making this the note of that. But no, Jesse, amazing work. And again, you're not just going girls hockey, going hockey. And I think that that's an important part of this, too, for all of our listeners to understand. When the game grows, period, it's positive. And we all play a role, obviously, in helping the girls and women's game grow. It's something we need to be doing. So. Hey, I just want to thank you so much for coming on the show today. 

Jessie Thompson [39:23 - 39:23]: Thank you. 

Lee MJ Elias [39:23 - 40:33]: It's been great. And look, I'm gonna read my outro here. Hopefully, I don't have another Ron Burgundy moment. But Jesse and the All Capsule, her initiative, are showing that hockey grows stronger when it grows together. By creating spaces where girls and women are seen, supported, and celebrated, they're helping shape the future, future of the game, one connection at a time. If you want to learn more about All Caps all her, check out the link at Today's Show Notes. And if today's conversation inspired you, it inspired us. Share it with someone in your hockey circle. Don't keep it to yourself. Right. This is a community as well, with the Arrow Kids Play Hockey Network. But thanks again to Jesse for joining us. Thank you for Haley for being here. As always, you're listening to our Girls Play Hockey. We will see you next time on the ice, at the rink, wherever you listen. Take care and have fun. We hope you enjoyed this edition of our Kids Play Hockey. Make sure to like and subscribe right now if you found value wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network, or our website, Our Kids Play Hockey Dot com. Also, make sure to check out our children's book, When Hockey Stops atwhen hockey stops dot com. It's a book that helps children deal with adversity in the game and in life. We're very proud of it. But thanks so much for listening to this edition of our Kids Play Hockey. Hockey. And we'll see you on the next episode.