Get to know Sami Jo Small

Speaking

Sami Jo has been speaking professionally since she started with the National Team in 1997. When many of her teammates shied away from the microphone, Sami Jo was quick to share stories about the team. She has honed her message about teamwork after more than 25 years in the industry using stories from one of Canada's most successful teams, the Canadian Women's Hockey Team. A team then won 4 straight Olympic Gold medals over 25 years. She delves into the personalities on the team and her thoughts on what makes strong teammates and ultimately success as a team. With her learnings she has shown audiences all over the world that,

"In life, you don't always get to choose the role you play, but you always get to choose how you play it."

Sami Jo has earned the highest designation as a speaking professional, the CSP (Certified Speaking professional) of which there only just over 500 worldwide and only a handful of former athletes. She began her career as a 13 year old winning her local Manitoba French speaking contest, the "Concours D'Art Oratoire" giving a speech on Manon Rhéaume, the first women to play in the NHL. Sami Jo won despite having broken a tooth in half that morning playing sports in the gym. She parlayed that into a role as school president, then class valedictorian, always loving to be at the front of the room.

Her career really began in the industry after earning her degree from Stanford University in the Mechanical Engineer school while focusing on Product Design. Despite an engineering degree in the Silicon Valley in the 90's, Sami choose to move to Toronto to become a full-time hockey player. She supplemented her hockey income (very little) by doing speaking events and the rest is history.

She's been speaking professional for more than 25 years, serving on the board of the Canadian Association of professional speakers and mentoring other Olympic athletes as they transition into the business of speaking.

Hockey Growing Up

Sami Jo grew up on the outdoor rinks of Winnipeg. Her childhood rink, the Norberry Community Centre in St Vital now bears her name as the Sami Jo Small Hockey facility. She started playing at an early age following in her older brother Luke's footsteps. While he didn't last long in hockey, instead opting to pursue the other family passion of swimming, Sami Jo was hooked. Whether is playing street hockey with her friends or suiting up alongside her male teammates, Sami Jo's drive was evident every time she stepped on the ice or strapped on a pair of pads.

She played in the boys AA and AAA system for the St Vital Victoria's and Winnipeg Warriors before teams for girls existed. She played her first women's hockey tournament at the age of 14 lining up on defence at the Canada Winter Games in 1991 when women's hockey made it's debut. Women's hockey was just starting to take off after Canada hosted the first women's world championships in 1990, however, Sami Jo was also involved in many other sports and school endeavors.

Other Sports

Sami Jo started off as a hockey player and a swimmer. She broke number provincial records in the 10 and under category before hanging up her suit for the ice when her parents taxi service was being over-taxed.

She joined the school's basketball, volleyball, badminton cross country and track and field teams, first in elementary at École Hasting , then junior high École Norberry ultimately in high school at Collège Jeanne-Sauvé. CJS was a small French Immersion School in Winnipeg where Sami Jo had to convince the other girls to play so they could have teams, however, the diversity of sports is what lead to her athleticism and ability to re-focus on the next task.

Outside of school, she pursued Waterpolo, playing alongside her brother on a co-ed team winning five provincial championships. As well she dabbled in Team Handball playing for a few years on the provincial team and running camps in the summer.

Her biggest highlight was winning a provincial high school championship in volleyball, the first of the school's career, under the tutelage of one of her most influential coaches M. Ragoonaden.

Stanford University

Despite, a plethora to playing many sports, in University Sami Jo choose to focus on track and field. She accepted a scholarship to throw discus and javelin at Stanford University. She was on Canada's national junior team for four years traveling the world throwing spears. She was a valuable member of the Stanford track and field team that was competing in the NCAA championships.

While at Stanford she also signed up to play on the Stanford Men's hockey team. A club team at Stanford that competing in the PAC-10. At first her track and field coaches were unaware of her double-duty, however, when the first weekend of the outdoor track and field season coincided with the National (ACHA) where the Cardinal came 3rd. Sami Jo fessed up and went on to compete for 4 years in both sports.

Along the way, she also won several NARCH (North American Roller Hockey) championships competing alongside her childhood hero Manon Rhéaume with Team Mission.

When her University career came to a close she opted to move to Toronto to pursue hockey full time.

National Team

Sami Jo first joined Canada women's national hockey team in the 1997-1998 season serving at the 3rd goalie at the first women's Olympic hockey tournament in Nagano in 1998 where Canada won silver. She went on the become Canada's starting goaltender in 1999. Canada won 3 straight World Championships in '99 (Espoo, Finland), '00 (Mississauga, ON) , '01 (Minnesota, USA) and Sami Jo was twice named to the World Championship All-Star team and top goaltender.

Sami Jo competed in 2 more Olympic Games in 2002 (Salt Lake City, USA) and 2006 (Torino, Italy) helping Canada win two Olympic Gold medals as well as two more World Championship titles '04 (Halifax) and '07 (Winnipeg).

Professional Hockey

Sami Jo's first women's professional team was the Brampton Thunder in 1999. Playing alongside Olympians, Vicky Sunohara, Lori Dupuis and Janya Hefford, the team played in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). She played two season's with club, before moving to the storied Toronto Aeros Franchise.

The Toronto Aeros were started by Ken Dufton and Colin McKenzie and trained more girls for the National program than any other team. Sami Jo played for this franchise from 2002 until her final year in 2018 having played professional hockey for 19 years.

Alongside her Olympic teammates, Jennifer Botterill, Geraldine Heaney, Cheryl Pounder and Becky Kellar, she helped the Toronto Aeros win two National and League Championships in 2003 and 2004. The team was sold to Mississauga, but the pursuit of excellence remained. Another Olympian, Cherie Piper joined the team to help win the National Championship in 2008 in the final year of that trophy being awarded. In 2010 the team changed it's name to the Toronto Furies and the league held it's first ever draft, however, Sami Jo and Jennifer Botterill remained with the franchise. Sami Jo has played along side many other top players who have worn the Furies jersey including Tessa Bonhomme, Jennifer Wakefield, Rebecca Johnston, Renata Fast and Natalie Spooner.

The team won the ultimate championship in 2014, the Clarkson Cup

CWHL

In 2007, after the demise of the NWHL, Sami Jo, along with other players, helped start the Canadian Women's Hockey League. She served as the league's first vice chairman and chair of the Sponsorship committee. She sat on the board for five years helping to raise millions of dollars so women's could play elite hockey in North America.

After nearly 20 years of playing in the league, Sami Jo accepted the position as General Manger of the Toronto Furies for the 2018-2019 season. Despite only one year in the role she helped grow the Toronto franchise in the community and helping to make it one of the top programs for aspiring Olympians in North America.

Personal

Sami Jo's family is still prominent in the city of Winnipeg, where her brother now runs the family Optometry practice alongside his wife Dr. Gina Small. Armstrong and Small Eye Care Centre started with her grandfather and passed down to her father and can be found downtown on Portage Ave.

Her parents Pat and Rod have given up their taxi service carting their kids around and make every effort to see their grand kids do what they love. Her niece Annika is a synchronised swimmer and her brother Sebastian is a soccer player, both of whom she is extremely proud of.

In 2011 Sami Jo married PEI native, Billy Bridges in a ceremony in Mississauga. Billy is an incredibly accomplished athlete in his own right, having been to 5 Paralympic games. He is the all time leader in points in all of sledge hockey and still pursues the sport at the highest level. www.billybridges.com

They have a daughter Kensi who likes to dance.