Blog Post 5

Update on the USA Field Hockey Petition:

As of January 16, 5,751 people have signed the petition. USA Field hockey followers have been noticing a lot of change in the team. It has been announced that instead of playing at the Spooky Nook Sports Arena in Lancaster County, PA, the USA team will play home games at the University of North Carolina. This is solely because of the poor field conditions at Spooky Nook. As mentioned in the previous blog post, many athletes were upset with the way their team was being controlled. Because of this, there have been many changes involving both players and coaches. On January 8, USWNT striker and Olympian Jill Funk announced her retirement. She joined the team in 2013 and has played in many international tournaments throughout her years. One day later, USWNT midfielder Catherine Caro announced her retirement. The 24 year old women had only played on the team since 2017. The same day, a new assistant coach was appointed to the USWNT. The official roster for the team was announced on January 10. There are 8 new athletes and 2 returners. In previous years there have been more athletes returning, and it is very possible that the athletes have retired because they are so upset with the was the team was being controlled. All people involved are hopeful that the new year will bring lots of positives to the USA Field hockey family. They are very excited for another year!

USA Field hockey website: https://www.teamusa.org/usa-field-hockey

USA Field Hockey Petition

The mission for the USA Field Hockey men and women’s National Teams has been to “succeed internationally” for many years. The athletes and viewers have realized that their board of directors have not been following the mission and have been steering the USA Field Hockey community in the wrong direction. The USA Field hockey athletes, employees, members, and supporters started a petition that would help them reach their end goal. They feel as if there are high performance standards that need to be met, and they are not being met in all areas.

The goals for the future are:

– Improved connection between junior Olympic programs to increase the quality and quantity of the players

– Implementing long term strategies for athletes to be able to compete for 2-3 cycles

– Improved standards and quality of life for the athletes

– Increased support for matches before the olympics (Pan-American Games)

– More field hockey exposure to the United States

– For home international games, there is a need in venue, marketing, and ticket sales

– Need of training pitches that meet the FIH standards (the current Spooky Nook pitch was concluded to be unsafe)

– The current food that is being served to the women’s national team has been raw/rotten and low quality. The nutrition levels should be raised.

– Need for locker rooms, men team does not have a central place to meet

– Need of a leadership committee to provide welfare for the athletes and a safe training environment

– Improved communication between separate sectors. The national team coaches did not attend the management meeting in Colorado

– More specifically for the men’s team, there is a need for full time technical, psychological, and tactical coaches as well as medical and administrative staff.

– Need of medical insurance. Men’s team has the ability to inspire 6 full time players. Women’s team currently doesn’t have any insurance available

– Improved uniform quality. Previous sponsors have led to poor uniform quality for both teams

– Increased financial support

The team is asking for a full review of the USA Field hockey decisions. This may lead a the board resigning, or it may lead to only changes in the future. As of January 7, 5,738 people have signed the petition. Their goal is to reach 7,000 to sign.

Until 2018, the women’s national team was improving greatly. They finished fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and reached an all time record of number 4 ranked nationally. Though in November 1 and 2, 2019, the USA women’s team competed against India to decide who will be placed in the Olympics. They played two games, and each team won one. Since India scored one more goal (6) then the USA did (5), they will play in the Olympics and the women’s national team will not for the first time since 2013.

The USA coach, Janneke Schopman was later fired according to the news release on November 25. This disappointment created a rebellion across the country, which was surprising considering field hockey is typically not a popular sport. This was when the petition was created my the men and women’s teams. The women’s team, who typically is very competitive, is not placed No. 13. The men’s team, who has only had 2 Olympic appearances, is placed No. 24. The USA team administrators were asked to be interviewed about the petition, and they denied.

As of their location, it was one of the best in the world a few years ago, and it has changed. They have been finding mold on the walls of the dome and leaks from the ceiling. The athletes hope to see change in their entire environment.

The petition: https://www.change.org/p/usa-field-hockey-athletes-petition-to-review-usa-field-hockey-s-mission-to-succeed-internationally?recruiter=1019138633&recruited_by_id=170f8620-07e5-11ea-b856-0d46a9917d27&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard&fbclid=IwAR1Y6AZEyl4LZSnUPRodrqnY1uOSFQ5_IuSoDDxspqadQcN4z4oJrRwtjmA

As the 2020 seniors are leaving their teams, coaches are searching for new recruits that will fill the roles of the leaving athletes. The head coach of University of North Carolina (National Champions for the past 2 years) said that “while all teams are looking to fill their key roles that left, they’re recruiting has to be ‘top notch’”.

During an interview with Karen Sheldon, the head coach of UNC, she gave the college itself most of the credit for her recruits. She said that they “have the most beautiful, modern stadium in the country, and I think that’s recognized”.

This raises one of the major questions involved with college recruiting— Are the more appealing colleges more likely to have better sports teams? Do athletes typically choose their college based on the academic piece, or is it mostly athletics?

Obviously all college-bound athletes have some amount of focus on academics. Though, research has found that most athletes take athletic scholarships over the quality of the school.

According to NCSA, field hockey coaches are only allowed 12 scholarships per team maximum. Not all schools will fulfill these scholarships based on the allotted school funding amounts. Both division I and II teams are allowed to give athletic scholarships, but many DIII coaches will pull strings and will use any tactic to have their prospective athletes play on their team.

Coach Sheldon is convinced that in her case, “they come here education first, and then they’re able to combine it with amazing athletic experience”.

https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2019/12/q-a-with-karen-shelton-decade-in-review