St.Teresa’s Academy has adopted a new club sports team, field hockey. With 54 girls having tried out the week before school, field hockey starts its season with three teams. The Stars have been practicing at Pembroke Hill Lower School and the STA field.
As they keep persevering through the season, players are also working towards making it a permanent part of the STA athletic program. To some of the girls, it already feels like a “real” STA team.
“It feels just like a STA team,” senior captain Dossi Brender said. “I play other sports here, and this feels like such a good, supportive community. We all love each other; we’re like sisters.”
Brender, wanting to get more involved in the STA community and build connections with underclassmen, began playing field hockey for the first time this year. She is optimistic about the season and the team.
“I feel like we are better than we all thought that we would be,” Brender said. “We have lots of good talent and I feel like we all have potential to be better leaders to come.”
The team’s coach, Taylor Bacon Schmidt, has coached field hockey for six years and is passionate about growing the sport.
“I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to help start field hockey at STA,” Schmidt said. “When I played in high school, Pembroke and Sion were the only two teams, and we always wished we had other teams to play.”
Schmidt loves coaching and claims she would continue to do so at STA if field hockey becomes a permanent part of the athletic program.
“What I like most about coaching is watching the sense of accomplishment that girls have once they’ve mastered a skill, once they’ve worked really hard to get better at something, because I can only do so much,” Schmidt said. “I can show them how to get better, but they have to want to do it. I love helping instill that fire and that drive to get better. I think what I enjoy most is watching them make that progress, especially from freshmen to seniors, watching them grow and mature as young women, and it’s so much more than just the sport.”
The team continues to grow and get stronger while working towards something bigger than winning and losing games.
“One of the things that I talk about with the girls a lot is about the legacy that they’re building right now,” Schmidt said. “I’m so proud that these girls know that they’re not just playing for themselves. They’re playing for the future generations that are going to go through St. Teresa’s Academy one day; their daughters could play field hockey, and they can say to themselves, or they can say to their daughters, ‘I’m part of the reason you have the opportunity to do that.’ I was lucky enough to be part of the inaugural season, and now part of my legacy is that I gave young women at St. Teresa’s an opportunity to play another sport. Because there’s no downside to having more sports to play, right? So if I can be part of that legacy here helping create opportunities for young women to find confidence and success in a new sport, I would never pass up that opportunity.”
Schmidt expresses how she loves working with teams and is hopeful about the season.
“I just feel so lucky to get to know these girls,” Schmidt said. “I think St. Teresa’s does an amazing job of fostering a culture of respect, kindness and overall good citizenship. You’re just creating well-rounded human beings, and I’ve witnessed that on the field with them. I’ve watched these girls be respectful of not only their fellow teammates, but the coaches. They ask thoughtful questions. They are very intentional about the way that they participate in practice. It’s clear that they want to get better, and they’re not just there, just to be there. I think as a coach, I’m so grateful to have a group of young women who make me really happy to be a coach because, if I’m being honest, you don’t get a great group of girls every year. Some years it can be tough.”
Although it is the majority of the girls first time playing field hockey, the student athletes have shown their dedication and commitment to the team. Schmidt expressed that the seniors especially have made a big contribution to the team.
“Wow, did I get lucky with my first group of girls, particularly this group of seniors,” Schmidt said. “I’ve told them multiple times that I’m so glad they’re my seniors and leaders on this team because I can’t imagine what this team would be right now if I didn’t have this group of seniors. But I’m really bummed that they’re seniors. I’d love to work with them for four years.”