Season Opener

Keeping Up With the Martlets

Team Journal

Season Opener!

Monday, September 21st, 2015
Location: Guelph, Ontario

For the past week, the Martlets have been anxiously awaiting our first weekend away. Returners would run into each other around campus and break into huge smiles, knowing just how precious these weekends become to the team. To quote Julia, “You struggle through pre-season, you start off the school year waking up at ungodly hours every morning, and then you get to the first weekend and you remember why you love being on this team so much.”

The team competes in the OUA League, which means our weekends are spent travelling throughout Ontario.  This sounds slightly more exciting than it actually is— travelling as an athlete really just translates into spending hours on a bus and sharing a hotel bed with a different teammate each weekend.  Nevertheless, the time spent with the team helps bring the girls together.

This weekend, the team’s destination was Guelph, Ontario—a 7-hour commute from Montreal. By 6am Saturday morning, the bus was already packed and on its way. The girls arrived at the field around 1pm, and planned to watch the York vs. Waterloo game before warming up for their own game against Guelph.  Unfortunately, the teams were interrupted by a sudden torrential downpour. Both York and Waterloo ran to their busses for shelter, but the Martlets, whose bus had already left, scrambled to find shelter under trees, benches, and anything else that could keep them dry.  Julia spotted a storage shed in the wooded area surrounding the field, and noticed that one of its doors was slightly ajar. She hardly finished her sentence before the entire team sprinted inside the shed, carrying as much equipment and clothing as possible.  Although thoroughly soaked and dripping wet, the girls embraced the situation with a sense of humor, and recognized the moment as a key opportunity to document our weekend.  If there’s anything we’ve taken away from spending extensive amounts of time with the same people, it’s that there is always time for a selfie.

After some time, Laurent and JP found the girls huddled inside the storage shed and informed the team that the York-Waterloo game would be delayed until further notice, and consequently so would McGill’s game.

The downpour was short-lived. As the sound of raindrops pattering on the outside of the shed gradually subsided, Laurent and JP discussed game tactics with the team. When the game was called back on at last, the team salvaged what warm, dry clothes they could find in their bags and began to warm up.

The first game was against a tough component.  The Guelph Gryphons, who currently claim the second place position in the league, came out fast and strong, overwhelming the Martlets with a game speed unlike any that the new team has experienced up to this point.  The Gryphons played an offensive-heavy game with an overwhelming press on the defense.  Under these pressures, the Martlets’ trusted tactic of defensive transfers crumbled, leaving the midfield empty-handed, and the defenders utterly confounded. By the end of the second half, the Martlets were finally able to maintain a presence on the opponent’s half of the field; unfortunately, this adjustment came too late, and the team walked away with a painful score of 10-0. The weak point came down to a lack of communication in the face of an entirely new style and speed of play, a point that was heavily addressed in the post-game discussion with the coaches.

The second day showed some improvement.  After a solid night’s sleep and a complimentary breakfast at the hotel, the Martlets returned to the Guelph field refreshed and ready for another day. On the way to the game, Kylie encouraged the team to look at the next two games as a blank slate and an opportunity to capitalize on the strengths we had noticed from the day before. Today the team would be playing the Queens Gaels and the Western Mustangs, two much more evenly matched games.

In the first game against Queens, the Martlets started off on a strong foot. Within the first few minutes of the game, senior player and center-midfield Kylie Nabata scored the first goal of the season.  After this initial goal, the Gaels kicked up the speed of their own play, and the game quickly developed into a fast-paced and well-played match.  The Martlets maintained composure and shape, establishing a dominance on the field that lasted throughout the majority of the first half.  Near the end of the first half, the Gaels scored a goal, tying up the overall score. The Martlets came out just as strong in the second half, and returning attacker Alison Ross reclaimed McGill’s lead with a second goal.  The remainder of the game was a passionate and determined struggle to maintain this lead.  There was a constant switching of fields and possession; the Gaels pushed hard on the offense, and the Martlet defensive line pushed forward to put an even greater pressure in the midfield.  Returning goalie Katie Friedman played one of the most intense games of her career.  In the end, the Gaels scored one last goal in the last ten minutes of the second half.  It’s truly unfortunate that the game had to end in a tie—the Martlets played one hell of a game, but so did the Gaels.

In the second game against Western, the level of intensity from the previous game seemed to have dwindled.  Neither Western nor McGill played a particularly impressive game.  Western scored two goals early on the in the first half, and the Martlets struggled to get a stick on the ball in the Mustangs’ defensive circle. The majority of the game was played at the midfield, featuring tons of transfers from the defense to the midfield and back again, but producing few defining plays.  One strength that came out in this game was in the defensive corners; rookie goalie Hannah Moore successfully defended a string of consecutive corner shots.  The game ended in a 2-0 loss, a disappointing way to end the weekend to say the least.

After a final post-game recap of the weekend, the Martlets quickly cooled down and made their way toward the bus.  Kylie’s family was kind enough to provide food at the end of the game: tortillas, chicken, hummus, fresh vegetables, fruit, and even some homemade cookies and scones—basically everything and anything a hungry athlete could ask for after a rough weekend of games.  The team happily devoured as much food as they could muster before finally saying their goodbyes, boarding the bus, and heading home.

On the long bus ride back to Montreal, the team captains handed out small pieces of paper to the team.  Earlier in the weekend, Alice had asked each player to write down one fun fact about themselves.  These papers were originally meant for a team-bonding activity that would have happened at Saturday night’s dinner.  Unfortunately, due to the rain delay and a time constraint at the restaurant, it never ended up happening.

The bus, however, proved to be an even more opportune moment to bring up team-bonding.  Each player was handed someone else’s random fact.  The girls went around in a large circle, reading each other’s facts aloud and trying to guess who had written what.  The coaches even joined in!  Facts ranged from interesting to funny to downright bizarre.  Did you know that one of our Martlets is a black-belt in karate?  Or that one of us has to throw away toast if it’s not buttered within 10 seconds of leaving the toaster?  Or that one of our coaches almost died at a One Direction concert?

The activity quickly turned into a hilarious game, and the perfect emotional release after a physically exhausting weekend. A happy atmosphere settled over team for the remainder of the trip, and the Martlets returned in home good spirits.

A note to our readers:

If you’ve been following our progress so far, we’d like to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation.  It means so much to share our experiences at home and on the road! The aim of this blog is to shed light on the humanity behind the scoreboard and the efforts shared by our captains, coaches, and teammates as we develop throughout this season. We hope you find our stories entertaining and grow to love this team as much as we do!

Stay tuned as the Martlets travel to York for our next round of games....

Alumni Game

Keeping Up with the Martlets

Team Journal

Friday, September 11th, 2015

A new school year has dawned, and with it comes all the usual stress and excitement of a fresh start at McGill University: the tumultuous Add-Drop period, the scrambling for textbooks, the reunions with Uni friends you haven’t seen in months, and, of course, all of the lovely festivities and free food around campus.

For the McGill Martlet Field Hockey team, a new school year also marks the beginning of regular-season practices and a wealth of responsibilities to balance on top of being a varsity athlete.

This past Labor Day, the team celebrated the beginning of season with its annual Alumni game.  The Alumni game is an incredible opportunity for the current team to meet and socialize with past Martlets, young and old. This year, thanks to the hard work and tireless networking of our captains and team manager, the team welcomed back 16 Field Hockey Alum. It was touching to watch former teammates reunite on the field, some of whom hadn’t seen each other in 15 years! 

The Alumni and Martlets were also joined by the Montreal Men’s League, the team that all of our coaches play for. This made for an interesting pseudo-tournament, a battle of the sexes and of the ages, pitting coaches against players, and even former captains against their former rooks.

The original plan was to play a standard 70-minute game, but due to the sweltering heat last Monday, the teams played shorter, 20-minute games with 10 minute half-times. 

Temperatures lingered between 27°C and 32°C (80°F-89°F), and the air was heavy with humidity. Players were sweating before the games even began. With this in mind, the Martlets hatched a game plan to optimize performance under such taxing playing conditions. In order to avoid over-exertion and heat exhaustion, the team took advantage of space on the field by maintaining shape and focusing on a hard, accurate passing game. 

The unfavorable weather made for a grueling hour or so of playing, but the Martlets’ tactic of utilizing space paid off.  The defense played a beautiful game, maximizing the width of the field with a trough-style defensive shape, and making use of quick transfers and targeted clears to the outside.  This became especially useful in the game against the men, who seemed to be the only ones un-phased by the excrutiating heat.

Each team played each other once.  The scores of the games became roughly irrelevant, but if we had counted, the men came out with the most goals, followed by the Martlets, and then the Alumni.  Serious props to everyone who participated last Monday— it was not an easy or pleasant day for a game, but everyone came out, put in their all, and walked off with a positive attitude.

Of course, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel…

Per tradition, the Alumni game is followed by a barbecue, graciously provided by the family of former Martlet Eleni Siganos.  If there’s anything that can motivate an athlete to push through the end of a difficult game, it’s the promise of reward, and the way to a Martlet Field Hockey player’s heart is most definitely food.

The barbecue was a lovely way to end the day.  It gave the teams a chance to mingle and connect, and everyone left the field with full stomachs and a thoroughly satisfied appetite.

Bringing together men and women of all ages and levels of experience, the Alumni game just goes to show the amount of love and passion behind this sport and this team.  In a city with virtually no presence of field hockey, the McGill Martlets have managed to foster a small community of loyal supporters and friends.  Without this sense of family, the team could not be what it is today.

The Alumni!

Wrapping Up Week 1

Keeping Up with the Martlets
Team Journal

“Look to your left. Look to your right. Look behind you. Look in front of you. This is your team ladies. We support each other, we push each other, we love each other.”          ~Coach Laurent Fayen 

Thursday, September 3rd, 2015

It’s hard to believe that it’s already Week 2 of Preseason! The days have flown by, and yet it feels like the team has been together for nearly a month already. The Martlets have quickly adapted to the volume and intensity of daily practices, and the team is now ready to face more challenging practices in the season ahead.

A quick recap of our progress so far:

The focus of Week 1 was primarily fitness and establishing a firm grasp on the basics. Day 1 began with a team run up Mont Royal. Varying levels of fitness on the team were immediately apparent as the group gradually broke into different paces. Laurent encouraged the girls to stick together, pointing out that we’re going to get through this season as a team, not as individual players.  It was a powerful speech for the first day, and certainly set a strong precedent for teamwork that has come to define the rest of our work during Preseason training.

Le Chalet (The Lookout), Mont Royal

The following days followed a similar theme—lots and lots of running, sprinting, and agility drills.  The coaches also put an emphasis on muscular endurance, and incorporated strength and core conditioning exercises into daily fitness sessions. On top of these daily fitness practices (normally at 6:30am), the Martlets would have a field practice in the afternoon or evening.

On Day 5, the Martlets welcomed a pleasant change of scenery in the form of a spin class led by Laurent’s wife, Martha.  The class took place at Le Club Sportif MAA, a private fitness club in downtown Montreal that Laurent works at and generously allows the Martlets to use.  Early on Friday morning, the team filed into a small, dimly lit room lined with stationary bikes. Most of the team had never participated in a spin class before, and had no idea what to expect.  Martha helped the team adjust the bikes and then proceeded to lead the team through an interval workout on the bikes.  A disco ball spun from the ceiling, sending colored lights darting around the room, and music blasted as the team started spinning away.  Although very fun, the spin class turned out to be a brutally tough fitness session.  Legs burned, abs shook, and stepping off the bikes at the end felt like floating on air.  Still, it was significantly more fun and interesting than running fitness drills around Forbes field, and the team left happy and grateful for Martha’s time.

Spin Class at MAA

Day 6 presented the team’s first opportunity to play a full game as a team.  The Martlets played the Montreal Adult Field Hockey league in a series of small games on Saturday.  This provided a perfect opportunity for rookies to experience a University-level of play, as well as an opportunity for coaches and returning players to get a feel for player chemistry on the field.  The men and women on the Adult League were formidable opponents, but the new team put up a solid fight, proving that the past week of tireless training was paying off.  Notable strengths during these games were movement off the ball and overall team dynamic. A special shout-out goes out to rookies Tannis and Tania who showed off some killer ball handling on the attack, and to Jeanne who played a fantastic offensive game at mid.   

As Week 2 now comes to a close, the team has witnessed some serious progress.  The Martlets went on a second mountain run yesterday morning, and this time around, the team managed to stick together for the entirety of the run.  Rookies are learning fast and returners are rapidly adjusting to a virtually new team.  Fitness is improving exponentially, skills are developing by the day, and the level and intensity of play is increasing consistently.  The Martlets have established chemistry on and off the field.  For a group of girls who first met only 2 weeks ago, this is incredibly impressive and bodes well for the coming weeks.