The Oakdale High School (OHS) JV field hockey team is a hardworking group of girls. Through this sport, they stay active, make new friends, and learn teamwork and sportsmanship skills that will last them a lifetime. The JV team consists of two coaches: Coach Ashley Raiford and Coach Kara Rymon, and a diverse arrangement of players from different grades.
Field Hockey is a fun sport, but it takes a lot of effort and discipline. Sophomore at OHS, Johanna Mitchell, who is playing her third season, says, “I feel more prepared for this season than I did when I started in 8th grade, but I’m still learning.” Field Hockey isn’t only physically demanding, but students must also learn how to be productive without procrastination due to practice hours.
According to Mitchell, when she is in the sports season, her schedule is much busier. She explains, “For some days, I get home and I eat, and then, as soon as I’m done eating I’m packing my school stuff and I sit down to do my homework, then I have to get ready for practice.”
Riley Strohecker, a Junior on the team, shares, “The team is like a family, I love each and everyone of them like my own blood.” Even though the girls put in a lot of training and effort during practice, they try to make the tough runs and drills more fun.
Strohecker has been playing for 6 years, and also plays yearlong. This will be her third year on the Oakdale Field Hockey Team. She also has to balance her school and social life with playing a sport. Strohecker expresses, “It may sound bleak, a lifestyle of just homework, training, and little social time, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Even if the sport can be exhausting, players can agree that it is worth it.
This is both Raiford’s, head coach, and Rymon’s, assistant coach, tenth year of coaching the sport. Before Oakdale, they both coached their daughters’ team. They both help the athletes balance all their responsibilities. ”They understand if there’s a big school event, like for example this Friday they moved our practice time so that we could go to the football game,” Mitchell mentioned. The coaches understand that school is the first priority and encourage the players to have good grades.
Through the program, they aim to teach the girls valuable life long lessons, like talking to adults in a well-mannered way, working with others, and showing up on time. They also prepare the athletes for varsity by running the girls hard and pushing them to always do their best. The coaches also specified that anything the girls do in their spare time for the sport will help them and make them better players.
The athletes have a lot of responsibilities and expectations to reach, but both the team and coaches are there to be understanding and motivating. In JV, the main goal is to prepare for varsity, and beyond that, prepare for the future. Even though the season just started, the athletes are driven and determined to win!
