The Middle School’s field hockey team had a great season of growth and development this year. Not only did the team perform better than they had in the past, but they also had many new additions to the roster.
Head Middle School Field Hockey Coach, Meredith Crowther, reflected on the season. “As a coach, it’s always great to get new faces,” she said. Mrs. Crowther talk about the different playing conditions the team dealt with, “For some reason we played more grass games which is not typical for us,” she said.
As Coach Crowther mentioned, the team ended up playing four out of their five games on grass fields rather than turf. Since the sport is typically played on turf, playing on a new surface required the team to adjust. The change mainly affected players returning to the team.
Coach Crowther also mentioned that field hockey is very different from other sports because most kids don’t pick it up at a very young age. Typically, kids play tee ball or soccer when they are young since many middle schools don’t offer field hockey as an option.
This season, kids who had never played before still had a major impact on the team. Sixth-grade forward Chadly Zahner spoke about how enjoyable this season was. “This field hockey season was so much fun,” she said. “It was so great to be included on a team when I was new to the school.”
Eighth-grade midfielder Taylor Benavides, a three-year player on this team, expressed how grateful she was to have a season uninhibited by the COVID-19 pandemic. “After having COVID for my first year and then last year having little to no games, it was very nice that we had more this year,” she said.
This season was tough for the team because there were many obstacles that prevented the entire team from meeting at one time. There were many field trips that players participated in which pulled them from practice, or four-day weeks where the team had limited practice time between games. Despite this, the team won 80% of their games and overall it was a successful season, in which all of the players made significant progress.
