Although her time with Wisconsin athletics is coming to a close, Ilana Friedman, a member of the women’s hockey team, has done her part to leave her mark with hard work off the ice over the last year.

With Friedman’s work and cooperation from the Athletic Department, UW joined the “You Can Play” movement that hundreds of other college athletic departments, high schools, professional sports teams and other sports organizations already supporting the project.

“As an out member of the LGBT community, the ‘You Can Play’ project is the perfect fit for UW Athletics,” Friedman said at a press conference Monday. “The support and reception from my teammates, fellow Badger athletes, staff from inside the Athletic Department and the larger Madison community in response to YCP has been overwhelmingly positive and shows how progressive and outstanding the Wisconsin Badger community truly is.”

The central goal for the ‘You Can Play’ project is to ensure equality, respect and safety for all athletes regardless of sexual orientation. The program is also focused on working to provide all athletes a fair chance to be judged by other athletes and fans based only on their contributions to the team.

To demonstrate its support for the movement, the department produced a video for the Wisconsin YouTube channel focused on the message, “If you can play, you can play.”