July Motivation of the Month
As is our tradition here at TopOfTheCircle.com, the July Motivation of the Month is an unforgettable first-person account of a high-school player as she collected her thoughts before leaving home for college
This essay, since it can’t fit into the header at the top of this page, is going to remain here for the month; daily posts will appear just below.
A FIELD HOCKEY PLAYER’S JOURNEY FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO COLLEGE
By Jamie Tieman
Haddonfield, NJ
I never thought when I complained and complained about school and all the rules, that when the time came to leave, I would have this empty void inside. People often told me, “Oh you’ll miss this place when you get out,” and at the time, I shrugged them off.
But as the end of senior year neared, I was quite anxious to get out of there. But wouldn’t we all be? Everyone looks forward to a break. But little did I realize that this “break” was permanent and come next September, I won’t be roaming the same old hallways and playing on the same old torn-up fields.
I miss the faces of friends congregating at lockers, I miss the “hellos” from underclassmen friends and senior buddies, and most of all, I miss the teachers, and just plainly the surroundings. Yeah, I was human and I cried at graduation, but that whole “ending” feeling never really hit me. Today, though, today it did.
As I was meandering underneath my bed for my stopwatch — which is still missing in action — I came across my memory boxes from school. And as curious as I am, I just had to open them up and leaf through my collection from these past four years. I pulled out old notes that were passed in hallways, old pictures taken of a field hockey team that was at times a second family, and Christmas and birthday cards, sent from friends that I would have never have come across, had it not been for my times at school.
And then the memories — oh God, the memories! — they haunt me like a ghost. They help at times, but at times, they hurt. Those good times, those funny times, I can’t return to them. That’s the problem: all I can do is remember. But sometimes remembering just isn’t enough.
Maybe it’s the fear of the unknown that is stirring up all these emotions, maybe it’s just looking around, at smiles and at faces of friends, that I know I am afraid to leave. Maybe it’s that fear, that unknowing feeling, that leads me to want only to return to the place that I first learned how to dare, how to dream and how to love.
The ending has ceased though, but that new beginning still awaits me. That door, still yet to be opened, flashes through my mind. At times, I cringe with excitment, and at other times, tears sting the back of my eyes and I know I’m not strong enough. Even with a strong inner faith, I can’t conquer the fear. Even running can’t take my mind off of it.
Every day I arise, knowing we’re getting one day closer. And maybe once I’m settled, once I’ve broken my new environment in, I’ll be just fine. And I’ll laugh at my craziness of wanting to cling to the past, a past of which I said all too often I wanted to forget. But I take one look back and I can’t do it. I can’t bring myself to realize that it’s all said and done. No more. No returning.
And everytime I look at my former coach, who has become so much more than a coach since the day she stepped away from the sidelines two years ago, I am convinced that there’s no way I can leave her or forget her. I stood there tonight as she stopped me, when I was out running, but yet there’s nothing to talk about. And as I ran onward and upward, I wondered if this was the way it was gonna be. Maybe being apart will strenghten our relationship, but maybe it will tear me apart before it strengthens us.
Now I wish only to return, to where there were guarantees, and I wouldn’t have to be alone. But now I’m alone and there’s no one. No familiar face to convince me anymore and maybe that’s why I am scared. Maybe this was all a dream, but somewhere I know I can conquer this. But for now, I wish only to return to yesterday.
(Jamie Tieman, who graduated from Haddonfield Paul VI (N.J.) on June 6, 1999, would attend Elizabethtown (Pa.) College that fall.)
July 4, 2009 — The freedom to play
This week, a number of boys, including some residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, are playing field hockey for the East Coast Junior and other teams at the National Championship tournament in Chula Vista, Calif.
And yet, in a recent conversation between sophomore Mat Levine and Waynesboro (Pa.) athletic Director Dennis McLaughlin, the latter said, “Boys don’t play field hockey.”
A month ago, a sophomore in a Miami high school was not given a chance to retake a chemistry exam and was given a failing grade. Her only crime was to miss a day to compete in a field hockey tournament, despite the fact that numerous such retakes are granted to football and basketball players at her school.
On this July 4, especially with a Commander-In-Chief whose political slogan was “Yes We Can,” please think about people in this country who don’t have the freedom to compete, to play in the sport of their choosing, on a safe competition surface with common-sense rules mirroring those governing the sport in the rest of the world.
July 3, 2009 — Canada, the litigious society?
For much of the last week, the discussion in field hockey circles in North America has been the story of Devon Hussack, who was awarded more than a million dollars by a Canadian provincial court for an injury suffered playing field hockey in gym class a decade ago in the town of Chilliwack, British Columbia.
In an era in which judge-shopping trial lawyers working for equipment manufacturers are looking to put helmets and eyewear on field hockey and lacrose players, this is the worst possible thing that could happen.
But in Canada, this story has been receiving major play. That’s because the society is often much less litigious than that of the United States. If people get hurt or injured doing something, there is often inquiry and inquest — which has resulted in a number of controversies which have gotten dragged out over decades, often decades longer than in the United States and elsewhere.
It is also being seen as a threat to Canada’s national game, ice hockey. As one columnist wrote, “As sometimes happens, accidents occurred. Students would get their sticks up and someone would get clipped. Occasionally, a kid would need stitches. And that was that.”
I have gotten into a few discussions about this subject over the last few years, for sure. But I think the words of former stock car driver Dick Trickle, as related by Ken Schrader on the television show This Week In NASCAR encapsulates what should be the attitude: “Nobody made you put on the helmet and get in that car.”
Perhaps Canada, with its emphasis on peace, order, and good government, will snap back to its senses and overturn this decision.
July 2, 2009 — Meanwhile, on the left coast …
Last week’s National Futures Tournament and Women’s National Championship was the apex of developmental tournaments for American females.
This week, the burgeoning men’s program gets a chance. There are two tournaments — a Men’s National Championship and a U-17 tournament.
Video highlights can be found here.
This is a different era for men’s field hockey in the United States, despite the U-21 national team’s 20th-place finish at the Junior World Cup in Malaysia. You have young men like JaJa Kentwell and Blaise Falk and Lucas Long making names for themselves in scholastic play. All three are on an East Coast Juniors team with some of the best coaching in the United States, and it is a team fancied by many to win the four-team tournament by the end of the week.
This week’s activities are, I believe, a watershed moment for the game in this country. There has been scholastic field hockey in the United States for 100 years, almost exclusively played by girls and women.
But by the time the U.S. hosted the 1932 Olympics, there were plans in place to have men’s field hockey at a varsity level at universities such as Penn State. However, the Great Depression as well as attitudes towards the sport reflected in the editoral pages of such publications as The New York Times led to a gradual decline in participation amongst American men.
The U.S. has not made an Olympics, when it hasn’t been a host nation, since 1956. It wasn’t as thought the Americans had fared badly until then: indeed, it had been expected that the U.S. team could build off some of the post-war economic boom of the early 1950s and a half-decent performance at the 1948 Olympics.
But a lot has happened since then. The proliferation of artificial competition surfaces, the growth of the game amongst immigrants from Southeast Asia, South America, and Europe, and the awakening that opening the game to more male participation would double the footprint of the game in the U.S. has made the men’s high-performance program of USA Field Hockey an essential part of the game’s future.
Indeed, when you consider that South Korea won the silver medal in Sydney 2000 with only about 1,000 registered players, imagine what the Boys in Blue can do with a few more people playing the game.
Boys’ varsity field hockey would be a great start.
July 1, 2009 — A new era
This entry is different from all others ever written on this blog. It may look the same to you, but the way it comes to you is different.
That’s because your Founder is writing this post on an iPhone using the AT&T data network instead of an actual computer keyboard.
This device is one of the marvels of technology. It is a telephone, but it can do email, give a seven-day forecast at one touch, display a video story on demand, and update this blog through the WordPress free application.
Of course, there is a major tradeoff — this tiny keyboard means very slow typing compared to what can be done on a laptop.
But this phone will work in places where there is no WiFi network, so it’s possible to transmit directly from a game site.
Time to work on those thumb-typing skills.
June 30, 2009 — A last few lacrosse notes
I hate bunching a number of thoughts in one blog entry, but given that the domestic lacrosse season and the FIL World Cup finished last week, and there are going to be a lot of field hockey stories coming in July, I figured I’d ramble a bit.
First, commendation should be given to the U.S. women’s national lacrosse team for their performance at the World Cup in Prague. I really thought that Australia was the team to beat at this tournament (on-line punters notwithstanding), thanks to the game that both Jen Adams and Hannah Neilsen possess.
So what happened? Defense. As as former goalkeeper, head coach Sue Heether built the U.S. team from the goal out. Despite the offensive numbers, and all of the goals scored by Northwestern University graduates, the constants on the team were the rearguard of goalie Devon Willis and defenders Regina Oliver and Amber Falcone.
One fact that should open your eyes is that the team’s leading goal-scorer in the World Cup is Caroline Cryer, who played her high-school lacrosse in Colorado.
One more note about the World Cup. Much has been made of Abbey Friend’s decision to leave her high-school team, Canandaigua (N.Y.) Academy, to play for Team Canada the week of the state Final Four.
For those who begrudge the decision, let’s focus in on this a little more. This is a World Cup we’re talking about here — one chance every four years. It doesn’t matter whether you’re claiming Canadian eligibility, or Haudenosaunee, or the United States — if a national team calls, you’re answering that call. It’s your obligation as an athlete to push yourself against the very best.
Friend, who has skills and body control far beyond most of her peers, was amongst Canada’s leading scorers. The Maple Leafs won the bronze medal, and she played like she belonged on that team.
In this club vs. country debate, the winner should be obvious.
I was asked last week why this site doesn’t publish a quick-and-dirty Top 10 for girls’ scholastic lacrosse to complement the field hockey list. Well, the thing is, LaxPower does a fine job with its statistical formula, which works in a sport in which goals are plentiful.
But in field hockey, where goals are rare, you need the human element of our network of writers to determine who’s good and who’s coming into their own as the season goes on.
That being said, here’s who I think would have been in a well-researched Top 10 for this past high-school season:
1. Owings Mills McDonough (Md.) 17-1
2. Farmingdale (N.Y.) 17-0
3. Alexandria St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes (Va.) 25-2
4. Moorestown (N.J.) 25-1
5. Baldwinsville (N.Y.) 19-2
6. Towson Notre Dame Prep (Md.) 17-2
7. Windsor Loomis-Chaffee (Conn.) 14-1
8. Camillus West Genesee (N.Y.) 23-2
9. Vero Beach (Fla.) 25-1
10. Colorado Springs Air Academy (Colo.) 19-0
And bear in mind: Darien (Conn.) 20-2, Wilmette Loyola Academy (Ill.) 22-3, Okemos (Mich.) 25-0, Canandaigua (N.Y.) Academy 20-3, Guilderland (N.Y.) 23-1, Radnor (Pa.) 25-1, Bainbridge Island (Wash.) 18-1
Heck, with there being nearly 2,400 girls’ lacrosse teams across the United States, it is going to take a computer to sort it all out — and is best left to the experts.
In a few months, the New York State Public High Schools Athletic Association is going to take all of the data from this past year to determine whether they are going to mandate headgear for the 2010 girls’ high school lacrosse season.
I don’t know what these statistics will tell us. But whatever raw numbers come out, you need to think of the findings occurring in a field of 323 public schools, playing seasons lasting somewhere around 15 to 20 games.
Assume an average of around 17 to be conservative, so that’s roughly 2,700 games at 50 minutes each, so that’s about 135,000 competitive minutes on varsity alone. Triple that number for junior varsity and the freshman or “modified” divisions of New York public schools, and that number should form the basis for the incidence of injury in the sport.
Wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out you’re safer on a lacrosse pitch than if you were walking across the street in New York City.
Finally, this site sends well wishes to Bill Tierney, who has assumed the men’s lacrosse head coaching position at Denver University. I had the privilege of covering his children when they were playing the game at The Hun School of Princeton (N.J.).
All of them were tremendous athletes and lacrosse players — although his daughter Courtney gave up the sport (where she was a fine goalkeeper, by the way) to focus on basketball, and has been coaching that sport at a prep school a few miles up the road from her alma mater.
Bill Tierney is in a unique situation. A few years ago, when Sports Illustrated dubbed lacrosse a sport to watch in the future, a sidebar pointed out that three of the finest players in the history of the sport — Gary Gait, Jen Adams, and Michael Powell — called Colorado home.
But with Gait back in Syracuse, Adams in Baltimore, and with Powell sitting out the Major League Lacrosse 2009 season, Tierney is stepping into a big vacuum. Somehow, I think the Pioneers are going to succeed.
June 29, 2009 — Bedford beats Scranton in strokes for U-19 championship
When Sarah Hospodar was called upon to make Scranton’s fourth penalty stroke in a shootout to determine the National Futures Tournament U-19 championship, two things crossed her mind during her walk to the 7-meter spot.
“I knew where I wanted to place it before I even shot it,” said the rising junior from Merion (Pa.) Mercy. “And I didn’t look at the goalie.”
Hospodar’s well-taken goal was the last of four consecutive strokes that Bedford rifled into the cage to take a 4-2 penalty stroke win after a 2-2 draw. Ali McEvoy, Brittany Grzywacz, and Cassandra Wagner also flipped in goals for Bedford.
The gold medal was the eighth consecutive that Region 5, which encompasses most of the state of Pennsylvania, has won at the U-19 level at the National Futures Tournament since the tournament moved to Virginia Beach in 2002. Region 5 teams also swept the medals podium with Scranton finishing second (albeit with half of the team from Virginia) and Lancaster finishing third.
But, in keeping with this year’s theme of the excellence of mixed teams at the NFT and at Rumble, the combined team from Scranton was not outclassed, not in the least. Indeed, the Virginia-Pennsylvania team managed a comeback from 0-2 down and scored two goals at the death.
Jill Witmer, the fine Maryland-bound forward who plays at Millersville Penn Manor (Pa.), rapped in a blast with 2:06 remaining on the running clock. Immediately, the opposite bench became more tense, especially given the fact that Bedford head coach Matt Soto is the head coach at Penn Manor.
Moreover, in the final seconds of play, Scranton would score again off a corner thanks to Leslie Smith, who, ironically, played Penn Manor in last year’s AAA final for Hershey (Pa.).
“It was such a fluke; the insert didn’t go to the right person,” Smith said. “I just thought, ‘I’ll just rip it and see what happens.’ “
Bang! the ball went off the wooden backboard and the game was level at full time.
Bedford had advanced earlier in the day with perhaps the most thrilling game of the entire NFT, holding off a gallant Eastern Shore team in the semifinals. Scranton managed a late goal to defeat a Lancaster team which, thanks in large part to Kelsey Amy and Lauren Purvis, had played enterprising and skilled attacking hockey in pool play.
Scranton 0-1–1001-2
Bedford 1-1–1111-3
(Bedford wins 4-2 in penalty-stroke shootout)
B: Jenn Bradley (Marie Elena Bolles), pc, 13th minute
B: Bolles (Ali McEvoy), fg, 21st
S: Jill Witmer, pc, 48th
S: Leslie Smith (Effie Nicholaou), pc, 50th
Stroke goals: B: Smith, Sarah Wister; S: McEvoy, Brittany Grzywacz, Cassandra Wagner, Sarah Hospodar.
Shots: B: 8; S: 5. Saves: B: Anna Zarkoski 2, Megan Botteri 1; S: Elizabeth Beckner 3, Rachel Yacovett 3
June 28, 2009 — Kutztown takes U-16 Futures, Blast wins U-19 Rumble title
It was a fait accompli that Region 5, which encompasses much of the state of Pennsylvania, would add another gold medal to its U-16 ledger since the National Futures Tournament moved from the University of Maryland to the National Training Center at Virginia Beach in 2002.
The question remained which team it would be. In a U-16 pool of enormously talented players who have put up all sorts of amazing numbers for their scholastic teams, it was Alley Evans who scored in the first seconds of the second half to give Kutztown a 1-0 win over West Chester.
Evans, who enters the second half of her scholastic career with 57 goals for Emmaus (Pa.), slotted home a through ball in the opening seconds of the second half of the gold-medal match.
West Chester, however, poured on the pressure, especially in the last six minutes of regulation when head coach Jun Kentwell pulled her goalkeeper for an 11th field player. The midfield was effectively barricated, and West Chester had a couple of chances to win late. However, the Kutztown defense, led by Plymouth Wyoming Valley West (Pa.) product Kelcie Hromisin, kept West Chester off the board.
“For her first time playing defense,” said Kutztown coach Clarence Jennelle, “she was awesome. She was like a ratdog terrier out there. She may have gotten beat five times all tournament, and every time she was beat, within two to three steps she had caught up and made the tackle.”
The rest of the defense, including Melissa Ramsey, AshLeigh Sebia, Laura Gebhart, and Cassidy Arner, were extremely stout as well. And when the ball did get through, Lower Dauphin product Samantha Zeiders stuffed the late pressure.
West Chester had its chances to score throughout regulation, but the best shots of Lauren Bernardi and Madison Harding couldn’t find the back of the cage.
West Chester 0-0–0
Kutztown 0-1–1
K: Alley Evans, fg, 26th minute
Shots– WC: 3; K: 5. Saves– WC: Haley Mitchell 1, Samatha Carlino 1, defensive 2; K: Rachel Leszkowicz 1, Samantha Zeiders 2.
In the U-19 Regional Rumble, The Blast, a determined team of Kentuckians, plus players from Virginia, Missouri, and Michigan, defeated Chaos, an undefeated Pennsylvania/North Carolina team by a 1-0 score.
The lone goal of the final was scored midway in the first term by Erin Schneidtmiller, but that wasn’t the only memorable aspect of Blast’s experience at Rumble.
Blast featured a number of players from the deep South, including Sara Morrison from Louisville Sacred Heart (Ky.), the TopOfTheCountry trophy winners from 2008. It was also to feature Amanda Vance, but her family got involved in an auto accident on the way to the competition. The family gallantly made it to the site of competition, but Vance broke a bone in the crash and was not cleared to play.
“She came and cheered us on the sidelines, and she also provided us with a perspective from the sidelines,” Schneidmiller said.
The Blast also featured midfielder Elle VanConia, who played field hockey last fall at Webster Groves (Mo.), but her family moved to the state capitol of Jefferson City, where the sport is not in any high school.
June 27, 2009 — Motion defeats Thunder in U-16 Rumble final
Two Pennsylvania-dominated teams, Thunder and Motion, contested the U-16 final in the Regional Rumble, and, as such, it wasn’t hard to find contrasts between teammates and between players and their designated coaches.
Motion, for example, was dominated by southeastern Pennsylvania, but their head coach, Kylie Rosengrant, is the head coach at Dallas (Pa.), which is located within the current hotbed of field hockey in the United States, the greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area.
“It wasn’t a case of the players adjusting to me,” she said, “but it was more of them adjusting to each other. They all know the basics, and it was a very easy group to coach.”
Even with limited substitutions, Motion was plenty fresh in the end, getting a pair of quick Brooke Simone goals in the second half in earning a 2-0 win.
“She did a nice job on our right wing, being able to pull the ball off the weak side and make some nice crosses,” Rosengrant said.
About four minutes after the interval, Simone took an Amanda Granger pass and put the ball over the line. Seconds later, her cross went off the leg of a Thunder defender and went into the goal cage.
“And,” Rosengrant said, “she has a little bit of luck, too.”
The Thunder had plenty of chances to score before Simone’s double, including a penalty stroke awarded for a tackle from behind in the circle, denying a goal-scoring opportunity. But the resulting flick went well wide of the right post.
Thunder 0-0–0
Motion 0-2–2
M: Brooke Simone (Amanda Granger), fg, 28th minute
M: Simone, fg, 29th
Shots– T: 6; S: 5. Saves– T: Christine DiStefano 3; M: Kendra Moll 6.
June 27, 2009 — New Jersey beats South in Women’s National Championship
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — There was admiring talk amongst coaches and other cogniscenti at the National Training Center during the week of round-robin play at the USA Field Hockey Women’s National Championship tournament about how well the midfield of the New Jersey High Performance Center team worked together, transferring the ball, switching the point of attack, and relieving enough pressure so that a well-timed through pass could spring a number of players into the attacking third.
So not even an extra midfielder, deployed by the South team to disrupt buildups, could prevent New Jersey from scoring four goals by the interval to secure a 4-1 result and the second championship in three years for this high-performance center.
“I took us a while to figure out what to do to beat that overload,” said New Jersey HPC head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn, “but I had confidence we could spring some people on the offensive end.”
Did they ever. Julia Reinprecht started the onslaught in the 13th minute when she converted a Michelle Vittese pass into the circle. Nine minutes later, Michelle Cesan walked in, faked down the South goalkeeper, and slotted in a glorious backhand. All three of these players are one year or less out of high school.
Less than two minutes later, Syracuse product Shannon Taylor put in a penalty corner. Duke graduate Katie Grant, one of only a handful of players ever to score 50 goals in a high-school season, willed in New Jersey’s fourth goal with 94 seconds left in the first half.
The South responded with a penalty corner goal from Melanie Brill, who had a strong match. The goal was set up when Olympian Katelyn Falgowski rescued a fizzling penalty corner play and, with a vision and touch far beyond her years, set up her teammate on a diagonal from the deep right wing.
The South even tried adding an extra field player in dying minutes of play, but could not turn the course of the game to their advantage. That was because the New Jersey team held its shape, thanks in large part to Katie Reinprecht, Jamie Whitten, and center back Rachel Dawson.
“Having Rachel back there is like having an extra coach on the field,” Holmes-Winn said. “She susses out situations very quickly. I think she’s the best player in the country right now.”
Dawson, also a member of the 2008 Olympic team, had to face her sisters Sarah and Meghan as members of the Southern High Performance Center team.
New Jersey 4-0–4
South 0-1–1
NJ: Julia Reinprecht (Michelle Vittese), fg, 13th minute
NJ: Michelle Cesan, fg, 22nd
NJ: Shannon Taylor (Katie Evand), pc, 24th
NJ: Katie Evans, fg, 34th
S: Melanie Brill (Katelyn Falgowski), pc, 53rd
Shots– NJ: 8; S: 7. Saves– NJ: Elizabeth Riley 6; S: Jackie Kintzer 4.
