Photo Credit: Jordan Zuk

The Stanford field hockey pitch.

Popular among high schools throughout Northern California, the growing sport of field hockey is played competitively at both varsity and JV levels. For over 60 years, many schools around the Bay Area have competed in various divisions of the Central Coast Section conference. M-A, however, has not sponsored a team since their CCS title in 1968.

“There just seems to be no interest anymore,” stated athletic director Steven Kryger. “If people wanted to play, then we would put effort into starting a team.”

On the other hand, M-A does sponsor a girls’ lacrosse team, and in the last season, the JV team finished their season undefeated, and the varsity team ended with a respectable non-league record. Lacrosse and field hockey have very similar styles of gameplay, and the rules only slightly differ. Despite the impressive amount of talented girls’ lacrosse players at M-A, there is still a lack of interest for field hockey.

Jordan Good, a member of the girls lacrosse team, would rather spend the winter conditioning and preparing for the upcoming lacrosse season, as opposed to playing field hockey. “It seems like a stressful sport, the fundamentals seem harder and it looks less enjoyable than lacrosse.”

Good is not the only one who feels this way, as most of her teammates would rather spend their winter doing similar things rather than taking on an additional sport.  In 2001, the school was in a similar situation. Students wanted to start a lacrosse program; however, there was little interest for the sport. The inaugural season was not strong, as expected, but over the years, the program developed, resulting in more and more interest in the student body. “It would only need the interest of a few players to create a solid program,” said Kryger, who believes that sponsoring a field hockey team would only lead to its success in the future.