Receiving the consolation trophy are team captains (from left) Jasmin McCarthy, Manisha Toor, Aleena McLean and Netu Dhaliwal. The team finished ninth at the provincial championships in Vancouver recently.
Photo contributed
The SOSS senior girls field hockey team returned from the provincial championships in ninth place.
We played on field turf, an artificial grass-like surface, and water-based astroturf, a tightly-woven carpet that is sprayed with water before games to produce a smooth, fast ball roll.
Our team is awesome on field turf, but had a heck of a time on the water-based adjusting to the speed and spin of the ball. We lost by only a goal to eventual champion Shawnigan Lake, lost to Little Flower Academy, tied teams from Chilliwack, Nelson, and North Delta, and defeated Trail.
While the girls were disappointed they didn’t place higher in the final standings, the overall experience was incredible.
Imagine 100 squealing field hockey players piled into a swinging gondola suspended more than 1000 metres over the brilliantly lit city of Vancouver.
At the banquet, the girls got to listen to Canadian Paralympic bronze medalist Josh Vander Vies talk about overcoming obstacles and achieving despite being born without arms or legs. His words were good food for thought for a team that is dominant in the BC interior, but, like other interior teams, is an enormous underdog when it comes to competing against the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island teams, particularly the private schools.
You can dwell on those disadvantages and keep the status quo or you can use those disadvantages as motivation to work even harder.
We have our work cut out for us if we want to keep competing in the sport of field hockey, but in the meantime, Oliverites can feel very proud of the amazing talent, teamwork and sportsmanship of this group of young women.
The team would like to thank the Oliver Kiwanis Club for helping us with our trip, to SOSS foods teacher Philomena Lang for chaperoning and being the best pint-sized bus driver ever, and to Maria Monteiro and Carolyn Ellis for being team moms on our big trip.
