BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI — Field Hockey was first introduced as a women’s Olympic sport back in 1980 during the summer games in Moscow, Russia, and over the last 45 years the sport has continued to grow to the point where the Michigan High School Athletic Association is recognizing it as an official sport and giving girls across the state a chance to represent the schools they play for.
Jordan Yagiela has coached field hockey for nine years, and is in her 2nd as the varsity Head Coach at Cranbrook.
Before that, she was a player herself so she knows better than anyone just how far the sport has come
“I graduated in 2011 from Detroit Country Day and at that time it was it was primarily a private school (sport). So the fact that it’s stretched way beyond that, I grew up in Farmington Hills, the fact there’s a Farmington Hills, there’s a West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills High School has their own team. The shift and the growth of the sports shows that A, girls want to have a fall sport option, but B it’s just a fun sport to play. It’s very unique.
“In middle school I knew it was an option in the fall so I wanted to try it out and I really loved it from there so I just continued it through high school,” said Audrey Hull a sophomore on the team.
While there’s now more than three dozen schools in the state with field hockey programs, there’s only one division, which creates a unique problem and some long days for these teams
“We have a handful of teams that we play, so we have Sacred Heart, Mercy, Marian those are all pretty close. Thankfully we did not have to go to Grand Rapids before school started. We did play I think it was a 7 p.m. game out there so we got back really really late,” said Yagiela.
“I kind of love the long bus rides. I think it’s great team bonding. I love my teammates, great community, music, snacks it doesn’t get better,” said Sydney Korth a senior and one of the team captains.
“As more teams I think start to join it is definitely something where hopefully we can bolster up the teams that are around us and be able to play a little bit closer to home.
And with only one division in the state, that mean there’s only going to be one team bringing home the championship trophy, and to be the first would certainly be special
“Knowing the first team would be us I think it would be great,” said Hull.
“Especially as a captain I love this team, I put my all into this team and I think everyone on this team does the same,” said Korth.
“It has been a sport like I said for decades but the fact that it’s now officially MHSAA and the fact that like I said we could be the first ones that would hold that State of Michigan trophy, that’s something that it’s an indescribable special feeling,” said Yagiela.
