Barker and Poland share first caps
June 17, 2010
A special moment took place on Tuesday night as long-time hockey friends Crystal Poland and Kaela Barker shared their first caps playing against India this week in Surrey, BC.
Poland, of Crofton, BC, started playing field hockey in grade 8 and her athleticism and raw talent did not go unnoticed. In her grade 10 years she was apart of the AAA provincial championship team at Cowichan Secondary school and from then on knew she would be pursuing field hockey further. Contrarily, Barker, of North Vancouver, BC, was submersed in the field hockey world since both her older sisters played and her step Aunt, Jen Chohan, was one of her long-time coaches.
Barker was apart of Southerland Secondary’s field hockey team that captured the AA Northshore championships three years in a row. As well, she was apart of the BC gold medal team at the Western Canada Games in 2007.
Both Barker and Poland competed against each other at the U14 BC Summer Games and several provincial tournaments but as these two athletes began to take the sport to the next level they found themselves competing together more often. Barker was recruited to Northeastern University where she was named CAA Rookie of the year (2008-09). A year later, Poland also joined the Northeastern clan and not surprisingly was also named CAA Rookie of the year (2009-10). Both Barker and Poland were crucial to the Northeastern’s offence with Barker controlling the middle of the field and Poland capping her first year off with 12 goals.
After earning her first international CAP on home soil, Barker exclaimed that “it is a real honor to play for your country! I am very excited to gain international experience and bring that experience back to Northeastern.”
Poland, on the other hand, said, “I was really ecstatic to have made the fitness standards required to play India and I really feel like I am meant to be here!”
Both girls greatly contributed to Canada’s first exciting match of the 4-game test series against India. Poland had assists on both of Canada’s goals and it will be no surprise to see these two continue to take it to the next level throughout the week.
Look forward to more Canada-India field hockey action as the team takes on India three more times on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday!
Note:
Photo: Kaela Barker on the left, Crystal Poland on the Right
