Tag: field hockey

Coach Jennifer Stone who runs the Total Field Hockey Camp at Lafayette College had her student athlete campers trade the hockey turf for the classroom, for an hour on monday. The group of over 100 high school and rising college athletes marched into Oeschle Hall, the headquarters for the psychology and neuroscience departments at Lafayette, to hear Dr. Megan Cannon, a sport psychologist explain how to improve their mental health and  achieve peak performance as a student athlete. She works for Mind of the Athlete,  a sports psychology consulting firm. They consult with many schools including Lafayette to help foster an environment  of positive communication, encouragement, and cohesion to achieve success.

Dr. Cannon competed in swimming, softball and basketball as a youth, while also performing on the stage in ballet, jazz and tap dance from the age of three through college. She brought these experiences, along with her educational background to help today’s student athletes, deal with performance anxiety, nervousness, and many other obstacles to maximize performance on the field and in life.

One of the first tips was to suggest to athletes that they visualize their ideal performance, scoring that difficult goal, making a save, or the perfect pass. Visualization is important in all sports and help your mind and body to perform without conscious thought. She also discussed how to deal with bad play or mistakes and how to get over it. She introduced the idea of using a mantra to overcome nervousness and to even increase team unity.

Questions from the floor included the ideal amount of sleep required. Dr. Cannon reemphasized how important sleep was to be at you peak. ” Anyone who says they do not need sleep is lying,” she said. There was a question of naps and what was the ideal time for a nap. (26 minutes). There were suggestions to reduce pre-game anxiousness  by doing some rhythmic breathing.

Finally, she brought up the real case study of a student athlete. He was a wrestler at a major division one school and during his undefeated career won 136 straight matches. She attributed part of his success to his major….art. He would draw pictures of wrestlers in imagined holds. It was this exercise that helped him visualize his success on the mat. Dr Cannon then did an exercise where she had her audience draw themselves on the field doing a good play. Several shared their brief drawings with the assembled class.

The group left with additional tools to help deal with the pressures of being a student athlete and to perform their best on the field and in the classroom.

 

 

 

It’s a little over one month before the team reports for the official preseason camp. In the meantime, the independent team camps are due to start. Open to all high school and college players, many of the rising first year players will take advantage of the extra instruction, while the veteran players and coaches will act as camp councilors and teachers.  In the meantime, captain’s practices will be in full swing as the melding of the team begins to take place.  All the players will have received a regimen from the strength and conditioning staff to make sure that on August 11th the team is ready to get on to the serious business of designing schemes and lineups.

Six days after reporting in August, the 2016 Leopards will travel to Rutgers for its first taste of collegiate competition, and 6 days after that Columbia will be the final tune up before the team will tackle the regular season with Fairfield University, on August 26 at 6pm at Rappolt Field.

Senior leadership is important as they will set the tone and help bring the team together, leading by example and encouragement. This is the first class in four years that has not experienced a championship in their previous three years and they will want to do everything possible to earn that championship ring.

I contacted two of those leaders several days ago and asked them to write to me and explain what this coming season means to them, and what the team must do to have a successful season. Amanda Magadan, a first team league selection who for the past  year has been playing for the US under 21 team was the leading goal scorer for the Leopards, and her skill is quite evident on the turf. Kaitlyn Arnold is not only a Phi Beta Kappa student but is also an all league performer in the goal for the Leopards. She had the most shutouts of any goalie in the league.

Amanda wrote, ” If we want to be successful in the upcoming season, we need to work hard, be persistent, and believe! Our goals will be accomplished not by luck, but through our hard work on the field and our ability to learn from our mistakes. There is no doubt that as a team we will be faced with obstacles in the upcoming season. Maybe we are down 2-0 in the second half, but how will we react? Will our bench get louder? Our players sprint faster? Our choice to unite, believe and overcome the challenges in front of us will define our success. As a rising senior, I sincerely look forward to beginning our journey as a team and watching us grow and accomplish tons!”

Katilyn struck a similar theme in her response,” I think this can be a huge fall for us. We have a really strong group with a lot of talent. Even more than that , we’ve made huge strides as a program on developing out culture and I think that can pay dividends in the fall season. In the offseason, we’ve worked on creating an environment that breeds and encourages hard work. To be successful in the fall, we need to keep this environment as cornerstone of our team culture. If we work hard and play tough and with grit, I think we’ll be able to play with anyone.”

Along with their fellow seniors they will lead the team and will dare  their teammates to be a winner. Coach Stone remarked to me at the end of the spring season that this team didn’t want to leave the field after the last practice. The “journey” begins!!!

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of competitive athletics. But I think I have never explained why I think it should be part of the educational process. We all know how it has been abused by some universities. The recent scandals at UNC where high profile athletes were allowed to take basically no show courses, and remain eligible, is only one example. The influence of professionalism in many of the sports that generate huge sums of money for the “revenue” sports of football and basketball has caused distortions in the good that competitive athletics can do.

I am a big fan of the Patriot League, who has managed to keep everything in perspective. Looking at our own athletes, who graduate with degrees in economics, chemistry, and engineering along with a plethora of other legitimate rigorous offerings, is a source of pride for many alumni. I do get annoyed from time to time with a minority of those in the academe who berate and diminish the contributions of our athletes and the rigor and discipline they demonstrate during their four years.

I was amused during the period when Lafayette was considering joining the rest of league in offering athletic scholarships. Members of the joint committee that studied the issue were astonished ,that all things being equal, athletes received higher starting salaries than other graduates at the end of four years. I must say when I was hiring, I was much more impressed with the athlete’s 3.5 GPA than a person who spent four year planted at a desk in the library to get the same 3.5.

Athletes at Lafayette have over a 90 percent graduation rate, their GPA average is higher than the general student population , and they perform on the field. But there is even a better reason for its inclusion in the education process. It is an anchor to the real world. There is always a score that you can’t walk away from. I look at the academe today and there seems to be a sort of an Orwellian shift. Students are demanding a fundamental rethink of their education.

There is a demand by English majors at Yale to abolish classes that feature white male poets. So Chauser, Spencer, Shakespere,Milton, Pope and T.S. Eliot would be purged. At many colleges and universities some students feel they don’t like to have  to spend time with people that are not like them. Demands for segregated “safe” places are popping up all over the country. At Oberlin College, Asian students complained the General Tso’s chicken was not up to real asian standards. This is the same college where students believe no one should get less than a “C.”

At Johns Hopkins, administrators do not count first semester freshman grades. Low and behold, it discouraged new students from studying as hard as they should….duh. It  is now being phased out.

The athletic field is different. No one really cares about your background, just what you bring to the game. If you don’t do well in your studies you can’t play…. period and you have let down your teammates. Athletes have accepted a harder path and they get more out of it in the end. It is for that reason, I am proud to support our Lafayette College field hockey team…..because they earn it. The members of the team were chosen  because they are the type that have the potential to succeed.  Those new recruits who arrive this fall begin a journey filled with obstacles, but that’s just the point……isn’t it??

 

 

 

 

For many college field hockey fans we are entering the vast empty space of the summer doldrums, but ironically this is the period where champions get made or fail. In the coming weeks, there will be final exams, graduations and all that entails for young people at this time in their lives. However,  there will also come the preparation for the coming season. They will soon receive training packets from the coach. Diligence to that sort of preparation is not only for them but a responsibility to their teammates. There will be only two weeks of extensive training starting August 11th and an exhibition game with Rutgers University six days after reporting  on August the 17th.

For our first year student athletes there will be additional readings and class selections as well for their first academic semester as a college student. Yes, the summer is time to decompress a little but the next chapter can creep up with increasing speed. It is an exciting time filled with anticipation,trepidation and preparation. Each new team member will have already received contacts from the current team. Many current team members will remain in the area and captains practices will be scheduled. It would not surprise me to hear that many will arrive at Lafayette earlier than the 11th to practice and bond on their on.

Having gone through this as a student ( eons ago) and a parent ( a little less than eons  ago) it is like turning a page and a different mindset is required especially for our first years. For the veteran teammates also,it will mark a period where they will take on new roles as leaders. For coaches there is preparation as well. College sports demands a 24/7 perspective, preparing for current contests, near future contests and recruiting for the following year. It is my understanding Jennifer has already received some interesting commitments for 2017.

For the team that reports for preseason, there will be several new changes, there will be new uniforms, new plays and strategies to learn, and an additional assistant coach. Hopefully, the team will have already been practicing together without coaches, attending and even instructing young players at camps and clubs. There will be high performance organizations, and for Amanda Magadan several international competitions with the US Team.( The first will be a game with Chile at the “Nook” on May the 20th).

Also congratulations to several members of the team on their academic successes, Katelyn Arnold our excellent rising senior goalie was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, a national honor society for the best scholars in US colleges and universities, and Aliza Furneaux , our rising senior defender and chemical engineering major who has received a prestigious internship with the EPA this summer based on her academic work. There will be many as well who will make Dean’s list. When their final grades are posted, I will post them here when it is made known.

So perhaps the summer doldrums are not so dull after all!!

 

Several weeks ago I wrote about the objectives of the spring season for a division one field hockey team. Yesterday, April 23rd, marked the final competition for the Leopards and the Lafayette coaching staff can say “mission accomplished.” That doesn’t mean everything is ready for opening day August 28th, or even for the beginning of preseason two weeks earlier but these last weeks has certainly given the players an opportunity to sharpen their skills, and coaches a chance to evaluate players in new positions and roles.

In my opinion only, there were two players who took the most advantage of their playing time this spring, rising junior Kaitlynn Ewing, and rising sophomore Rachel Bird. Ewing scored the most goals this spring, so many in fact I’ve lost count. She has found a way to be in position to score with the result, scoring at least seven goals this spring including two yesterday. She obviously spent the winter getting ready, while  earning the “Iron Leopard” award for her efforts. Her strength and conditioning showed as she was able to get most of her goals in close in the middle of opponents.

Rachel was able to demonstrate her big hits from the backfield. Not only is she able to hit the ball with strength but with tremendous accuracy. No doubt her efforts playing for her club team in Barcelona this winter enabled her to sharpen her skills. Both Leopards showed their devotion to the sport by the work they put in and it showed on the field.

That is not to say the whole team didn’t show progress but it really wasn’t until yesterday that it came together with the games against Cornell and Lehigh. The return of Amanda Madagan from the junior US Team demonstrated her ability to lead and lift the team as was the return of several previously injured players.

Goal scoring was spread around, from Ewing to Magadan, Colbourne,and Hunsicker. Corner offense looked good and the Leopards didn’t allow themselves to be trapped in their defensive end, while executing several fast breaks using Colbourne’s speed and Magadan skills. They were able to set up several three on one. and three on two situations during the afternoon.

So, the 2016 edition of LCFH retires to the summer, but I still see a work in progress. Progress  will happen because there will be hard work, training and hopefully playing the game during the off season. They face a daunting schedule this fall, and for the rising seniors their last chance for a Patriot League title. and a trip to the national tournament. The melding of the newest players begins soon. As has been the practice in previous summers,  many of the players will get together for captains practices, and many will be playing on club teams.  Amanda Madagan will of course be joining the US team with her game on May 20th against Chilean  national team at the national training center at the “Nook” in nearby Lancaster,Pa.There will be little time in preseason to get in condition first in the preseason, so the coaches will have prepared a summer conditioning regime. Testing will easily tell whether they were diligent in their tasks.

Personally, I can’t wait to see the impact of the newest Leopards, who promise to be a very talented class. Lastly, there will be an additional assistant coach, who I have promised not to reveal her name, but she will bring her national team skills and international experience to bear on the Leopard practice field.

With some sadness, but certainly with anticipation we all have to wait 3 1/2 months see  how it all works out!!