It’s been a busy few years for the Canadian women’s field hockey team.
With stops in New Zealand, England, Ireland, Scotland, Argentina, and Spain, the Canadian women have been far and wide in the lead up to the Pan American Games. And it has been with one end goal in mind.
It’s all about Olympic qualification – which comes along with a gold medal at the 2015 Pan Am Games, which kick off this evening when the Canada faces the Dominican Republic – and the desired outcome is no secret.
“I think the goal was to peak at this point in the year,” says Kelowna’s Danielle Hennig. “I feel like physically and mentally – with the little adjustments we’ve made even from World League – we’re in a good place going into this.”
Canada finished ninth out of ten teams at the recent World League Semifinal in Valencia, Spain, missing out on a shot at 2016 Olympic qualification, which was awarded to the top three finishers.
But while the women were dismayed by missing out on qualification in their first attempt, they aren’t swayed from the goal and the opportunity presented at the Pan Am Games in Toronto.
“We’ve prepared for this moment and we aren’t changing the way we do thing because we’re here,” adds Hennig, who has played 97 international matches for Canada and is one of the women’s assistant captains alongside active cap leader Thea Culley (136).
Canada, ranked third in the tournament after Argentina and United States, knows it still has a very good chance at Rio if they continue to make the strides they have been making over the last several years.
Since new director and head coach Ian Rutledge took the helm of the program early in 2013, the young Women’s National Team has been travelling the globe, competing against many of the world’s best field hockey teams, trying to bridge their biggest barrier to success: experience.
And while they didn’t qualify for Rio through World League, they did the next best thing, which was gain experience against the world’s top teams.
“I think it’s always disappointing to not qualify right on the first go, you always set your expectations as high as possible. We wouldn’t be elite athletes if we didn’t,” says Culley. “But we have to take a step back and look at the performances that we actually gave on the field and they were all good.”
Recent performances against teams ranked higher like China and Spain have buoyed their confidence in the process. Couple that with the fact that the women will be competing for a spot in the Olympics in front of a boisterous home crowd and counting the Canadians out wouldn’t be wise, because there’s added motivation.
“I think every single player on the team has friends or family coming out at some point in the tournament,” says Hennig. “That’s pretty cool because it’s very rare to play in front of a home crowd.”
Rarer is the opportunity to win on home soil, which is something that isn’t lost on Culley and her teammates, who – if successful – would be the first Canadian women’s team to win gold at the Pan American Games and the first team since 1992 to qualify for the Olympic Games.
“It’s really special, something that you can’t really replicate in any other environment,” adds Culley. “It’s really exciting to do it with a group of girls that you love being around and hanging out with and you love fighting with on the field.”
The Canadian women open their Pan Am Games tonight at 4pm PT/7pm ET against the Dominican Republic. Click here for Canada’s schedule and results and for all Pan Am Games news.
