Field hockey travels to Spain to prepare for the fall ahead

The Lafayette field hockey team will begin practicing this June for their fall semester—but this practice won’t be taking place on this side of the Atlantic.

The team will spend eight days in Barcelona and Valencia, Spain, where they will play four games and enjoy the World League Games.

Before they depart, players will return to campus for training. With a maximum of ten training sessions, the team will be practicing and preparing for international play.

The field hockey team is no stranger to competition abroad. As a member of Division I athletics, a team is allowed to go on foreign tours so each athlete is only able to go on one trip. This usually means that a team trip occurs about every four years. The field hockey team last traveled to London in the spring of 2011. Before that, the team to took to Holland for international play.

“I think it’s an important part to the program to be able to say that every four years, or once in your time here, you’ll have an opportunity to go and play abroad,” head coach Jennifer Stone said.

Besides the competitive nature of the trip, it is also a vacation. In addition to playing and watching field hockey, the trip highlights paddle surfing lessons, time to explore the local culture and even philanthropy work at a local orphanage.

“I’m looking forward to getting to experience a different culture with my teammates, and getting to play hockey overseas,” sophomore Ami Turner said.

The trip also gives the team an opportunity to train together in the summer. Without a trip, the team would not otherwise meet during the summer for practice.

“From the hockey side of it, I’m really excited for the team to watch the World League Games,” Stone said.

“It’s an atmosphere where everything is centered on hockey at the highest level,” Stone added. “Unfortunately, it’s not a part of our culture here in the U.S., but for us to be able to see that and be apart of it is going to fun and powerful for the group.”