How Come A Corner Looks Like Half a Circle?

A Parent’s Guide to Pioneer Field Hockey

 

            Welcome to the wonderful world of Pioneer High School Field Hockey! To help you understand what the coming few months will look like, here are some questions and answers you may find useful.

 

What have we gotten into?

            Your daughter is joining the premiere field hockey program in the state of Michigan and you, as a parent, are in for a great ride. Literally! As the miles on the odometer add up during the trips back and forth for practice and games, use them to count your blessings and not begrudge a single drop of golden gas. (It’ll make the ride a lot more fun!)

 

What will my daughter be doing?

            She’ll be working her heart out, running, gaining stick skills, learning the field hockey rules backwards and forward, making good friends, eating you out of house and home and using the washing machine – all the time! During pre-season the team will have two practices each day from 7-9 am and 5-7:15 pm.  After pre-season, plan on the practice or games every weekday through October. Depending on the team your daughter is placed on, the practices will be right after school or will start later. The coaches will let us know when a week’s schedule has a different component.

 

What can I do to support my daughter?

            Drive her or arrange rides so she gets to everything, on time! We know it takes a great deal of planning and sacrifice to make this happen. Thank you! It’s helpful to remember that she’ll soon be off to college and you’ll wish you could still drive her somewhere!

            Provide lots of food & liquids. Provide a large container for water at practice. Keep bananas (or oranges) in the house for snacking – they help provide potassium needed to combat the sore muscles coming soon!

            As you are able, participate in the activities that support the program. The car wash is the primary fundraiser for the year and we hope to see both you and your daughter participate. It’s fun getting soapy together. The parents night meeting is your opportunity to meet the coaches, ask question, meet the other parents on your daughter’s team, sign up to help bring snacks & drinks to the games, host a team dinner, be a score keeper or timer for a game, volunteer to help with the end of the season banquet and generally find out the important information you need for the season.

            Come watch games! Make her glad you are there – we can be our child’s greatest fans – no matter how they do at any particular game. Even if she can’t hear your voice cheering her and the team on, she’ll be glad you are there to watch her compete.

            When in doubt, leave the coaching to the coaches! Pioneer Field Hockey has a great coaching staff. Let them know if there are things they need to know about your daughter. During games give them space to coach.

 

 

What can I do to avoid irritating people with big trucks?

            Do not park or wait to pick up your daughter in the driveway that leads to and parking lot that surrounds the stadium – Holloway Field. This area is the domain of all the grounds and building crews for Ann Arbor Schools. They have big vehicles, they drive big vehicles, so let’s not cause them to feel they must clear space occupied by us!

            So where do I wait and park? Across from the stadium is a lovely, big, parking area. Please use that. If you are waiting briefly, you may try to do pickup by the tennis courts but realize 1,000 other parents may have the same idea and there might not be room.

 

How many teams are there?

            Pioneer Field Hockey is composed of three teams – 1. Varsity, 2. JV Purple and

3. JV White. These teams are decided upon by the coaches by the end of pre-season. Purple and White are upper and lower Junior Varsity teams. During the regular season the Varsity team generally has two games a week. Generally, the Purple and White teams alternate participating in the schedule – so in a week, the Purple team will play once and the White team will play once. Occasionally, an opposing team will also have three teams and all three teams will play in one day. You are allowed to cheer for all three teams anytime you are around them!

 

Tell me about the games!

            They are great! You’ll enjoy being a Pioneer Field Hockey parent.

 

Can you tell me more?

            Oh, of course! They last approximately one hour. You daughter will have to be at her game early, maybe as much as an hour early. Your coach will let you know exactly what she wants for your team.

            Be prepared to pay to attend the games – home or away. Bring cash. I’m pretty sure credit cards or checks won’t get you inside the venue. It can be hard to appreciate your daughter’s outstanding plays peering through the fence. You can purchase a season pass for home games from the athletic office and its food for all year, all Pioneer games. Sadly, this pass won’t get you into away games and you’ll have to pay whatever they charge. (Pioneer charges $5 per person to enter their venue.)

 

 

How will I know what is happening?

            Once your daughter is on a team and the captains are chosen, the parents of the team captains will keep you informed through e-mail updates. This is the primary path used by the coaches for communication. Check your e-mail frequently!!! If you don’t have e-mail access, connect with a parent who will kindly agree to call you as information comes to us via cyberspace. You will get a book with information at the Parents Night Meeting – it will include coach, player and parent names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, schedule of games, where the games are being held and field hockey rules.

            This book will prove to be VERY important as you progress through the season, so don’t allow it to slip in the circular file. It’s very embarrassing to show up for a game at Pioneer only to discover that it’s an away game and if you only had the address you might make it (on time!) without anyone knowing about where you started, but gee, because you lost the book, you have to call another parent. I’m sure you’ve read about this kind of situation in books.

 

Why does a corner look like a half circle?

            Field hockey has some very strange rules that only the officials are privy to. Our job is not to question why but only believe and obey (and pay all the fees – consider them voluntary taxes.)