For the first time in Olympic history, an African American will represent the U.S. in hockey, at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Jordan Greenway is the first African American to join Team USA for hockey. According to CNN,  he grew up in Canton, New York where “hockey was everywhere.”  He currently attends Boston University and is a member of its hockey team. He was drafted by the Minnesota Wild professional hockey team. However, he decided to stay in school instead of going into the pro league.

As a child, Greenway and his brother always stood out while playing sports. Not only were the brothers good athletes, they were also black in a majority white community.  Luckily, he had a mother who made sure to prepare them. Greenway said “she always let us know that yeah, we’d probably be a little bit different than a lot of the other people in the town, but it’s just the way it is and you’re just like everyone else.'” Although there weren’t many hockey player that looked like him, Greenway said “I just kind of grew up around it and it was kinda the norm.'” After years of hard work, he was offered a position on the U.S. Olympic Hockey team. “My coach called me … and it was probably the greatest Christmas present I’ve ever gotten,” Greenway recalled.”

Students seemed to be content with the first spark of diversity in this sport.

Sophomore Wadi Ahmed said “I think its a really good step to take in the relations of race in our country, not to mention it breaks ground for other minority youth interested in hockey as a role model to look up to.” Sophomore Christopher Nwoke said “I think its good considering there aren’t many black hockey players.” Junior Jasmine Tate said “I think that’s a big deal. It’s crazy how we still have [the first black anything] nowadays considering it’s been so many years since African Americans have had freedom. But it’s great to know that their actually is some diversity in some of these predominantly ‘white’ [fields].”

According to teamusa.usahockey.com, the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team finished in seventh place among 12 teams competing at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games between February 14 and February 25, 2018.