Field Hockey – a sport involving 11 players, a stick/ball combination, and a large field where you can get lost in a world of your own. To highlight this sport, one of our star athletes Liz D’Antionio talked to me about her experience in being a captain of Freehold High School’s Varsity Field Hockey team.

Liz D’Antonio is a senior here at Boro and has played Field Hockey since the 6th grade. But outside of our school’s team, she plays for Surf & Sand Field Hockey Club and for our softball team in the spring. She is also a well-rounded club member who is a Captain for the Sports Medicine club, a member of NHS, and a writer for The Colonial.

During our interview, we delved into the question of why Field Hockey. She mentioned that there is something about the atmosphere on the field that gets her going. She said, “I like the difficulty level and fast pace. Field hockey is a team sport with a lot of passing and communication and high level of physicality.”

Number 20 also talked about some of the difficulties of playing Field Hockey, a prime example being the variety of fields that the teams play on. “At the higher level and other high schools it’s all on turf, but at Freehold we only have grass which is definitely more difficult to play on.” She also talked about the misconception that field hockey is an easy sport to play: in reality, it takes a lot of stamina, focus, and precision.

In the future, Liz plans on majoring in nursing or athletic training to eventually become a doctor of physical therapy. As for her future with field hockey, she has talked to some coaches about playing in college.

When asked about missing the team, she joked, saying, “I won’t miss the ‘6 in 9’ and the hills, but I’ll miss complaining with teammates as we try to catch our breath when we’re done with them.”

At the end of our interview, she mentioned one of her major inspirations: her dad. She recalls him saying to her before practices, “Hustle, be coachable, and have fun.” She also said, “These words and characteristics have gotten me through a lot and I think they’re definitely applicable to both sports and life.”