Displaying items by tag: Field Hockey

Friday, 20 December 2019 10:10

Field Hockey Players Receive Foothills Council Awards

SCHUYLERVILLE — Foothill Council Honors: Six Schuylerville High School varsity field hockey players have been named to the Foothills Council All-Star Team. First Team: Bella Baldwin, Hunter Phillips Second Team: Lainey Koval, Eliza Barton Honorable Mention: Molly Elder, Izzy Reitano-Stayer

Published in Sports

Kelsey Briddell: Athlete of the Week

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Former Blue Streak field hockey player continues a prosperous career with the USA Women’s Field Hockey team.

Kelsey Briddell first began playing field hockey at the age of 12 when her friend convinced her to try out for the team in the 7th grade. Briddell couldn’t have imagined that something she did on a whim would direct the following years of her life.

She was a natural, as she made the junior varsity team in the eighth grade and varsity team in the ninth.

“When I was in high school, I didn’t even think I was going to get a scholarship to college,” said Briddell.

But on to the women’s field hockey at U Albany she went. As her four-year hockey career was coming to an end, Briddell looked forward to grad school and pursuing a career in the medical field. However, something inside her told her that she wasn’t turning in her hockey stick just yet.

“When I played my last game (in college) and realized I had no eligibility left and I wasn’t going to be able to play anymore, I was devastated. I thought ‘this couldn’t be the end of it’. So, I took a leap of faith and tried out for the US team and made the development squad and kept going with it because I’m not ready to stop yet,”

said Briddel.

Not only is Briddell a midfielder for the USA development squad, but she is also a trainer for the USA Women’s National team.

Over the years Briddell has trained young athletes and she encourages her young players to “Just go for it. Don’t be afraid of doing what you love. No matter what…to go for it with everything that you have, and just put everything that you have and to use your heart and your head.”

Field hockey has given Briddell more opportunities than she could have imagined. From attending college to traveling the world to mentoring the youth. She attributes this success not only to her self-motivation but also the ongoing support she’s received from her family and coaches.

“Every coach that I’ve ever had has had an impact on me, in some way,” said Briddell. “I wouldn’t be here without all the support that I’ve had on this journey."

Published in Sports

Athlete of the Week: Renee Banagan

[Photos by www.PhotoAndGraphic.com]

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Renee Banagan is a senior at Saratoga Springs High School who has been playing field hockey for the Blue Streaks since seventh grade modified. She is the team goalie.

“I actually didn’t play field hockey last year, I took a break for the Robotics Team but I have been on the team since modified. I’ve just been with it ever since then and this year we actually ended up winning the Section II championship in the Class A division, which is really awesome. We made it to regionals and ended up losing to Baldwinsville, but that’s okay. We all just really wanted to win sectionals this year and we did that. We became a really strong family through this past month of field hockey and that was really cool. Field hockey is by no means an individual sport,” Banagan said.

Banagan had nothing but praise for her coach, Joanne Hostig, “playing for her is a lot of fun. She really cares about us and how we play on the field. She gives us every resource that we could really need to be at our best for every game. We’ve had personal trainers come in, we’ve had a lot of new equipment this year, and since Saratoga doesn’t have turf space, we’ve been able to rent out a lot of turf spaces thanks to our awesome Booster Club. So she really just tries to provide us with anything that we need to be the best that we can be.”

Banagan is also on the school’s Robotics Team and has been active since eighth grade.

“Way back in eighth grade, Mr. Sweeney, a technology teacher at Maple Ave Middle School had heard about this robotics program called VEX Robotics and he bought a starter kit and he told any kids that wanted to come in after school and help build a robot for a competition could drop by and help out. So me and ten other kids went and did that. I fell in love with it. The next year we bought a few more robot kits and grew into a couple separate teams and ended up competing all around NYS,” she explained.

This year, the Robotics Team was a state finalist, earning them a spot in the world competition in Kentucky. Banagan is in the TECHSMART Program, and through that she is earning a year’s worth of college credits and with a grant that they provide her, she is able to go to Hudson Valley Community College for a year free of cost.

“I think I might take advantage of that,” she laughed, “I’ll finish my associates degree in mechatronics, which is what I’m currently working towards, and then hopefully I’ll transfer to a four-year school like RIT and finish with a mechanical engineering degree.”

On top of robotics and field hockey, Banagan has been to Uganda twice, with a third trip this upcoming February, through AOET (AIDS Orphans Education Trust Fund).

“My neighbor is part of the New England Presbyterian Church and through that church there has been a lot of people who have gone to Uganda with this organization. My neighbor knew that I’d always wanted to travel so they informed me about this and I went for the first time in 2016. It was a two week medical mission trip. We were bringing over medical and school supplies for local schools over there. We performed somewhere around 600 physicals on children,” Banagan said.

Travel expenses for AOET are out of pocket. The money they fundraise goes into the organization, which has two schools in Uganda, a primary and a secondary school, and a medical clinic. The program also has a sponsorship aspect where people from around the world can sponsor a kid for $38 a month. This money provides them with schooling, access to the medical clinic, and at least one meal a day. Banagan’s trips typically line up with school breaks, resulting in her only missing one week of school instead of the full two that she’s gone.

“I always try to go in ahead of time and get my work. I always talk to my teachers, just to make sure they know what’s going on. They’re so great about helping me stay on track with what I need to know,” she said.

This year, her favorite teacher is Ms. Narkiewicz, her physics teacher.

“She’s a really great teacher. She really cares about her job and her students and she wants to build basically a class that’s going to help benefit us the best it can,” Banagan said of Narkiewicz.

Banagan said that the best part of her senior year is, “the freedom I have. It’s really awesome just to be able to do things with my friends after school.”

Published in Sports