The Atoms field hockey team has been putting in a lot of work and it has been seen in their wins.
Junior Ripley Hotaling said, “I really think that we have a great chance at districts if we put our minds to it. I’m really proud of how well we’ve been doing in the regular season games.”
The team has still been seeking improvement in skill and game mechanics for upcoming games. They have learned lots from each game and each practice reflects on struggles from the previous game.
“to improve we have talks after each of our games about pros and cons of how we played. And then in our next practice we focus on what we thought was our weakness in our last game.”
said Julie GoForth. The team does a lot of conditioning and they build it up throughout the season.
Hotaling said “What really prepared us the most this season would be the intense conditioning we did during pre pre-season to build our endurance and build strength. As well as continuing to condition during the season.
The team has been working hard on the key fundamentals to the game and trying to simplify the game so it flows smoothly in game. They have also been conditioning a lot to stay in shape and to better players ability to endure their games.
GoForth said “In practice we have been working on our passing, communication, and conditioning.”
In game trusting teammates with the ball has been a struggle so far this season. It comes with team chemistry which the team has been trying to develop throughout the season.
Sophomore Lily Rumpf said “We need to work on communication and trusting our teammates enough to pass them the ball.”
Junior Bianca Gunn said, ‘we’ve been more focused on smarter passes and faster reactions as well as cleaning up our forms.’
Last season the team had many seniors who led the team. This season they have to rebuild and find new leaders for the team. Graduation usually hurts teams each year as their most experienced players leave.
Hotaling said, “After losing 10 seniors last year, it was a bit challenging to adjust to basically a brand new team. But we have adapted really well considering the change.”
The team has focused a lot on energy for practices and the game, they like to be motivated and it keeps the team connected in game.
Rumpf said “We have been trying to bring the same intensity we bring to games to practice and we try to train in a very competitive environment.”
The team has some new faces, even on the varsity squad. This means some new talent has entered Annandale High School. Gunn said, “Since it’s my first year playing and my first year on varsity I think I’m doing extremely well for a beginner because I’m a fast learner.”
With newer players on the team, fundamentals of the game are a big focus in practice.
They plan to keep on improving.