I play field hockey, and people say it’s like soccer, but I disagree, because there’s a lot more to it. There are different things you can do, especially because you have to use both your feet and a stick, which takes a lot of coordination and takes multiple years to do.

I started field hockey in first grade. My friend introduced it to me because her dad used to play in college. At first, it was a little thing, but then I started getting more into it, and I play in a club now. 

I practice for around five hours a week. Even if it takes a lot of energy off of me it’s still really fun to me at the end of the day, so I’m glad that I chose field hockey. Physically, it’s gotten me more athletic, but mentally, it’s also like when I play I can just forget about all my problems. If I can, I’ll play in college because it’s been a big part of my life for nine years, and I can’t imagine leaving it.

For the past two years, I’ve also gone to Nexus, which is a field hockey championship. They place you based on your individual skills and if you’re really good then you can go up the ranks and go to the next championship. After that, if you win the championship, you can be in the Olympic team or national team, which is really interesting.

A big moment for me was when I was playing in the league two or three years ago. It was a really great experience for me because I liked that team and we had fun with each other. We also came first which was really surprising for a tournament. I learned a lot from that team and it was really fun.

A lot of people are like, “Ew what is field hockey?” People look down upon it because they think that it’s either not a real sport or it’s just something copied off of ice hockey, but I really enjoy it and I believe that it’s unique in its own way.