Khadija Mostafa '26 Recruiting Profile

My name is Khadija Mostafa, I'm part of the class of 26', and my main goal for this sport is to play it at the highest level that I can. I started playing field hockey right before 8th grade and fell in love with it immediately. I had 2 great coaches whose main goals were to spread the love for the sport, and were extremely patient with me while I tried to catch up with the veterans on my team. My first season was on JV, which helped me understand the sport because we played for experience, and didn't focus much on winning. I didn't have great skills, and could barely showcase the basics of the sport but I was adamant on becoming better. I put in extra practice and by the end of the season my fundamentals were solid. When the season was over I knew that I needed to keep playing in the off season, so I played in a winter and summer league, and regularly attended open gyms. Shortly after, my 9th grade season came around where I was nominated by my coach to be JV captain. I started to take field hockey very seriously, and held myself to high expectations. By the end of the season, my head coach asked me to move up and play with Varsity for their last few games, and sectional games. This was a testament to my mindset, as I was nervous to play with teammates I hadn't played with before, and didn't want to be the weak link. School had also got significantly more time consuming, as the change from middle to high school was more drastic than I estimated, but eventually I found the perfect balance between school and field hockey and was successful in both. After that season I again continued to play during winter and through summer, where I was met with unexpected news. I was moving to a different country due to my parents work, which was difficult to swallow, but I moved through it and started to plan ahead. I knew that I didn't want to give up my goal of playing college field hockey in the U.S, so I researched and contacted a few club teams near my new home and set up tryouts for each one of them. This was intimidating to think about because I knew that these teams played at a much higher level than I was used to, as field hockey is a much more popular sport there, and I was introduced to new competition and a new playing style. As for school, I applied for an American International school and got in, and plan to get accepted into the International Baccalaureate program my junior year. Through this big change of setting in my life I have had to let of certain things, and be away from family and friends, but field hockey stays consistent in my life and I have full intentions of keeping it that way.