WILL KARR
Editor in Chief
While many students don’t take on leadership roles until their junior and senior years, Fredonia student Isabella Smith is already a club president as a freshman. Smith became president of the Fredonia Field Hockey Club team this past January. This semester, the Field Hockey Club team and the Club Ultimate Frisbee team are collaborating to share players.
This semester, the two teams started practicing with each other and sharing turf rentals. Last semester, members of the frisbee team began playing in the Field Hockey team’s games. With lower participation in both club sports than in previous years, the teams started thinking about how they could work together to grow the clubs and get more students interested in playing the sports. Smith said that the teams are working to open themselves up to new audiences.
“A lot of people don’t really know what field hockey is,” Smith said. “… We are trying to open up practices so people can learn [basics] — how to hold a stick and [properly] hit the ball.”
Field hockey is similar to traditional hockey. However, it takes place on a field instead of ice and players use a puck instead of a ball. Price played field hockey at her middle school and high school in Akron, Ohio. As a result, she fell in love with the sport. Price said that her school’s teams were section champions.
“I always loved it. At Activities Night, I saw that we had a Field Hockey Club team, and I wasn’t really sure I wanted to join because I am not in high school anymore. I didn’t know if I wanted to play a sport,” Smith said. “I wanted to focus on my academics, but I ended up joining and I have no regrets. It has been so much fun. I’ve made so many friends and had a great time traveling with the team.”
The Field Hockey team currently has an equal number of boys and girls. Even though the Field Hockey team is co-ed, the league they compete in only allows two male players to play in a game at once. Smith said that this is likely because field hockey has traditionally been a female-dominated sport, and the league doesn’t think it would be fair for a team of all boys and girls to compete against each other. The Ultimate Frisbee team is also co-ed, but they currently don’t have enough female players to compete in the women’s league.
The Field Hockey team is looking to eventually purchase new equipment as new players join. However, Smith said that the team is currently getting by with the equipment they have. Due to a small budget, they can’t afford to buy the new supplies they would like to at the moment.
“We are working with what we’ve got. … I would love to see club sports get more support from the school, especially with the whole thing that happened with rugby. I would like for club sports to be seen by the school because an injury like that is really scary,” Smith said. “As clubs, we are trying to speak up and be more seen. So hopefully that will kind of help tell SA [Student Association] what we need because we can’t really function as a sport if we don’t have support from athletics trainers or medical staff because sports are dangerous.”
Overall, Price said that she is looking forward to welcoming new players to the team throughout her time at Fredonia.
“Playing on the team is a really fun experience. No experience is needed, [and] you don’t even have to bring your own equipment. You will learn skills that are very helpful, and it definitely helps with teamwork,” Smith said. “You will build friendships and relationships that can help you in the future.”
If you are interested in joining the Field Hockey team, you can email Smith at smith4274@fredonia.edu.