Practice is important in every sport, but it is especially important in field hockey. Field hockey is a very demanding sport, in order to be effective on the field, players not only need stick skills and field vision but they need to be able to have short bursts of speed paired with endurance to keep pace of the game.
The Antioch Community High School field hockey team is currently 6-5 and champions and this years Gateway Classic in St.Louis, MO. With all the success the Sequoit field hockey team is having, it turns the spotlight to practice and the work they put in to achieve these feats.
The team typically starts off practice with a warm up that includes taking a half-lap around the field and a stretching circle. After the team is warm they go into dribbling drills and shooting drills followed by a scrimmage. Senior Campbell Lazarz shares what she enjoys to do in practice with the team.
“My favorite part of practice is coming down from the 50 because I like scrimmaging three on three against everyone,” Lazarz said.
With field hockey being such an exhausting sport, conditioning is critical to success. Considering the team can play more than one game in a week, the long distance runs build endurance so they are able to perform well when game day arrives. Senior Allie Curry shares what a typical day of conditioning looks like.
“We conditioned every Thursday and usually were [running about] two miles or to the water tower,” Curry said.
Having an effective practice is extremely important, and the Antioch field hockey team knows this so they have a healthy mix of player and coach lead drills. When players lead stretching and drills it builds leadership and team morale. When the coaches step in, the players can learn about strategy around the game and skills that will better them. Senior Kelsie MacMilllan feels practice is the key to their success.
“I think our practices are pretty effective specifically when we do drills that are specific to our placement on the field,” MacMillan said.
The Antioch field hockey team has been practicing hard and playing even harder. The team is setting up a stellar season and is hoping to continue this successful run.
