By Casey Burdsall
Whether you are a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, this is an exciting time of year. The two or three-a-day pre-season sessions are over and regular practice and games are in full swing! If you’re a freshman, this is an especially unique time for you. You are getting to know your fellow teammates and your new coaches. Even more importantly, you are probably learning what it will take for you to move up to JV or even to varsity.
For me, it was this time 12 years ago when I was a freshman and everything was new to me. All I knew was that I wanted to play on varsity, so I was doing the easiest thing I knew to get there, which was to outwork every other freshman on the team. I quickly learned that hard work alone may not be enough. Early in my career, my very intimidating varsity coach imbedded the importance of something else we should do, and that was to participate in the USA Field Hockey Futures Program. The unspoken truth on my team was that participating in the Futures Program was practically a pre-requisite to get on the varsity squad. My high school field hockey coach wanted her players to participate in the Futures Program in order to make us stronger athletes, which in turn would create a winning team. While the Futures Program may not be your only ticket to high school varsity, it will certainly set you on the path towards playing at a high level in college. If you look at any Division I or Division II college roster and read the backgrounds of each athlete you will see Futures experience under almost every one.
Futures, by and large, builds your skills in every area. The Futures Program boasts that it allows USA Field Hockey to evaluate and identify talented young athletes with the potential to become future Olympic level athletes. Now, many of you will not be competing for the US Olympic team in your lifetime, but that definition should tell you about the high quality of coaching and skills taught at the Futures Program. Today, this elite program features more than 4,800 athletes participating in specialized monthly training sessions from January to June that culminate with Regional Tournaments conducted through the program's 11 nation-wide regions ( www.usfieldhockey.com/futures/). All athletes must enter the Futures Program through a trial procedure.
If you are serious about playing field hockey at the collegiate level, I recommend learning more about the Futures Program and how you can be a part of it. Most varsity coaches would be more than happy to answer questions about Futures, or you can find out more at www.usfieldhockey.com/futures/.
