Kate Gillies on how hockey helped her keep her cool as a lawyer

Kate Gillies

Kate Gillies is a solicitor and the legal content writer for HM Connect, Harper Macleod’s support and referral network for high street and rural law firms.

She discovered the sport at the age of nine, when “Elgin ice rink opened”.

“Every kid in town started skating and predictably for the early 90s we split along gender lines – girls gravitated towards figure skating while the boys played ice hockey.”

After “many failed attempts to land a double lutz”, however, she made the switch to ice hockey.

And her successes in hockey would accumulate: she captained her junior team before going on to play at Edinburgh University, “focusing on roller hockey which was more accessible on a student budget” until she eventually represented Great Britain at the Women’s Inline Hockey World Championships in the Czech Republic.

“I was the only female on a university hockey tour to Michigan, USA to play against men’s college teams – we got thrashed!”

The experience of competition was instrumental to Ms Gillies’ success as a lawyer.

“Years of participation in a male-dominated sport gave me more confidence as I started my career as a junior lawyer in the construction sector and was once again one of few women in the room.”

With a busy work life and two children, however, “hockey gradually gave way to running as a more convenient way of keeping fit”. But an opportunity to get back in the rink would come, unexpectedly, from the legal world.

“In January 2018 another Scots lawyer, Richard Gray, founded the Caledonia Steel Queens women’s ice hockey team. Back on the ice at Murrayfield for a late night training session, everything I love about the sport came rushing back and I was hooked once again.”

Ms Gillies said ice hockey has “been a huge part of my life” and that it has taught her about “teamwork, leadership, commitment and drive”.

“It’s also how I met my husband. For me, hockey is a complete escape. It’s a fast-paced game that leaves no brain space to think about deadlines or difficult legal problems. Spending time with the team, where I am one of the oldest players and the only mum, also reminds me that there is much more to life than work.”