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KC field hockey teams look to STA for competition

KC+field+hockey+teams+look+to+STA+for+competition
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by Linden O’Brien-Williams

 

STA students and athletic department express interest in creating a field hockey team to compete with area schools. The sport, a combination between lacrosse and soccer, is popular across Europe and on the East Coast. According to Notre Dame de Sion High School’s head field hockey coach Gwyn Savage, schools like Sion and The Pembroke Hill School have been involved for around ten years, but the sport has yet to take off.

 

Field hockey is predominantly a female sport around the United States, played in the fall season at high schools. Each team is allowed 11 players and the rules are very similar to those of soccer and lacrosse. Instead of lacrosse sticks, field hockey uses hockey sticks. Instead of a soccer ball, a lacrosse-sized ball is played on the ground.

 

Currently, three schools around the Kansas City area have field hockey teams: Sion, Pembroke Hill, and St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Aside from needing to attract interest, the lack of turf fields hinders the spread of field hockey around Kansas City.

 

“One reason is the surface that you need to play on,” Savage said. “You need short grass or turf, because you’re rolling a small, baseball-sized ball along the ground.”

 

While schools around Kansas City lack turf fields, another issue is finding willing and qualified coaches, according to Savage.

 

“It’s difficult to find someone qualified with a flexible schedule to coach high school at 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon when people have got real jobs,” Savage said.

 

Because of limited local competition, KC field hockey teams have to travel multiple times each season, adding costs. According to Savage, the Sion team travels twice a season just to find competition: once to Tulsa, Oklahoma and once to St. Louis.

 

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Though there are some difficulties, Savage says that field hockey is an inclusive and popular sport at Sion, with 40 to 50 girls on the team each year.

 

“Most of the girls, even freshmen, are great at lacrosse and soccer because it’s the same concepts really,” Savage said. “The girls enjoy the sport.  In field hockey, you don’t have to be tall, it doesn’t matter how big you are.”

 

Sion field hockey players agree that the team is inclusive.

 

“It’s a great sport if you want to try something new in high school,” Sion sophomore and field hockey player Zoe Locke said. “You don’t need to come into it with any experience and you won’t be behind anyone else.”

 

Before a lacrosse team was created, Sion started a field hockey team because a group of Sion girls playing club field hockey was interested. Soon after, some parents went to administration to persuade them to start up a team, according to Savage.

 

“It just takes one or two parents to try to convince the athletic directors, ‘Hey you’ve got a field sitting there doing nothing,’” Savage said.

 

According to Hough, there are also opportunities for girls to play in college.

 

STA has been on Sion and other schools’ radars for competition, with Sion specifically coming to STA administration to start a team, according to Hough and Savage.

 

There are no field hockey players at STA, but there is some interest. Sophomore Helen Krause plays lacrosse and says she and others, especially the lacrosse team, would play if there was a team.

 

“I feel like not that many people play it and it would be a cool new addition,” Krause said. “If it really took off, maybe some people who haven’t really played a sport or don’t like other sports would play.”

 

According to Hough, lacrosse began at STA with a group of girls who played on a club team pushing for a school team. The process to start a team included finding qualified coaches for an emerging sport, paying for equipment, finding adequate field space and competition. Hough said this is the same process that would be repeated to establish a field hockey team.

 

For STA, being competitive in a sport is important, according to Hough. Hough proposes a field hockey team at budget meetings annually, but cheerleading and bowling are also on the list.

 

“I think our stance here from the athletics and school is that we want to provide as many opportunities as we realistically can,” Hough said.

 

 

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