By Josh Lipka

Many top collegiate athletes would point to proper development in their youth as vital when attempting to take the game to the next level. Field hockey, a sport very popular in the northern states, has become one of the University of Louisville’s more dominant varsity sports, rising to a national Top 10 ranking. North Carolina University and Wake Forest University join U of L to make up the only three field hockey programs in the Top 25 not from the northeast.

Due to the rapid growth of the sport nationwide, the youth in the city of Louisville are gaining more opportunities to be developed by highly experienced coaches. No longer do aspiring field hockey athletes have to travel hours to a regional site in search of competition. These days, the Louisville youth can find quality coaching and competition right in their backyard.

For freshman forward Jacque Gerrick, growing up in Orefield, Pa., the field hockey environment was almost overwhelming. In the north, it doesn’t matter if its club hockey or high school, competition is intense in both.

“Youth field hockey is very competitive in the north,” said Gerrick. “This helped me because we would often play the best high school teams in the nation.”

As far as club teams are concerned, finding a team isn’t hard in the north.

“I played for a huge club team called X-Calibur,” said Gerrick. “It’s a big club team in Pennsylvania. It helped me because the coaches are familiar with the college game and taught me to play fast.”

Growing up locally in Louisville, freshman forward Michelle Amon grew up in a different environment.

“When I started to play, I was in fifth grade,” said Amon. “Louisville didn’t have many opportunities to play.”

Luckily for Amon, success in the sport brought growth in the state of Kentucky. U of L is the only athletic program in the state with a field hockey team. The University of Kentucky fields a women’s rifle team instead. Since the beginning of the 1990s, two field hockey youth systems have emerged in Louisville. International Field Hockey Clubs of Kentucky is a year-round system that focuses on physical, physiological, technical, tactical and psychological aspects of the game.

“IFHCK is more team-like,” said Amon. “When you travel, you travel as a team. You don’t make it individually.”

Another youth system that field hockey athletes can be a part of nationally is a called USA Field Hockey Futures Program. This program’s mission is to regionally develop the best athlete for the purpose of finding potential Olympic athletes. This program also seeks to strengthen USA field hockey across the map.

“With Futures, it’s more individual,” said Amon. “When you try out, you get selected individually. Futures is about getting you to the next level, individually.”

With the Futures program, if selected, athletes have the chance to compete in the under-16, under-19 and under-21 national teams. Fortunately for Kentucky athletes, U of L hosts a regional site, giving the youth an opportunity to play at an official facility. Rather than competing on a grass field where play is slow and unpredictable, Trager Stadium is a professional turf surface where the game is faster and the surface allows players to be technical and skillful.

U of L head coach Pam Bustin has been a major advocate for field hockey in Kentucky. Along with turning the Cardinal field hockey program into a national contender, for the past 15 years Bustin has continually worked with kids from the elementary level and beyond.

“What we try to do from our relationship with the university and youth programs is to get our Cardinal student athletes involved with coaching,” said Bustin. “Our athletes are able to share the information being taught at the top level to these young, developing kids.”

The sport of field hockey is growing in popularity all over the country. Especially in Louisville, the sport continues to advocate growth in the youth systems. These days, kids are receiving more opportunities to pursue the top level of competition.

“I’m very proud,” said Bustin. “I can say the youth development here in Louisville is very healthy.”

The U of L team is 10-4 this season, after dropping a match at No. 3 Princeton University on Sunday, Oct. 10. Their next match will be on Saturday, Oct. 16 at Trager Stadium against Villanova University.