THE NEXT STEP

From Selinsgrove Field Hockey Website
(Third in from the right)

Elise wasn't always who she is today, she's a daughter, sister, friend, and as of a few years ago, a teammate. Elise has played field hockey for 10 years and has been my friend and teammate for 7 of those years. Elise still continues to play the sport she loves at Moravian College. She is a midfielder and defensive player for the Greyhounds at Moravian College; however, she will always be a Selinsgrove Seal at heart. "Playing a sport is the best choice I could have ever made, my team is my family and even though I may get a second sports family here at college, I know my hometown team will always be like a family to me no matter how far we all are separated because of school ". 

Elise always works hard on and off the field. "It's hard being a student athlete, it took time to figure out how to balance athletics and academics". "Although I practice like I'm playing in a game, the preparation for the actual game is a lot different". Elise starts to prepare for a game the day before. She takes care of her body by making sure she eats a balanced diet and stretches her muscles daily. There is also mental preparation that goes along with all of that daily, this is just as important as all the other preparation she has to do. Getting a goodnight sleep assures that she wakes up refreshed and ready to go the morning of game day.

Every game being different, Elise and her teammates prepare the same. They each wake up as an individual player, mentally preparing for what they will face on the field later that day, before they meet to prepare as a team. For Elise, it means waking up to the sound of her alarm clock buzzing, getting out of bed and getting ready for her day. She eats a well-balanced breakfast and hydrates her body full of water. She then begins her day academically, knowing soon her mindset needs to change from academics to athletics. After lunch it all begins, as the Greyhounds start to prepare for their game. Starting with stretching and warm up. With a lap around the field and then forming a circle together as they stretch. After stretching for fifteen minutes the team does a warm up for an hour before the game starts. "Warming up gets our heads in the mindset of the game and gets us warm and stretched before the game". 

The buzzer sounds for the game to begin, captains go over to shake hands and the referee tosses the coin for possession. The rest of the team gets a drink and finds a spot on the bench. When the coin toss is over the captains give a team talk and the starters go out on the field and do a quick huddle before getting in position. 

From Moravian College Field Hockey Website 

The whistle blows loud, and the game begins. "We all have  butterfly's in our stomach but we are ready to play our best". It was Elise's first time playing William Paterson, but that didn't stop her. In the 1st half, they were down by one, which determined them to play harder. In the 2nd half Elise's teammate scored a goal which tied up the game. Elise was instrumental in making this happen by carrying the ball up the field and feeding it to the midfielders. The opponents ended up winning the game, scoring in overtime. The Greyhounds may have been defeated on the field, but not in heart and spirit! During the game Elise had a defensive save which kept the ball out of the net. "We may have lost, but this does not stop us as we will come back even stronger next game".