It would be easy to look at hockey phenom Chyna Taylor’s résumé and assume she was SportsKid of the Year material from the start. In 2024, when she was just 15, Chyna was the youngest player on the U-18 national team. That made her the first person from Kentucky to play at the national level in men’s or women’s hockey. And at the world championships in 2025, she was named best player for her team when the U.S. took home silver against Canada.
At Lovell Academy in Massachusetts, where she lives and trains, Chyna holds the records—boys and girls—for most goals, assists and points by a defenseman. (She had 110 points last year, a total she passed by mid-December this season.) “She’s the best in the country,” says Caitrin Lonergan, the girls’ coach at Lovell. But like any good mentor and coach, Lonergan puts that into a healthy perspective. “But she wasn’t always.”
