Being a Davidson student athlete is always hard work, but some weeks are worse than others. This past week the entire Davidson Field Hockey team has been struggling with an amount of work that requires more time than there are hours in a day, making midterms week one of those more challenging weeks. Stress levels rise, sleep becomes compromised, and the last thing you feel you have time for is practice, but out of commitment to your team you go anyways.Commitment is a core value of D.C.F.H. and this past Friday Davidson Basketball Coach Bob McKillop came to talk to us about the important role that commitment plays in building a successful team. He emphasized how Davidson students continually wage war on mediocrity in the classroom and on the field and stressed how important it is to hold ourselves and our teammates accountable of accepting nothing less than the best at every practice and in every game.
Coach McKillop’s words definitely struck a chord with our team in our game against NorPac rival Longwood. We had a slow start and at halftime found ourselves down 2 to 1. Longwood’s lead increased to 4 to 2 early on in the second half, but after Longwood scored their fourth goal something clicked in all of our heads. We knew that we were settling. We knew we could play better, and rather than letting the score keep us down we decided to rage war on mediocrity and put 5 goals in the cage in the second half alone to win the game 6 to 4.
Our never give up attitude is a classic example of what makes this D.C.F.H. team standout. Coach McKillop challenged us to make history and we are well on our way to doing it. With midterms over and Fall Break finally here, we hope to catch up on some much needed sleep and continue our winning streak with a trip to Providence, R.I. where we will face Brown, Maine, and Sacred Heart. Three games in four days will be challenging, but we are excited to face some new opponents and to spend some time together as a team outside of Davidson. Keep following along for more behind the scenes action with D.C.F.H. Happy Fall Break and Go Cats! –Tobe #7
