field hockey: Fielding a young team
Karl Yu, Sports Editor

There is an old saying that says that patience is a virtue. It is a cliché that doesn't hold much weight in this fast paced world. People are so busy trying to get everything done as quickly and efficiently as possible that they fail to stop to smell the roses. This is especially true in sport. Too often people are impatient. They want teams to win now without worry of what might happen later. If a team is young they must mortgage the future so that they can win in the here and now.

SFU field hockey coach Lisa Faust knows all to well about having a young team, as a matter of fact that is precisely the situation that faces her, the field hockey team currently has only one fourth year player on the roster. "We are pretty young. Two of our players have a lot of indoor experience the rest do not." Faust said. "This is Jennifer Chomick's, who scored two goals against UBC and earned athlete of the week honours, first real indoor season."

Since the team doesn't play in the CIS or the NAIA the players that are experienced usually end up playing for the club teams. "We play in the Premier League, which has the best teams in the Lower Mainland competing in it," Faust said. "It's made up of club teams and ourselves. Universities are usually at a disadvantage because they are comprised of players out of high school. The club teams usually have national team players on their rosters. University players usually end up going to the club teams after."

Despite the lack of experience Faust is pleased with the season thus far. "I've been pleasantly surprised with my team, because we are very young. We have two veterans, Laura Bruce, our captain, and Julie Brereton, our goalkeeper. Those two have basically kept the team together. They've helped the first and second year players progress."

The team recently beat defending CIS champs, UBC, at a tournament and it helped with the teams mentality, Faust said. "I think it gave them confidence. They are good players and if they can do it's obviously something they can repeat. Our basics are really good they just don't have the experience."

The team recently went under review and faces the possibility of elimination. "I think the school is wanting to commit, but it comes down to funds," Faust said. The biggest thing is scholarships. What we offer is not equitable with other Universities. We do give the athletes something but it's not enough. Some of them have to work part-time and they are obviously training very hard on top of that. If we can raise the funds within the community I think they will commit to it and support it."

A young and inexperienced team can only stay that way for so long. Faust thinks things can only get better. "If we keep these same athletes, we can only get better and if we do stick around and get into the CIS, we can attract even better athletes and become a high class program. We're already competing with UBC and UVic."

If the university is patient and decides to stick with the team and the team gets into the CIS there might be yet another reason to be a fan of SFU athletics. The team might be young but if brought along the right way SFU field hockey might develop into what Faust describes as a high-class program.

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