As Kacey Bellamy reached the end of her playing career, she knew she wanted to stay involved in women’s hockey. So when the chance came to work for the Premier Hockey Federation, it was too good for her to pass up.

The former U.S. women’s national team player and three-time Olympic medalist joined the PHF as a scout and player relations liaison in May.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to continue to help grow women’s hockey at a professional level,” Bellamy told Just Women’s Sports.

As an added bonus, she once again gets to work with Reagan Carey, who was named PHF commissioner in April.

Carey and Bellamy are no strangers to one another. Carey served as USA Hockey’s director of women’s hockey from 2010-18, helping the team to an Olympic silver medal in Sochi in 2014 and a gold medal in PyeongChang in 2018. Bellamy played for both those teams.

“I wanted to jump on board because I know that [Carey] is one hundred percent fully invested in trying to make this the league to be in and she’s not gonna stop until she gets there,” Bellamy said. “I saw what she did with the national team from 2010 to 2018 to get to the end goal of winning a gold medal, and that was just setting expectations, holding people accountable, building this culture of, we’re not gonna expect anything less than giving it a 100 percent.”

Carey sees that same drive in Bellamy, and she looks for it in all her hires. Take Melody Davidson, whom Carey brought on as the director of hockey operations in May, as an example. A former head coach and general manager for the Canada women’s national team, Davidson helped the team win four straight gold medals, including in 2014 against Carey’s Team USA.

“There’s a lot to be said for people that go out and get it done and win,” Carey told Just Women’s Sports in early June.

We’ve got a tall order, but we’re out there doing it.

The Premier Hockey Federation aims to be just what its name says: a premier destination for professional hockey. The league is positioning itself as such after a decade of explosive growth and change in the women’s game.

The PHF entered the scene in 2015 as the National Women’s Hockey League, and despite early clashes with the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League and some recent turmoil at the team level, the league is cementing itself as an option for athletes to continue their careers after college.

Bellamy will help athletes navigate that journey. In her role for the PHF, she’ll be tasked with establishing relationships with college players and coaches and ensuring open lines of communication between players and the league.

In 2017, the U.S. women’s hockey team was one of the first national teams across sports to begin the fight for equal pay. Having found herself in the middle of that fight, Bellamy understands the importance of her role as a player liaison.

“It’s so important to have someone that you trust and that you can talk to, not just someone in the league, but someone who’s been through several Olympics, fighting for equality and all the things that we’ve experienced as a group,” Bellamy said.

She wants “to give my advice in any way, shape or form that I can to help these girls feel confident and comfortable and help them in their decision to hopefully join the league,” she continued.

Increased player salaries should help Bellamy make her case to prospective athletes.

In February, the PHF’s Board of Governors announced a $25 million investment. As a result ,the salary cap for the six-team league has increased to $750,000 per team for the upcoming season.

Mikyla Grant-Mentis is one of those players reaping the benefits of the investment. Her one-year, $80,000 deal with the Buffalo Beauts makes her the highest-paid women’s professional hockey player.

As other players negotiate salaries, transparency will be key. The salary cap floor is $562,500 for the upcoming season, and the minimum salary for players is $13,500.

While the league does not publicly disclose salaries, there is an unofficial spreadsheet circulating that details player’s salaries, compiled by The Ice Garden’s Mike Murphy.

At the same time, the league and players’ association are holding discussions and paying special attention to players’ voices.

“Everyone appears to be on the same page,” PHFPA executive director Nicole Corriero told NBC’s Alex Azzi in a statement. “We acknowledge the benefits to having such disclosure take place, including empowerment, transparency and accountability. We also appreciate that each player’s individual circumstances are different and want to ensure we respect their ability to opt out if that is their preference.”

At the league level, Carey acknowledges that, while they’re moving in the right direction to get player’s salaries to where they want them to be, there’s more work to be done.

“Until we get further down the line in this process, we’re going to be very mindful of the players that aren’t at the top of that salary grouping so that we can ensure that their experience is just as great in other ways,” Carey said. “We’ve got a tall order, but we’re out there doing it and making it happen with the intent on improving upon it every season.”

I think the sky’s the limit for this league.

Meanwhile, a competitor also has been gaining steam. The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) is preparing to form its own six-team league and debut in January 2023.

Carey, though, isn’t worried about the PHF’s position. In fact, she respects the PWHPA for trying to grow the game.

“Anybody that is supporting the growth of women’s hockey, regardless of the jersey and logo they’re wearing on the front of their jersey, they’re a teammate in my eyes,” she said. “They’re doing what they can to grow the sport and in ways that they feel is best.

“There’s nothing but a positive and respectful lens on that, from my standpoint.”

Carey likens the relationship between the PHF and the PWHPA to that of the relationship between the U.S. and Canada national teams. While fans have seen the rivalry come to fruition on the ice, there’s also been collaboration behind the scenes in efforts to lift women’s hockey to its current status.

“It’s a great rivalry, but at the same time in order to grow the game and to support the sport, we had to work together to make sure that we were creating opportunities to grow our sport,” Carey said of her time with Team USA.

No matter how the PWHPA’s plans shake out, Carey said she hopes the relationship between the PHF and the PWHPA will still allow the organizations to support one another and collaborate in some way.

Several players have made the jump from the PWHPA to the PHF this offseason, including Brittany Howard and U.S. Olympian Amanda Pelkey. The PHF remains committed to not only signing high-profile players, but building them up as well.

“I think right now we’re at a great position of starting to be able to bring in some big names because I really believe in the structure of this,” Bellamy said. “I think the sky’s the limit for this league.”

Emma Hruby is an Associate Editor at Just Women’s Sports.

US swimming icon Katie Ledecky is back on top, earning her 22nd world title with a gold medal-winning 1,500-meter freestyle performance at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on Tuesday.

Finishing with a time of 15:26.44, Ledecky now owns 25 of the top 26 times in the event's history and holds six World Aquatics Championships titles at that distance.

"Each one has meaning, and I love every race that I've had at Worlds over the years," the 28-year-old swimming star told broadcasters following her Tuesday victory.

That 22nd title brought Ledecky's combined Worlds total to an overall 28 medals, lifting the star to second on the all-time most decorated list where she trails only retired US men's star Michael Phelps's 33 podium finishes.

Earlier in the week, the Team USA standout took bronze in the 400-meter freestyle, coming in third behind China's silver-medalist Li Bingjie and Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh, who won the race with a time of 3:56.26.

Gold medals have been hard to come by for Team USA at this year's World Championships.

Other than Ledecky's win and the 100-meter butterfly title snagged by Gretchen Walsh on Monday, the US women have struggled to claim gold medals as they push to recover from the acute gastroenteritis that hit several team members at their pre-meet training camp in Thailand.

That stomach bug inhibited multiple US swimmers from traveling with the team to the Singapore meet, and saw contenders like 100-meter butterfly Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske pull out of initial heats.

"We're taking it a day at a time," said Team USA head coach Greg Meehan about the impact of the illness. "Obviously, this is not how we thought the first few days of this competition would go. But I'm really proud of our team."

How to watch Ledecky at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships

The 2025 World Aquatics Championships runs through Sunday, and US star Ledecky has two events left to swim at the meet.

On Thursday, she'll compete in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, before facing another showdown with rival McIntosh in the 800-meter freestyle on Saturday.

Preliminary heats kick off the night before at 10 PM ET, with finals seeing staggered starts beginning at 7 AM ET.

Live coverage of the meet airs on Peacock.

UEFA Women's Euro 2025 made a splash across the pond, drawing an average of 458,000 US viewers per match across FOX platforms to mark a 97% viewership increase over the 2022 edition — making this year's tournament the most-watched English-language Women's Euro on record.

Building off the 2025 competition's previously reported record-breaking numbers, Sunday's grand finale between defending champs England and 2023 World Cup winners Spain averaged 1.35 million US viewers — a 53% increase in viewership over the last Women's Euro championship match.

Even more, the broadcast ultimately peaked at 1.92 million fans tuning in, making it the most-watched English-language Women's Euro Final on record.

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The historic viewership is a major win for broadcaster FOX, who secured the women's tournament's first-ever US media deal back in May.

Initially committing to live coverage of 20 of the tournament's matches, record returns motivated the broadcast giant to quickly pivot and air all 31 matches live as part of its FOX Sports Summer of Soccer campaign.

"More and more people are tuning in to watch soccer in the US," FOX Sports commentator and UWSNT vet Carli Lloyd told The Athletic. "There's just been an incredible amount of soccer on display, which has been fantastic for the sport."

As the NWSL preps for this weekend's return from an extended summer break, No. 4 Washington Spirit star forward Trinity Rodman is also hoping to re-take the pitch for the first time since April.

Rodman is currently back training with the team, rejoining her club after undergoing extended treatment overseas for chronic back issues.

"I'd never really dealt with something like that," Rodman admitted after an open practice earlier this week. "So, for me, mentally, it was very difficult."

"[I was] trying to function through pain, and kind of gaslight myself to thinking it was fine every day, when it wasn't," she said. "I can now kind of openly say, I was in pain all the time."

Rodman also admits that stepping away was, though difficult, the right call to make for her healing.

"Obviously, it sucks being away from the team and being away from soccer in general," she added. "But I got to work on things that I wouldn't have gotten to work on if I was in the team environment all the time, so I think that was a positive."

Rodman's availability fluctuated after she earned an Olympic gold medal with the USWNT in Paris last summer, with the soccer superstar featuring in just four Spirit games this season — and none since stepping away in April.

Now functioning pain-free, Rodman's next on-pitch challenge is balancing her competitive intensity with her newly found health.

"It's really understanding my body and acknowledging [when] it's in pain," she explained. "And not pushing through things that I shouldn't."

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Rodman eyes new contract amid NWSL return

On top of navigating her return to play, Rodman is also actively negotiating with the Washington Spirit for a contract renewal.

Her current deal expires at the end of 2025, and with interest in the US standout reportedly mounting from overseas clubs, the 23-year-old could eventually field multiple offers.

Considering her lack of minutes so far this season, the star called the assumed interest "a weird situation."

"I'm trying not to stress about it or put too much pressure on it," she said of the ongoing talks. "At the end of the day, I'm worried about health first.... Everything else can come next."

Wednesday's WNBA bill puts a heavyweight battle in the spotlight, as 2024 finalists and 2025 league leaders Minnesota will host reigning champion No. 2 New York in their first face-off of the season — with the Liberty hoping to rattle both the Lynx and the standings.

"I think common sense would say that those two teams probably should have played earlier in the season," Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve told media this week, referencing the apparent scheduling idiosyncrasies that delayed the championship rematch.

"It doesn't feel like a Finals rematch anymore, honestly," Lynx forward Napheesa Collier echoed. "It's a new year for us. And it's been so long, it's almost August, so it's just the two top teams going against each other."

Both squads enter the clash on uncharacteristic skids, as Minnesota and New York look to avenge recent losses while other WNBA teams jockey for positioning during the league's Wednesday night slate:

• No. 3 Phoenix Mercury vs. No. 6 Indiana Fever, 7 PM ET (ESPN3): The Fever must continue to contend without injured star guard Caitlin Clark, as Indiana faces a newly healthy Mercury side striving to steal back the No. 2 spot with a win.

• No. 5 Atlanta Dream vs. No. 11 Dallas Wings, 8 PM ET (ESPN3): After a disappointing Tuesday upset loss, the will Dream close out a back-to-back against a bolstered Dallas squad fresh off a big victory over New York.

• No. 2 New York Liberty vs. No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, 8 PM ET (ESPN): With a four-game lead in the standings, the Lynx aren't in danger of giving up their perch at the top, but a strong performance from the Liberty could provide a much-needed boost to the ailing title-holders.