A Team of Their Own: How an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History

by Seth Berkman

The inspiring, unlikely story of the American, Canadian, South Korean and even North Korean women who joined together to form Korea’s first Olympic ice hockey team, for readers of books such as The Boys in the Boat , Outcasts United and The Blind Side

Two weeks before the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics, South Korea’s women’s hockey team was forced into a predicament that no president, ambassador or general had been able to resolve in the sixty-five years since the end of the Korean War. Against all odds, the group of young women were able to bring North and South Korea closer than ever before.

The team was built for this moment. They had been brought together from across the globe and from a wide variety of backgrounds—concert pianist, actress, high school student, convenience store worker—to make history. Now the special kinship they had developed would guide them through the biggest challenge of their careers. Suddenly thrust into an international spotlight, they showed the powerful meaning of what a unified Korea could resemble.

In this book, Seth Berkman goes behind the scenes to tell the story of these young women as they became a team amid immense political pressure and personal turmoil, and ultimately gained worldwide acceptance on a journey that encapsulates the truest meanings of sport and family.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Hockey, Asia, Biography Memoir

427 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Born in Seoul and raised in New Jersey, Seth Berkman made his first trip back to South Korea since his adoption during the 2018 Winter Olympics, when Korea's first women's Olympic hockey team made their historic debut. Part of this experience is chronicled in his first book, "A Team of Their Own: How an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History," released October 2019 by Hanover Square Press.

Berkman met the team while on assignment for the New York Times, where he has been a regular contributor since 2012. He has also had work published by The New Yorker and dozens of other local and national outlets. Berkman currently lives in New York.

Reviews

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

During the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, some of the most memorable moments were made by a hockey team that didn’t win a medal or even a single game, but made the most powerful statement of unity that could be made. The Unified women’s hockey team of North and South Korea, together for just over two weeks, showed the world what a unified Korea can look like. The story of this team and many of the inspirational women playing on this team is told in this excellent book by Seth Berkman.

The women’s hockey team of South Korea had been struggling to compete in international competitions. After years of losing by scores that were more common in American football instead of hockey, South Korean sports leaders decided to open up spots on the team to players who are of Korean decent but live elsewhere. Players such as Randi Griffin, Danelle Im and Marissa Brandt, who were American citizens through either emigration or adoption but of Korean descent, were added to the team. Sarah Murphy, a Canadian woman, who was the daughter of a legendary NHL and Team Canada coach, had the formidable task of integrating these players with the veteran players of the team such as goalie Shin So-Jung, who was in net for many of those blowout losses but was clearly the most talented player on the team.

Berkman does a wonderful job of portraying these players, the coach and others as the team prepares for the 2018 Winter Olympics, in which they had to prove they would be competitive in order to receive the spot in the tournament that is given to the host nation. This included games in the United States against high school and college teams in which the team grew closer, both in terms of chemistry and scores on the ice.

Then, two weeks before the start of the Olympics, with a berth in the tourney secured, the government of both North and South Korea along with the International Olympic Committee, announced that players from North Korea would also be joining the women’s hockey team and they would play as a Unified Korea team. This led to even more confusion and frustration for the players who have already trained and played together. For veterans like Shin, this meant they would now have to acclimate to new players twice, having already accepted the “imports” like Griffin, Im and Brandt. They somehow made it work and even though the team did not win a match during the Games, they were the main story of the Olympics with the support they drew from all Koreans and the emotions they left both on the ice and through their interactions with the fans. Berkman shines in this portion of the book, making the reader feel like he or she is right there with the team, not only on the ice during the games, but also when they are receiving all the support and adulation from the Korean fans. At times, it may make readers get emotional themselves.

This book was just as good as was the story of the Unified team. Any reader who likes hockey, especially Olympic hockey, will need to read this book. One will feel quite inspired after reading the adventures of these young women.

I wish to thank Hanover Square Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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[Elena Palomino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably one of the most random books I have ever read…but way better than I anticipated. A Team of Their Own tells the story of the South Korean women’s ice hockey team and their journey to the 2018 Winter Olympics, a journey which takes place in a complex political and social climate. Like a feel-good Disney sports movie, but one that goes into the history and politics relevant to the team and their story. The stories of the individual players - and their teamwork, courage, and love for their sport - are inspirational. And now I know more about hockey than I ever expected to.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, full stop. Seth Berkman is an extremely talented writer and this book was pretty darn un-put-down-able.

Listen, I really love the Olympics. Those "Thank You, Mom" commercials get me every time. And I especially love figure skating. Watching Kim Yuna compete in Vancouver on TV and seeing her on the front page of the New York Times sports section were life changing experiences for me as a Korean adoptee. She was my first Korean role model and made me feel pride in being Korean for the first time. Years later, watching Yuna skate to Adios Nonino, I unconsciously shed tears. So naturally, I developed a big investment in figure skating and it's my favorite sport. In Pyeongchang, exactly half of the athletes representing US Figure Skating were Asian, and that filled me with intense pride as an Asian-American. While I had heard about the Unified Korean women's hockey team, and had complained that the men's team wasn't also getting forced into unifying and taking on North Korean players who hadn't earned their spots, I didn't actually follow the team's story at the time. I was obviously way too invested in figure skating - waiting for Mirai Nagasu to throw down her triple axel, and for Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen to quad jump it out for the gold medal - but now I'm really glad that Seth Berkman was there to chronicle the team's journey so I can read about it now.

I love sports narratives to begin with; nothing gets me as emotional as a moment that transcends sport and becomes something else that's infinitely more meaningful. (One of my favorite movies is Remember the Titans exactly for this reason.) It was really fascinating to read about the South Korean women's hockey team basically getting forced to be this feel-good icon of peace and unity despite not wanting it. They were there to play hockey, not be a political statement and transcend sport. And the way Seth Berkman crafts this narrative gets the reader to also not want this team of strong women to get strong-armed into being a political stunt. First, he introduces us to the South Korean players, and we get acquainted with their struggles and how difficult it is to be a woman playing hockey in South Korea. Then he introduces us to the scheme Korea's hockey federation cooked up after Pyeongchang won its Olympic bid - find Korean talent abroad from adoptees and first generation children of Korean immigrants and import them into the Korean national team. (A stark contrast to the men's national team recruiting strategy which was to entice white hockey-playing foreigners with a free ride to the Olympics if only they'd play for Korea.) Then we meet the imports, and here, Berkman gives us something extra: he chronicles the struggles of these players as they exist as Asian hockey players in North America.

I think that element is where Berkman makes this book shine. He could have written a very straightforward account of the team, but instead he takes the time to show just how complicated the entire Korean women's hockey team situation was. Berkman writes about the struggles Marissa Brandt experienced as an adoptee, and Randi Griffin's experiences with prejudices on both sides as a biracial person. He writes about how mistreated the South Korean women's team was before the sudden interest in making them respectable in time to host the Olympics in 2018. And he also chronicles the difficulties the team had in the years leading up to that moment - the initial animosity among players that these "imports" might threaten their starting spots, having a Canadian coach who didn't speak Korean at the helm, the suspicion that younger players were getting prioritized in order to get them into North American colleges to continue playing hockey - and the way they overcame these obstacles to form a family unit that could weather the storm of being used as a high-profile political tool. After finishing this book, I watched the Olympic Channel's short documentary about the Unified Korea Olympic team which primarily focused on the Unified hockey team (but also gave some attention to the pair skating team of Ryom and Kim, the only North Korean athletes who qualified for the games of their own merit). The documentary's tone is overall upbeat, and oversimplifies the difficulties that asking the team to integrate two weeks before the Olympics posed, as did a lot of the media coverage of the unification (the main exception being if it was minority or a majority of South Koreans who were opposed to the unified team). And reading about the team overcoming these previously unknown challenges made me tear up throughout the book. Even though this whole ordeal went on without me noticing because I was too busy watching a different sport on skates, reading this emotional saga made me proud to be Korean yet again, and proud to be Korean on so many levels: as a Korean, as a Korean-American, as a Korean adoptee; as a Korean woman.

If I had to gripe about anything, it's actually about the pictures in the book. They're on the small side, and I wish they had been labeled more clearly. (But this isn't Berkman's fault, so it's really a minor complaint.)

I'm probably going to read this book again and again. Not only great journalism, but great storytelling. Emotional and thought-provoking. Loved it cover to cover. Also definitely make this into a movie. 100% guaranteed to make me weep.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is what the Olympics should be about. It is the coming together of North Korean, South Korean, and Korean-American women to create an Olympic hockey team. South Korea had neglected their women's hockey team - in the 2010s they were playing with equipment from the 1990s while the men's team received new equipment. With South Korea hosting the Olympics they had a buy in to most sports, but the Olympic committee wanted to make sure they wouldn't embarrass themselves, so this is how the team came together. It was very inspiring to read each woman's story and how different their lives were even though each was born in the same country.

How did this book find me? This was the December 2020 selection from Stephan Curry's Book Club Underrated hosted by Literati Book Store in Austin, TX. In January 2023 Literati disbanded their adult book clubs to focus their mission of children.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Every once in awhile I like to change things up with a good non-fiction book, and when I got the chance to request A Team of Their Own, it sounded like the perfect story to shake up the fiction and light novel binge I had been on.

Honestly I don't really follow hockey, but I do follow a lot going on in South Korea, as my love for their entertainment that blossomed in the early 2000s helped feed my interest to learn more about the country as a whole. I've even delved into a handful of books about the horrors of North Korea. So when the news hit before the Olympics started that North and South Korea would be fielding a unified team, I was intrigued yet skeptical. I figured this book would shed some light on if my skepticism was warranted.

Seth Berkman does a great job of really showcasing the personal stories of the ladies from South Korea and North America, as well as the way the bond together and become like sisters to one another. There were plenty of times where I definitely felt myself getting emotional at various moments, or even quotes of how the girls felt. I quickly became engrossed in seeing how all this played out leading up to the games. Sadly due to obvious reasons, we never really got to know much about the North Korean players like we did the others.

None of the stories in this book ever feel like filler, and even minor moments help to show how the girls interacted with each other. I loved seeing how many decided to look for personal growth outside of hockey, like learning English, or helping with a cause deal with fellow adopted children from South Korea, as a couple examples. It was really touching to see.

Not everything is touching, as there are plenty moments when you see just how neglected the team is, or how they are used for gain by the KIHA, men in charge, and politicians. I said I was skeptical about the North and South Korea unified team, and I was shocked reading how it was way worse when it came down to the politics of the matter than I could have thought. It actually made me get angry at the situation that the girls were put in.

I tried not to delve in to too much in terms of specifics, because I believe this is a very important read for people. It deals with a lot issues in terms of gender discrimination and inequality, but also in bonding and pushing back against those very constructs. It shows women bonding over a passion, women from North America learning to love a country they hadn't tried to fully get to know growing up, and women from S. Korea realizing their own thoughts on the "imports" were ill-conceived. Berkman does such a great job from start to finish in telling this story, and really digging in deep.

In what could have been an easy fluff peace about how miraculous it was all these women came together, he provided so much more depth. This is an introspective look in to these women's lives, passions, friendships, and the politics that surrounded them. You definitely will look at everything surrounding them in a different light.

[Hannah Bae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartwarming, inspiring, joyfully written! Seth Berkman tells the story of these resilient female hockey players with style and obvious admiration. When one hears the words "inter-Korean hockey team," that phrase really doesn't capture the diverse cast of characters that made up this group. I loved getting a look at the lives of the Korean diaspora across North America, including adoptees as well as Korean Americans and Korean Canadians, as well as the South Korean and North Korean members. Particularly revealing were the depictions of the unglamorous life of a national team athlete in South Korea when your sport is low on the pecking order. The teamwork and open hearts of these women made this a fantastic read, especially in these isolating quarantine times.

[Bryan Betts · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his 2018 New Year’s Day address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his willingness to send a delegation to the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea, setting in motion a flurry of inter-Korean diplomacy after a year in which the North’s repeated test-firings of ballistic missiles had raised tensions precariously high. As a journalist in Seoul, I watched with the rest of the country as diplomats from the two sides hashed out an agreement for the North to send cheerleaders, high-level politicians, and athletes to the games. Perhaps most significant was a plan to form a unified Korean women’s hockey team by adding 12 North Koreans to the South Korean squad. It was the first time I’d heard of the South’s team, and I was a bit surprised to learn that the head coach and players disapproved of the proposal for a unified team. Yes, the team would need to make sacrifices to accommodate the North’s athletes, but wasn’t the cause worthwhile? Maybe, but the team itself seemed to get lost amid all the political pageantry.

In his book “A Team of Their Own,” Seth Berkman draws on extensive research and interviews to tell a compelling story about the women on Korea’s first hockey team. He begins years before the Pyeongchang Olympics with the South Koreans who would form the core of the women’s national team. They were young women who, despite a lack of equipment and professional training, devoted their lives to ice hockey in a country where few know or play the sport. Many of them were less than thrilled when Korean sports officials, through broken English emails, successfully recruited Korean-American athletes to join the team. Several of the Americans were Korean adoptees returning for the first time to the land of their birth, forced to negotiate questions of identity and belonging as they competed for starting spots. The team’s coach, Sarah Murray, was also a foreigner and barely older than the players under her command. Berkman deftly documents how the players and coaches had to learn to navigate the team’s mix of languages, cultures, and backgrounds. They did so while toiling in obscurity, with little support from the country’s sports authorities and for far less pay than their male counterparts. And yet they, and not the men’s team, were called upon to sacrifice the camaraderie they’d built and rework everything with North Korean hockey players just weeks before the Olympics.

“A Team of Their Own” shows how deeply unfair it was to expect the team to assimilate 12 new players on such short notice, even while revealing the resolve with which they made the best of a difficult situation. As such, it is an entertaining and sometimes moving read that helps recover the experiences of the women who made the team into a symbol of peace. I can highly recommend it.

I was provided with an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

[Jennifer Kang · Rating 5 out of 5]

The depth of this story can only be achieved by following the team through their journey and getting to really know each of the players and staff, which Seth was able to do. It has the perfect balance in overviewing the hockey world in the Americas and Asia, the issues of identity, and political dynamics. At many times, it reads like a novel. I would love to see this story get turned into a movie one day!

[Lana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this overall story interesting, but reading it seemed a bit like a chore.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read about passion, dedication, and sacrifice. The hard work of the women of the South Korean women's national hockey team highlighted the lengths people are willing to go to pursue a dream. The dream of playing in the 2018 Winter Olympics drove these young women to push their bodies and their minds in extreme ways as they trained through injuries, adjusted career goals and college plans, challenged their familiar expectations, and pushed through preconceived notions about one another. Berkman helps the reader get to know each unique player showing how these very different women came together for a common goal, truly defining what makes a team. The bonds of the team are greatly challenged when, two weeks before the Olympics, government officials and the International Olympic Committee informed the women of the South Korean team that they'd have to make space for players for North Korea to join, forming a Unified women's hockey team. After years of training together, the makeup of the team was shifted dramatically, but the players overcame this challenge as they had so many others, by bolstering one another up, opening their hearts and arms, and focusing on being the best players they could be. I finished the book with a new understanding of life in South Korea and feeling inspired and moved by the powers of openness, dedication, and goodwill.

[Bill Lovegrove · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a long interest in both Koreas, having spent months in both Pyongyang and Seoul, so this book was of special interest to me. In addition, I met Sarah Murray, the coach in this story, in Seoul a few months before the Olympics. As a result, I followed this whole story with great interest throughout the Olympics.

Coming to the book from that perspective, I was a bit disappointed that the book was so much about the Korean team members and less about their coach and the inter-Korean controversy surrounding them. I found it hard to stay engaged in the detailed stories of the personal lives of the team members. I was disappointed that Sarah's role was minimized and the players' criticisms of her so easily accepted by the author. The players are heroes of this story, and rightly so, but so is Sarah, and I know she was more dedicated to the team than the book recognizes.

In spite of that, this is a good story, and a true story, of an important event both in sports history and in inter-Korean relations. Anyone interested in Korea should read it. I am not particularly a hockey fan, but I found the hockey story line understandable and engaging.

[Judy M Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A meticulous and highly detailed account of the team and its journey to the 2018 Olympics in Seoul. Includes personal profiles of players and coaches as well as Korean culture and international politics involving the Olympics, and North/South Korea. I found it hard to read and follow sometimes. The stories of the young women were compelling, but I had a lot of trouble following their Korean names and connecting to later references to them. Author provides a guide to Korean naming conventions which helped a bit.
I would have appreciated an appendix with a roster of names, and even a photo for each team member. I wanted to relate to them better and connecting names and faces would have helped my confusion. They were brave, resilient and found deep meaning and friendship in their hockey careers, however, brief. The stories of the Korean-American adoptees were remarkable, too.
The book highlights the severe inequities in women's sports worldwide and particular in Korea and the USA. Not a new story, but very important nonetheless. It's a long read and difficult, packed with information and events to connect.

[Kirsten Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up expecting something of a Cool Runnings story and it is a bit--incredibly hardworking athletes overcoming great odds and eleventh hour obstacles (naturally less Disney film plot and more memoir written by a journalist). Along the way this was also a dive into gender politics and expectations (in sports and in Korea), the Korean diaspora, Korean adoptees in the US, cross cultural friendships and misunderstandings, the relationship of South Korea to North Korea and Japan, and the many times Korea has been in the international spotlight over the last 5 years or so. The culmination of the narrative holds some political maneuverings with an almost Hunger Games feel (yes I exaggerate) and ends with a twist that the poison berry wielding Katniss would be proud of.
I admit to being a pretty avid fan of women's sports although I haven't paid particularly close attention to ice hokey. I found the personal accounts and details captured in Seth Berkman's presentation of these events quite riveting and not just on account of it being about women athletes--this was a huge story but in much more nuanced ways than any media presented it at the time.

[Sheila Melo · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the beginning, I thought that I would really enjoy this book. The stories and women were interesting, and while the writing was a bit dry, I was interested in their stories. The highlight of the book is the debacle of the decision to have a Unified team and how sexism allowed this decision to be made without the women's input or consideration. Unfortunately, as soon as the Northern Korean women come on the scene, the book becomes boring and I never felt any real impact on the Olympic experience. The story becomes very "telling" and somehow manages to make the Olympics seem dull while stating how the women were brought together.

I think there is a great story in this book but unfortunately, the book doesn't do these women or their moment in the spotlight justice.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a devoted Olympics fan and usually watch about 80% of the events, but I have zero memory of this happening in 2018. So it was like an entirely new historical event happening in real time as I read, since I had no idea of the outcome.

I was definitely angry on the team's behalf at what was done to them and how they were treated. Feeling invisible -- except for a few moments to serve the purpose of the powerful -- is such a crappy position to be in. I also felt badly for the coach and wonder how many of the North Korean players are even still alive, five years later.

I wish the South Korean women's hockey team all the best in the future!

[Zoe McClain · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, rounded up.

A fantastically written, thoroughly researched account of perseverance and sisterhood.

By providing the context of Korean history and modern international politics—and their intersection with South Korean women’s hockey—Berkman brilliantly showcases the wide-reaching impact sports have on culture and politics. Even more notable, in my opinion, is his empathetic and empowering representation of each of the women on the South Korean team. Never before have I come to admire individual athletes so much without ever having watched a moment of their play.

Certainly a must-read for fans of hockey, the Olympics, women’s sports, or inspiring true stories in general.

[Euny Hong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't like sports at all but I have been riveted by two sports-related books: George Plimpton's book Shadow Boxing, and this one. Rarely do you read such a offer a vivid play by play, entwined poignantly with the author's own soul, AND which is then placed into a cultural and historical context. The prose is both athletic and lyrical, like a champion skater. I hope they sell the film rights because this is a wonderful story.

[Jack Greenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a Canadian who knows next to nothing about ice hockey, let alone Women’s ice hockey, but that didn’t stop me from loving this book. Kudos to Seth Berkman for telling this gripping story and sharing the struggles of these inspirational young women. The team’s message of solidarity in their negotiations with the KIHA is ever so relevant today: “Actions speak louder than words.We can’t change the past, but we can change the future” (p. 328).

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am surprised how much I enjoyed this book given I am not a huge hockey fan. These women are truly inspirational and how they are as a team was very powerful on how a team can work together. I learned a lot, welled up with emotion many times and am impressed by the power of a team. I'm also very frustrated at the misongny in sports and the way they were treated but glad to see these stories getting more coverage

[Kaleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was fantastic. A feel good story about Korean women from different parts of the world merging to become an olympic hockey team. You’ll read about the various challenges that developed as the team got together. Cultures clashing, gender inequalities in and outside of the sport of hockey, the Korean government inserting themselves into the equation at times and a view of the women’s empowerment movement across the globe. Good read!

[Michelle Halber · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Interesting and moving book about the challenges the South Korean Women's Hockey team faced, both in a sport unknown to most of the country, and integrating a variety of wanted & unwanted players leading up to the 2018 Olympics.

The author does his bes to introduce to the reader the players , but by the end of the story, it is hard o remember most of the individual players.

Still, the story is interesting enough to be a worthwhile reae.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book many months ago and read it in short bursts. Today, in preparation for the Olympics, I finished it and am so glad I did. This true story of power, perseverance, growth in sport, in sisterhood, and pride in themselves by the 2018 unified Women's Korean Hockey team is indeed inspirational.

[Ran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary story about a group of young women from diverse backgrounds, coming together driven by love of hockey. While tackling challenges from their career and life choices, they also had to face complexity of politics and gender roles. I felt angry, touched and eventually motivated through reading the book.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great look inside a compelling hockey story. I watched the events unfold live, but this book is a loving and detailed picture of the team and their journey. Recommend for fans of hockey or women's sport in general.

[Marlena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me a long time to navigate. The story was unfathomable. There were so many obstacles the South Korean team faced and they handled each one way better than most. I wish there was a little bit of a better wrap-up. I have more questions.

[quinnster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I don't follow much in sports or the Olympics I had no idea much of this happened. I loved reading all the player's stories, but what really got me was when the South Korean players were saying goodbye to their North Korean team mates. it was so sad! The idea that they will probably not just not see each other, but not even be able to talk or email or anything! So sad!

[Daria · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF - nothing necessarily wrong, just probably not the right moment for me to read this, very info heavy and can't quite grasp all the hockey specific details :P might pick it up again at a later date!

[HTP Books]

Categories
Hockey, Sports Biographies & Autobiographies

[Donald Berkman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story inspirational

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long, but excellent reading

I really enjoyed this book, learning about the different people and their ties to the game of hockey. It felt personal and quite enjoyable.