Jessica Campbell reflects on her journey to become 1st woman on an NHL bench

Jessica Campbell was hired as an assistant coach for the Seattle Kraken last month, becoming the first woman to hold an on-the-bench role as an assistant or associate coach in NHL history.

The 32-year-old native of Rocanville, Sask., spent the past two seasons working as an assistant coach for Seattle's AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley alongside head coach Dan Bylsma, who was hired in late May to take over the head job with the Kraken.

Campbell was a decorated player in the NCAA, the Canadian Women's Hockey League, and Canada's women's national team, with whom she won silver at the 2015 world championship.

She is taking part in Kelowna Hockey Fest on Friday. Ahead of the event, she spoke with CBC's Chris Walker. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

You've coached players at all levels, including some here in the Okanagan. I'm curious about how you draw on those early experiences to guide this next experience.

In sport, you're always drawing on that experience and the work you've done to build that confidence of knowing what you're getting into. I can't speak enough to just how prominent those years were for me, doing the work here in Kelowna and establishing my own business, working with the pros really on my own. It allowed me to establish my coaching voice.

What do you do to establish relationships on a team of 30 people you don't know?

It's a lot than people think. At the end of the day, we're all human beings and approach them as a human being first. At the core of every athlete, I think these pros leave gender out of it — they want to be helped, they want to know you care about them, and really it's not about me. I'm the coach that's there to guide them, help them and support them. I want them to know that right from the beginning.

I think you can establish rapport and trust and then build on that. But it's earned, it's not just given immediately. So I think showing up for them and really listening to them as a player and as ab athlete, as a person. Like, where do they struggle? Where are they strong? And how can I insert myself to fill that gap and bridge some of those areas to support them.

But making it all about them is the best way to establish those strong relationships.

In other interviews you've said 'the barriers in the way are often the ones you place on yourself.' I'm curious about how you've trained yourself not to underestimate yourself, to overcome the barriers that you place on yourself.

I'm a true believer that there's obviously challenges all around us and there's going to be people along the way and things that are put in place to hold you back from potentially reaching your goals or striving for things that maybe no one's ever done before.

Speaking from experience, I think I had that naive belief in my ability and I knew that if I could get over the fears and the doubts on myself and not focus on that outside noise and the barriers of, oh OK, maybe I don't see this around me but why not believe in it? Because I believe in what I can do. I'm going to pour all my energy into that.

So when I say barriers that we put in front of ourselves, that's the energy that we put towards thinking about the negative side of the situation. I'm always thinking about the optimistic side, the hopeful side. I think that's what shatters down those barriers and it keeps your mind fixed on what matters. 

You mentioned mentors and coaches who have I think you said 'left gender out of it.' But here you are the first female coach behind the bench of an NHL team. 

Do you leave gender out of it? How do you have those conversations with girls, or for that matter with boys, who might be interested in this kind of career path? Help us understand how you grapple with that gender question now. 

It's a complex question. There's a lot of layers to it. But at the end of the day, I put on my skates the same way as my coworkers and I always have. The same thing as when I grew up playing with the boys, I had a ponytail hanging out of my helmet, but I played the game the same way — we're speaking the language of hockey at the end of the day. The only difference is that they hear a little bit of a different voice.

I think that my uniqueness and the traits I have and, maybe they are more feminine traits, I try to leverage those skills because they're authentic to who I am as a person. I'm sensitive. I care. I want to see them succeed. 

I think having different minds and different people in the room makes the team stronger. If you have all the same people, you're going to often get the same idea and concepts. So for me, I try to have confidence in being different and I encourage young girls and boys to believe that as well.

If you can establish that trust and respect, it doesn't matter if they're an NHL two-time Stanley Cup winner, they want to be helped, they want to be better. They're pros. That's what they show up to do every day. I've been very honoured to just trust myself along the way and to get to where I am today because of that.