Yesterday’s Games of the Day:
None.
Today’s Games of the Day:
Greenwich (Conn.) at Greenwich (Conn.) Academy
The annual town derby is almost a de facto state championship game, since both teams are amongst the best in their respective classifications.
Last week, a pair of writers in my network published similar stories on the same subject: the fact that three of southern New Jersey’s finest field hockey programs — Moorestown (N.J.), Medford Lakes Shawnee (N.J.), and Marlton Cherokee (N.J.) were felled in one week by Voorhees Eastern (N.J.), a team which has won eight straight Group IV championships and is aiming for a record ninth this season.
Here’s Tom Rimback’s story in the Burlington County Times, and Ryan Lawrence’s blog entry in One Game At A Time.
You see, it’s been almost nine years and almost 200 matches since the Vikings have lost to an in-state opponent. It’s a claim you cannot make confidently if you’re in the Carolinas, Rhode Island, or even in the location of today’s Game of the Day, Connecticut.
So, how does one manage to compete against a dynasty such as Eastern? Here’s a checklist:
1. Start with a community in which sports — all sports — are seen as a net good for the community. It also helps to be in a place where athletic families reside.
In some places around these United States, sports programs are at the behest of taxpayers, many of whom are seeing property taxes and monthly mortgage payments rise as property values fall. Because of school budget rejections, some students have to pay upwards of $450 to play their chosen varsity sport.
But at Eastern, the athletic department invests in artificial turf, hangs championship banners and lays commemorative bricks at McAleer Stadium. The entire community gets behind their sports teams — not just field hockey, and football, but even U-14 Babe Ruth League baseball. It also helps that a number of professional Philadelphia athletes have made their homes in the greater Voorhees, Gibbsboro, and Berlin area.
2. Have a coach who learned early the value of not only hard work, but high performance coaching within the sport.
Head coach Danyle Heilig learned from the very best: Bea Thomas (USA Field Hockey 1998 Developmental Coach of the Year) and from the legendary Joan Lewis. Plus, she played her collegiate field hockey under former U.S. international Christy Morgan at James Madison University.
3. Let her do her job.
Danyle Heilig has put in place more differing strategies than many scholastic field hockey coaches will do in a lifetime. She makes the players work extremely hard on fitness and skillwork, and pushes them hard in practices and in games. The results speak for themselves.
4. Train players at an early age.
Teams such as the Berlin Community School have developed players ready to play at varsity by their freshman years at Eastern. The teams are instilled with the values of hard work, quickness, and ball skills, giving Gibbsboro, Voorhees, and BCS alumnae a head start on players who may only pick up a stick the summer before seventh grade. The games between the middle schools are sometimes played in the evenings on the lighted varsity field, giving a big-game atmosphere.
5. Encourage younger sisters to emulate the heroines in their own families.
Note some of the members of the current national team pool, and see who are third sisters — Falgowski, O’Donnell, Dawson. When you have entire families involved in the game, the sisters not only push other in practices and games, but even whilst training on their own. The recent history of Eastern is littered with sister combinations: Jaworski, Bain, Campbell, Walls, and, of course, six amazing Dawson sisters.
6. Balance speed, skills, and execution.
Eastern is not a team which overruns the ball whilst pursuing it. It is not a team which can handle the ball but doesn’t do anything with it. It is not a team which overpasses or hogs the ball. Instead, the Vikings have found the right balance in all aspects of game play.
This is especially true on penalty corners, where they have absolutely destroyed their opponents, especially in big games. In the first Eastern-Emmaus game in 2005, both of Eastern’s goals came on corners. In last year’s Tournament of Champions final against North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.), both Eastern goals came off corner plays.
7. Teach the tactical game.
Eastern does the little things right: it hunts for the ball in pairs, makes passing triangles, and never gets caught in possession in the back without someone backing up a teammate. It also is unafraid to throw out the playbook when something doesn’t work. It is one of the few scholastic teams in America which can change strategy, not just formation, when asked to do so.
8. Integrate tradition and history.
Eastern has a saying printed on the back of their workout T-shirts: Tradition Never Graduates. If you ask most scholastic field hockey players in the United States, they can’t tell the stories of legendary players, couldn’t tell you who the all-time leading scorer is for their school, or even identify who Constance Applebee is. The Eastern program understands history, creates tradition, and understands how important they are in the context of creating current history.
These eight elements represent Eastern’s “perfect storm” — one which has been raging for more than eight years.
