========================================================================
HOCKEY MAMA MONEY CLUB
Episode 2: "Why I'm the One Saying This"
========================================================================
Welcome to Hockey Mama Money Club.
Last episode, I talked about what this sport actually costs. The real
costs — the gear, the travel, the scheduling, and the mental math you
do in the bleachers when you should just be able to watch your kid do
what they love.
If you listened to that episode and felt like someone finally said the
thing out loud — good. That's exactly what I wanted.
Today, I want to tell you who I am. Because I think you need to know,
and you deserve to know, before you keep listening. That's just basic
respect. And at the core of who I am, I operate from a place of
respect. You should know who's talking to you and why they think they
have something worth saying.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I AM IN IT WITH YOU
------------------------------------------------------------------------
So hi. I'm Tamsen Horton. And I am a hockey mom.
Not a former hockey mom. Not someone who did this ten years ago and
is now looking back fondly. I am in it right now, with you, this
season, at the rink.
My son Kip is 15. He was born in 2011 — which in hockey means he's a
2011 player. And if you know hockey, you know exactly what that means
in terms of where we are in this journey and what's coming. We are
entering high school hockey.
I have been a hockey mom for years. I've been in the stands at more
tournaments than I can reasonably count, in more cities than I can
name off the top of my head, with more lukewarm coffees — even though
I would search out a Starbucks the moment I was booking the hotel
rooms — than any human should reasonably consume.
I've washed the jerseys. Yes, we wash jerseys in this house. I
actually don't look at it as washing jerseys so much as maintaining
my beautiful white ceramic kitchen sink — the borax, the detergent
soak where all the grime comes out. That sink is gorgeous and the
jerseys are clean. Win-win.
I've booked the hotels. I've made sure the skates were sharpened.
I've gotten everyone where they needed to be on time. I'm the default
parent in our family — my husband Chris and I designed it that way —
which means the logistics of Kip's entire hockey life run through me.
I say all of that not to impress you. That is not the point. But to
establish something simple: I am not talking to you from the outside.
I am standing right where you are standing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CALMEST MOM AT THE RINK
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I want to tell you something about what it looks like from where
I'm standing, because I think it just needs to be said.
I am one of the calmest moms at the rink.
Not because I don't care. I care deeply. I care more than is
reasonable. And you will hear it come through — I'm a complete sap.
The emotion is real because this matters. As much as I can hold it
back, I can't always, because it does matter that much.
But I figured out somewhere along the way that most of what stresses
hockey families out is upstream of what it looks like on the surface.
And once you go upstream, once you start pulling on the right levers,
a lot of things get quieter. Quietly quieter, in the best way.
My family takes real vacations. Not hockey trips — actual vacations,
to places we chose because we wanted to go there. We are a competitive
travel hockey family and we still do that. Not because we have some
enormous financial advantage over other hockey families. Because we've
looked at things from a different angle. We've made creative choices
that most people haven't made because nobody showed them they could.
Honestly, no one really showed us either. My husband just happened to
marry someone who is constantly looking for a creative solution to get
what she wants.
I've been watching hockey families for years. Thousands of families,
across teams and tournaments and seasons. And I've noticed a pattern.
The families who are struggling, who are white-knuckling it, who are
doing the mental math in the bleachers — they're not less capable
than the families who aren't. They're not less hardworking. They're
just focused on a different part of the problem.
They're treading water. They're bailing water instead of going
upstream.
And when you hear me say upstream — it's not because I'm an outdoorsy
person. I am not. I am not in waders in Montana. My upstream comes
from watching the lifeguards pull inner tubes out of the Lazy River
at Disney World about an hour before closing time. That is where my
upstream lives. And you'll find that's where a lot of my metaphors
come from.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE LAW DEGREE — STAY WITH ME
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, here is where my situation is unique. And I need you to stick
with me. Listen to the whole thing. Do not hear what I'm about to say
and roll your eyes and think you know the whole story — because you
don't. None of us ever do. Context is everything. Give me the benefit
of the doubt. Because it's not your typical story.
I'm a lawyer.
Here's where I need the eye roll not to happen. Because how I became
a lawyer, why I became a lawyer — it is not normal. Not even a little.
I did not grow up wanting to be a lawyer. I became a lawyer because I
got pissed off working in corporate America. I was essentially office
staff at a multi-billion dollar athletic company that was not properly
licensed. Over two to three years, I did all the work. And I would
watch the lawyers come in and sign their names. And I was mad. I was
in my early 30s and I said, what do I have to do? And they said, well,
you need a law degree. And I said, fine. I will go get one of those.
If that's what I need to get more than full-time pay for less than
part-time hours, I'm getting a law degree.
So I did. I started at 32. I also got a master's in taxation while I
was there. I met my husband. I graduated. And I had a plan. I was
going to take my law degree, go work for the IRS, take 12 weeks off
when the baby came, get a nanny, and be Jessica. Like Jessica Pearson
in Suits — the outfits, the office, running the show.
And then Kip was born.
And I was sitting in that hospital, and I looked at that baby, and I
thought — I don't actually want to put on nylons.
I had no idea what I was going to do with the law degree I had just
worked so hard to get. But I knew I was going to say yes to being
present. Being available. That was not on the vision board. And it
was one of the best yeses I have ever said.
What that yes did not do was erase the student loan debt. It did not
magically create income. What it did was give me the courage to figure
it out differently. And I did. More of that story will come out as we
go.
But yes — I have a law degree. I understand contract law and business
law. And right now, behind the scenes, I am studying player contracts,
sports law, agent law, deal structures, and what happens when a hockey
kid starts getting noticed. Because Kip is 15 and those conversations
are coming for our family.
This is not a podcast specifically about reading contracts. It never
will be. But it's part of what I bring. And we'll see how it shows up
as Kip's journey unfolds.
What I know from being a lawyer — and from becoming one because I
wanted to understand the rules — is this: no manager, no agent, no
advisor, no coach cares about your kid the way you do. It's
impossible. No one does.
Most hockey families, when something gets put in front of them — a
contract, an agreement, an offer — they sign it. Because everyone
else is signing it. Because they trust that the people around them
are looking out for them. I read everything. I want to help you
understand what you're reading too.
And I need to be clear: I am not your lawyer. Nothing I ever say on
this podcast is legal advice. What I can do is talk to you like an
informed peer — a fellow hockey mom who understands what's going to
be put in front of our kids, who knows what questions to ask, what to
look for, and when to get other people in the room. That's genuinely
different from legal advice. And in many ways, it's more useful.
I think of it like the Liam Neeson line from Taken. I have a very
particular set of skills. I have been building them my whole life.
And in the best possible non-machine-gun way — that's what Hockey
Mama Money Club is.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FRICTION FRAMEWORK
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The other thing I bring is methodology. A way of thinking about
problems.
I actually call them friction. Not problems — friction. Because when
I picture a runway at an airport, those lights that line the sides of
the runway — those are friction to me. They exist to help you see
where you are, what you want, how to land the plane. Friction isn't
the enemy. It's information. It's showing you where to pay attention.
So when I look at a hockey family's financial situation, I'm not
looking for what's wrong. I'm looking for the friction. And then we
figure out how to alleviate it, lessen it, solve it.
I've used this framework in my own life for decades. And I've spent
years teaching it to other people through a business I run called
Vacationing Life — which lives at TamsenHorton.com if you're curious.
That's where I've helped people who feel stuck in their current
professional situation figure out how to leverage what they already
know and build income that actually works and funds their life.
Chris and I even wrote a book about it — Easy as PB&J: Share What
You Know, Make Money Doing It. I was doing all of this pre-pandemic.
In 2011, I created a virtual law firm. I was the weird one. Now it's
completely normal. We all lived through a pandemic. I just did it
nine years before everyone else caught up.
I share that not to impress you, but because I want you to know:
this is not new to me. This is not a pivot. This is my teenager.
This is my life. And the framework I'm bringing to Hockey Mama Money
Club is the same one I've been using since Kip was born.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE MOM FRAMEWORK
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I also use an acronym I love: MOM. Master Organizing Manager.
It came from a long-term client in one of my Vacationing Life
communities. We were talking about C-suite executives and how
companies often need someone who will just ask: do you have your
backpack? Do you have your permission slip? Are your shoes tied?
Not another meeting to discuss where we think things might go. Just
— is everything packed? Are we ready? Let's go.
And she looked at me and said, you're the Master Organizing Manager.
I said, can I have that? She said yes. And I have never let it go.
Because is that not exactly what we are? Hockey moms are the most
organized, most resourceful, most capable people in any building we
walk into. If you pulled up a notes app right now and just talked out
what you do on a daily and weekly basis — the logistics of moving a
hockey family through a season — it would be a stunning LinkedIn
profile. We are running a complex operation every single week.
The gap has never been capability.
The gap is that no one has given us frameworks that fit how we already
operate. That's what I want to change.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT I AM NOT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I also want to be clear about what I am not.
I am not a financial advisor. I won't give you licensed financial
advice. And you should be skeptical of anyone on the internet who acts
like they can do that casually.
I am not going to tell you this is easy. I'm all about simple —
simple, doable, make-this-thing-work-for-me simple. But we're hockey
moms. I don't think we're looking for easy. We're looking for
something that actually works. Anyone promising you'll make money
while you sneeze and go to sleep tonight — that's not what this is.
Do I sell things? Yes. I run a business. I have since 2011. I want
you to sell things too. But what I sell is useful, honest, and built
on a track record of actually helping people. You'll see.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHY NOW
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You might be wondering — if you've felt this way for years, why now?
A few reasons.
The economy in 2026 is making this harder for more families than
ever. The financial pressure on hockey families has always been real.
But right now, even if the stick hasn't gotten more expensive, the
groceries have. I feel it. I hear it in conversations. The predatory
income schemes are getting more aggressive at exactly the same time.
That combination is dangerous. And I couldn't keep sitting in the
bleachers without saying something.
Kip is 15. He's a sophomore in high school. Those contract
conversations are coming. And just like Jordan's mom made sure he
got more money than Nike had ever paid anyone — just like Taylor
Swift's parents kept their eyes on every deal — no one cares more
than the parents who are well-intentioned, well-informed, and
paying attention. I'm studying. I want other hockey families
studying too.
And finally — I have the capacity. Building something real takes
energy and focus. I don't have fewer kids, less business, or less
life. But with each season, capacity shifts. I have it now.
If not now, when? When Kip is 25 and I'm looking back wishing I
had said something sooner?
No. Now. We are in it. And I have a lot to say.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ORIGIN OF VACATIONING LIFE — AND WHY IT MATTERS HERE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I want to tell you where Vacationing Life came from, because Hockey
Mama Money Club grows out of the same root.
My only cousin passed away in his early 20s. Kip was two. It rocked
our family. And what came out of that grief was a concept I named
Vacationing Life — living deeply fulfilled by all that you do.
It also came from a quote attributed to Seth Godin: instead of
planning the next vacation, why not create a life you don't need
to escape from?
That is the root. And Hockey Mama Money Club comes from that same
ground. Doing what you want, when you want, with whom you want, in
exactly the way you want — with the time and financial freedom to
make those choices.
So when you're at a game, you're fully present. When the stick
breaks, you handle it without the cringe. You still go on the
vacation you chose. You get the version of hockey that is joyful —
from the very first time you laced up those little skates to the
showcases where senior moms are having their last ones.
I told you I'm a sap. I cannot help it. Chris always says you can't
cry in court. I said fine — I won't do litigation. I'll do contract
law. There are fewer tears in contract law.
But there is crying in hockey. I am allowed to have emotion. When
you care about something — in this case, someone — emotion is real
and it is deep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT'S NEXT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's who I am. That's why I'm here. That's why I believe I have
something worth saying.
A lawyer. A hockey mom. A default parent by design who figured out
how to stay calm at the rink while other people are losing their
minds. Someone who has been watching this for years and finally
couldn't be quiet about it anymore.
Episode 3 is the one I'm most excited about — because we're talking
about possibilities. And possibilities are everywhere. Whether you're
on the firsts, the middles, or starting to reach some of those final
experiences — the possibilities don't stop. They just change shape.
I'll see you there.
========================================================================
Fund the game. Do it together. Enjoy all of it.
========================================================================
