A few weeks ago, we discussed the 32-player roster for the United States as the women’s national team program embarks not only on its FIH Pro League campaign, but Olympic qualifying and the Pan American Games.
Today, the U.S. men’s national team released its extended roster of players who will be representing the U.S. in competitions leading up to Santiago 2023.
The roster has a number of familiar names including Patrick Harris, Pat Cota, and Ajay Dhadwal. There are some other folks of note who could help the States break a 66-year drought of qualifying for the Olympics when not the host nation.
Start with JaJa Kentwell, a gifted attacker who is from a field hockey family. Goalie Jonathan Klages has proven himself on the national level, winning Goalkeeper of the Tournament in the 2019 Hockey Series Finals. Gerald Cutone, a converted ice hockey player, is from a family of athletes; his father Butch played ice hockey in Germany, and his mother Kelly was a nationally ranked figure skater.
The road is long for these boys in blue, as it has always been for men’s field hockey in the United States. With so little institutional support and few places to play in the United States, just about every player has to self-fund in order to train, get to training camps, and travel for tournaments.
Perhaps this collective will have that kernel of determination, fire, and thirst for excellence which will give them international success.
TopOfTheCircle.com 