In this public talk hosted by UCCGS, Matt Kenny will share his experience of growing up and competing in elite hockey, while closeted, and what it meant to navigate a culture shaped by deeply ingrained ideas of masculinity. Through personal storytelling, he will reflect on the locker room dynamics, language and unspoken expectations that define the sport, and how those norms become so normalised that they are rarely questioned, even when they carry real consequences.
Matt's talk will explore what it takes to exist in that environment when parts of your identity do not fit the mold, including the pressure to create and maintain different versions of yourself just to stay in the game. He will speak to the emotional and psychological endurance required, and the long-term impact of learning to suppress or reshape who you are in order to belong.
At the same time, the conversation does not ignore what makes sport powerful. Hockey gave Matt structure, community and a sense of family and those positive elements are part of why these environments are so complex and diffficult to challenge.
At the centre of the talk is a belief Matt carried for years, that being gay and being a hockey player could not exist at the same time. By unpacking that tension, he will invite a broader conversation about how masculinity is defined in sport, what gets reinforced, what goes unspoken and what it costs to hold it all together.
The 'In Conversation' with Dr Sarah Steele, University of Cambridge will be held in Seminar Room S1, Second Floor, Alison Richard Building at 5.30 pm on Tuesday 28 April. All are welcome to attend.