The school’s very first girls’ field hockey team began this year. Coach Jolie Meza, who also coaches girls lacrosse, was inspired by her athletes who wanted to continue playing and staying in shape during the fall. Since lacrosse is a spring sport, field hockey felt like the right solution to keep athletes on the field during the fall season. Field hockey and lacrosse share many similarities so many lacrosse athletes joined the field hockey team when it started up. “While I had a handful of basics under my belt I did have to learn the whole game since I am now needing to teach it to others! I have been very blessed to have girls who played in college, current umpires (referees), and even coaches from other teams have come out and helped me teach these girls the game properly. It has been a beautiful challenge,” said Meza. 

Since it is the first year field hockey has been implemented in the athletic department, starting the program came with several challenges. Field hockey is a club sport which means it is not a part of the MHSAA, like the majority of Hudsonville sports, so the process is different due to weekly meetings with an outside organization and many forms to fill out to ensure each player is getting the recognition they deserve. “To say that there is a lot of work into starting any athletic program would be an understatement and I could not have done it without support from the Athletic Department, parent volunteers, and communication with other schools,” said Meza.

Field hockey is similar to lacrosse, soccer, and ice hockey. The game is played by two teams both consisting of eleven players. The different positions include attackers, defenders, goalkeepers, sweepers, and midfielders. The overall goal of the game is to score a goal by an attacker hitting the ball into the shooting circle. 

“Our team has definitely improved and improved working as a team. It is hard since some people have never played a sport so they have to learn how to work as a team and how fast-paced a varsity-level sport is,” said senior athlete Ellery Lopez. The only other school districts in the area that have a field hockey program to compete against are Forest Hills, Rockford, and Spring Lake. Therefore, the team has to play many opposing teams from near the east side of the state.