But Rene-Henry, who takes her students and horses all over the United States to horse shows, has another driving passion she's fulfilling away from the ring. Actually, her extracurricular pastime is in the rink, playing in the hockey league she's helping to create in Florida.

Although she grew up playing the sport as a child in her hometown in Massachusetts, Rene-Henry gave up hockey in prep school, after seeing a friend try out for the school team and get turned down.

But her love for the sport didn't diminish, and five years ago, along with TECO Arena hockey director Karl Masnjak, she helped form the Lady Everblades at TECO. She now serves as general manager and player for the women's ice hockey travel team. Other members range from full-time professional women to full-time mothers.

About half of the team's players had never set a blade on the ice before joining the Lady Everblades, whose individual skill levels range from novice to more advanced-D and C levels, in hockey lingo. But it doesn't keep the women from performing like pros: Recently they defeated a B-level team.

Now, Rene-Henry is helping to establish the Florida Women's Hockey League to organize the state's women players. With 10 teams throughout Florida in its first year, the league is providing women hockey players the chance to get enough games under their belts to compete in district and national competitions.

"There's a bunch of us out there," she says proudly of the female hockey players throughout Florida. "And there are more coming."

-Tiffany Yates