After
a six-hour road trip, a 3:30 am arrival in Columbus, followed
by a few hours of rest and a hurried breakfast at Tim Horton’s,
we had arrived at the OSU field. We were here to do battle
in the “Second Midwest Classic Field Hockey Tournament”
hosted by OSU. It promised to be a far more challenging
competition compared to our IU endeavor. As we geared up
in what was still a cold morning, the attitude of the team
was anticipating, anxious and maybe a little nervous, we
did not know what to expect.
Our first game saw us face off against
Cleveland the defending champions of this event, it was
a well-balanced game. A 1-0 lead, was well defended by our
impenetrable defense lead by Riz, who was flanked on either
side by the hard tackling Mendy and Cecilia and if anything
got by, Faizal our goalkeeper and captain was there as the
last line of defense. We held on for the win that would
turn out to be the inspiration we needed to get us going.
The team now had a new vigor, we could do this, we could
go all the way, and we were going to give it our all.
The downtime following that game
was spent mingling with the other teams and officials. The
team also spent a lot of this time goofing around and bonding
with each other. Our team is fortunate to be built on a
very diverse collection of players who even in their diversity
and individualism share a common love for field hockey.
This trip away from home like the IU trip before it gave
us a great opportunity to bond further as a team. Every
team has one, that character that knows no boundaries, who
is determined to entertain everyone around them and in their
no-holds-barred attitude easily break the ice or any inhibitions
that may exist. In our team that character would be Simon,
his antics hilarious and entertaining. And who can forget
his rendition of “Olentangy River”, Simon throughout the
trip proved to be our source of laughter and amusement,
which was well appreciated all around (including his on
field performance of course, especially his warm-ups, the
reverse run overhead flip/tumble).
Midday brought with it clear
skies and sunlight, the temperature too was around the high
60s. It was turning out to be a beautiful day. The tournament
was at full swing, we followed up our earlier victory with
three hard fought games against Cincinnati 1, OSU and Cincinnati
2, all three wins achieved thanks to some tireless and intense
running from the ladies in our team. Lisa, Tina, Betsy and
Daione were inspirational in every tackle and pass they
made (Lisa actually had a few of the men scared of her,
thanks to some strong clearances. Daione’s passion for the
game illustrated in her yelling, “Mine, mine no, no, you,
you). Then there was the effort of our midfield, some crisp
quick passing and tight ball control from Joniell, Greg
and Nadeem who also masterminded our team roster and tactics.
By the end of Saturday we had won all our games and were
leading the table, we had not conceded a goal in the tournament
yet.
That night the Olive Garden
on Dublin Granville Rd, in Columbus played dinner host to
the Chicago field hockey team. 16 players ravaged their
sampling table like never before (hey we were hungry and
they were making us wait for a table). After dinner it was
off to OSU’s “Simma Down Nah” party, which gave us the opportunity
to unwind and socialize with the other teams, organizers
and fellow teammates. This also meant that Simon got to
hang out with his fellow Brits, in a bar, worrying to say
the least. If that was not enough the OSU party was followed
by a gathering in room 140 and sampling of “Gay Rum” from
Barbados courtesy of Greg. All in all a great night spent
amongst teammates.
Sunday morning not only brought with
it cold weather but there was no running water in any of
the rooms in our hotel. Needless to say there weren’t many
pleased faces that morning, braving this inconvenience we
set off for breakfast and then on to the rest of the tournament
at OSU. We had two more games to go, a tricky game against
Lexington, which we won 2-0. We followed that up with a
0-0 tie against MSU, maybe the “Gay Rum” was taking its
toll. The outcome was irrelevant, thanks to some fantastic
team play and awesome goals from Montoo, Sayid and Kamel
we were not only through the Semifinals but we were the
number one seed.
A hard fought game in the Semifinals
against MSU was won 3-1. Another strong team performance,
we were in the finals now. The team tired but ready to take
on the finals, we all believed we could do it, we had come
so far. The Finals saw us face off against Cleveland again.
We weren’t able to defeat the defending champions in open
play like we did earlier in the tournament and the game
went to penalty flicks. As faith would have it, luck was
not on our side and we lost the finals 3-2 on penalties.
A disappointing end, to a great effort, but a great achievement
nonetheless.
All in all it was a weekend well
spent. We return from the OSU trip a stronger team, maybe
a little disappointed but ultimately having exceeded our
own expectations. We return more importantly much closer
friends proud of our collective achievements. No Worries!
written by Rico Fernandes
