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Open fields hockey features two-fisted water jug intensity

July 16, 2021

A fence surrounds open fields, which for Cape hockey is every Tuesday night for two hours as the sun sinks in the western sky.

The weather is usually hot late in the day. There are no cute monogrammed water bottles, but jugs held two-handed above the head and poured into mouths and onto necks. Exhausting nastiness breeds togetherness in team sports.

The green sprint turf at Champions Stadium is now worn and fast. The rising collides with the gliding in full-field games, later changed to a pair of cross-field games.

Intensity for fun tells its own story. These players are serious, all of them going fast and hard, with talent all over the place. Players committed to Division I programs teach incoming freshmen what it means to go hard all the time. If that is the fun you’re looking for, you picked the right stick and you’ve come to the right open field night.

Coaches Kate Austin, Debbie Windett and Tracey Griesbaum are there to supervise, not to coach, but occasionally, like a Geico commercial, you may hear, “Get wide, pull it to the right, nicely done.” 

There are 23 state championship signs – 11 field hockey and 12 girls’ lacrosse – bolted to the back of the Champions Stadium bleachers. Stadiums hold stories and memories, and ongoing tracking of athletes' pasts.

Lastly, open fields are optional; there is no attendance taken, no excuses are required to miss a night, or miss them all. But not surprisingly, the best players are the ones who are there every week. 

Cape will offer an elementary and middle school camp July 26-29 and a high school camp Aug. 2-6. 

  

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