Julia Marty is a sports instructor at HSG with an Olympic past

Ice hockey is a fast-paced sport with a lot of physical contact. “But while body checks are generally not allowed in women's ice hockey, the game has also become more competitive for women in recent years,” says Julia Marty. The 36-year-old from Aargau currently plays on the SC Bern women's team and is a sports instructor at UniSport HSG. Marty has just come back from the longest injury break of her 28-year ice hockey career: in May 2023, she tore the cruciate ligament in her left knee – but ironically not in the contact sport of ice hockey, but in lacrosse.

“I knew that the recovery would take a long time”

It took a year and a half of rehab with two surgeries before she was able to take to the ice again for SCB as a defender in November 2024. Did she struggle after the difficult diagnosis? “No, because I knew the facts. I was prepared for a long recovery from the start because I kept treating patients with similar injuries during my work,” says Marty. In addition to her professional career, she studied neuroscience and human movement, and worked at the Balgrist University Hospital in Zurich, among other places.

In the summer of 2022, she joined HSG as a sports instructor. She coaches students and staff as part of UniSport, which offers around 300 training sessions in 90 sports every week. “I'm a person who likes to be on the move and working for UniSport suits me – I lead training sessions and can observe and try out new sports trends.” She also likes the contact with the diverse university community at HSG.

In October 2020, for example, she organised the HSG Health Days together with the HR department – three days for students and staff that focused on the topic of dealing with everyday stress. “I saw the wide range of competences that come together at HSG: in addition to HR and UniSport, psychologists, medical students, researchers, and those in the field of human resource management were involved in the Health Days.”

Three years of playing in the USA

The knee injury in 2023 was never a reason for her to think about quitting. “On the one hand, I still really enjoy ice hockey. On the other hand, there has been a professionalisation in Swiss women's ice hockey that additionally motivates me as a player.” For example, in recent years, the top clubs HC Davos, HC Fribourg-Gottéron, SC Bern and HC Ambri-Piotta have either founded women's teams or professionalised their conditions.

Marty knows the value of good conditions in sport: at the age of 20, she and her twin sister Stefanie were offered the chance to play for US college teams on scholarship. Julia Marty played for Northeastern University in Boston for around three years starting in 2008. In US college sports, women's teams are strongly supported and the teams have top infrastructure. “During that time, I was able to fully focus on the sport in Boston alongside my degree coursesin neuroscience.”

As a woman in ice hockey, she also experienced other things for many years. Despite being a professional, she sometimes had to pay club membership fees or find an external weight room and finance it herself.

“I don't make big plans

As a child, her achievements attracted attention in Swiss women's ice hockey: Julia and her twin sister Stefanie both made their debut for the national team at the age of 15. In 2004 and 2005, the Marty sisters won the championship title with EV Zug, and in 2006 they made their first appearance at the Winter Olympics. In addition to this, Julia Marty played in ten world championships. Her greatest success was winning the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. That same year, she and Stefanie also won the Swedish championship title for Linköping HC. “That was definitely the most successful year of my career,” she says, laughing as she reflects on it.

But, as she says, she is still hungry on the ice. She says she is still fascinated by ice hockey to this day. “The sport is fast and complex, and skating technique is also very important. But above all, it's a real team sport, which suits me.” That's another reason she enjoys working at HSG: UniSport consists of six sports instructors who all specialise in different sports but at the same time form a team.

Julia Marty sees her role in her current SCB ice hockey team as a mentor who can pass on experience to the younger players. “At the moment, my sporting situation suits me, but I don't make any big plans at my age, I take it season by season.” And even if she has to hang up her skates one day, Julia Marty will always be on the move. At her home in Baden, she has “pretty much every piece of sports equipment there is,” including four bikes, a snowboard and a small gym. “I'll never be bored,” she says and laughs.