Ian Kennedy moved from Mexico to Boston when he was 6 years old. Not long after coming to America, he put on a pair of skates for the first time. His dad, Andrew, put him on the ice, and Ian has been hooked on the feeling ever since.

The young player spent the first two weeks of his life in his home state of Arizona before moving to Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Growing up playing competitive golf, his love for hockey soon flourished years later and there was no going back.

“I was living in Mexico and there is no hockey there, so we moved up to Boston and then my dad kind of just brought me to a public skate and I fell in love with the game from there,” Kennedy said. “Just something about it got me hooked and I’ve been playing ever since.”

Kennedy continued to pursue hockey when his family moved to Arizona when he was 7. Now 14, he’s playing with the Arizona Bobcats (AZ) in the 2025 Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier II 14U National Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Originally moving away from Arizona to Hermosillo was a choice by Kennedy’s parents. His mother, Ana Lozano, grew up in the city and had family in the area, including Kennedy’s grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins close to his age. On top of being close to family, Lozano said she also wanted to help immerse her son in her own culture and wanted him to learn Spanish, which he now speaks fluently.

“I wanted them to grow up a little bit with my family, so it was important to be a part of quality time with the grandparents and the cousins, especially,” Lozano said. “They’re half Latino, so I wanted them to be proud of that too.”

While living in Mexico, Kennedy’s first athletic pursuit was golf. As his passion for the sport heightened, so did the overwhelming sense of joy he had for being an athlete. Along with golf, he grew up playing basketball and baseball, as well as training for mixed martial arts and jujitsu.

Golf has remained a constant part of Kennedy’s life. He’s played in two Junior World Championships, the U.S. Kids Golf World Championships, qualified for the Massachusetts Junior Amateur Championship and won the 12-13 division of the 2024 Island Invitational in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

For hockey players, golf fits right into their downtime in the summer. But Kennedy prefers to play both sports as much as possible. He said that playing at the college level or as high as he can professionally is where he hopes to thrive someday, whether it be golf or hockey — or both.

After the family moved to Boston, Kennedy’s dedication to hockey quickly grew. The sport has also helped Kennedy hone skills that have helped his off the ice.

“I love seeing my teammates every day, working together on and off the ice and that translates to school and other aspects of my life and also my work ethic,” Kennedy said. “Just going to the gym, shooting pucks, working on my skating, just having a mindset to work hard every day. That also correlates to other aspects of my life, school, work or other relationships in my life. It helps out with everything.”

Kennedy can trace almost anything he does in life to his ability on the ice or on the golf course.

“Hockey is a lifestyle, and golf is also a lifestyle for me,” Kennedy said. “Just balancing the two and being able to work hard at both to be the best I can, it makes a lot of things outside of sports easier for me when I have to juggle two things at once.”

Kennedy doesn’t see a need to focus on just one sport. He dreams of playing golf and hockey at Arizona State University. As he pursues that dream, he constantly reminds himself of advice his mother gave him.

“It’s important to be successful,” Lozano said. “But it’s always important to be kind.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.