"Intro to Field Hockey": Scouts Gold Award Project

At my high school in New Jersey, field hockey is definitely not the most popular sport. But it is my favorite and one of my greatest passions, which is why I decided to dedicate my Gold Award Project toward getting more younger girls into the sport. 

I set out to do this by hosting a field hockey introductory clinic for the girls in my town to get them more interested in the sport and learn a little more about it. Before making a plan for my project, I got in contact with several coaches to ask for their advice on how to host a successful clinic and some fun activities and drills to do. I also met with my project advisor, my high school coach, to start making a plan for my project. 

I faced a severe challenge when COVID-19 hit and I was forced to make modifications to the new COVID-friendly requirements. I adjusted my plan so that instead of hosting my own clinic, I worked alongside professional coaches in a six session field hockey camp. At this camp, I created handouts for the girls about the rules and talked them through it, planned fun activities and drills which would help advance their skills, praised their progress, and talked to them a bit more about the sport in general and my high school team.

In addition to the camp, I also created a website for my town’s 5th through 8th grade recreation team. I made a Shutterfly page that the girls and their parents could access to get more information about the team and field hockey in general. Check it out at Long Hill Field Hockey. This site was shared with the head coach of the recreation team to utilize for next season.

The Gold Award is the highest award given to a Girl Scout that has completed a project to tackle an issue in their community. When deciding what I should do for my project, I thought back to one of the biggest lessons that I learned from Girl Scouts - the value of sisterhood and teamwork. This lesson is also one that I learned from field hockey. Through both my Scout Troop and field hockey teams, I developed an understanding of the importance of teamwork and cooperation as well as the value of sisterhood. I decided that I wanted to share this lesson with the girls I would work with in this project.

Helping teach and inspire these younger girls was a very rewarding experience for me. I would highly suggest someone to do a similar project to mine in order to help spread the love for field hockey all across the country!