As the American field hockey team takes to the turf to play Japan in Rio, dozens of young athletes in Connecticut are spending their summer at Fairfield University, where they are brushing up on their field hockey skills at the Invasion Field Hockey Camp.
Jackie Kane, head coach of the university’s field hockey team, started the camp was about six years ago.
Girls between 8 and 18 are spending the summer learning the fundamentals of the game that is wildly popular in Europe.
“I love girls that play this sport because it teaches a lot of discipline, teaches teamwork, but it also is extremely difficult,” Kane said.
“If you like a challenge, you choose field hockey because it’s easy to learn,” assistant coach Florian Sedy said as the girls prepared to begin another day on the field at the camp.
Excitement about the American team’s success at the Olympics isn’t lost on the young campers who have been excitedly following along with all of the action.
Team USA beat Japan, 6 to 1, on Wednesday. Watch the replay here.
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The U.S. team will take on India at 6 p.m. today.
