Inside The Circle - Week 9
10/30/2001 7:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Oct. 30, 2001
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Welcome to this week's installment of "Inside the Circle," an inside look at Maryland field hockey. Each week throughout the 2001 season, junior Kateri Simon (Fallston, Md.) and senior Autumn Welsh (Macungie, Pa.) will combine to bring you the latest Terp happenings from the student-athlete's point-of-view.
Use Kateri and Autumn's journal to follow the Terps' 2001 campaign all season long. If you would like to submit question to our authors about field hockey, the Terps or anything (within reason!), send us an e-mail.
You can feel the excitement as Kateri desribes the team's hectic schedule in preparing for the ACC Championship Tournament this week. It comes with the territory of being a student-athlete -- each Terp is busy studying for midterms while, at the same time, preparing mentally, physically and emotionally for the postseason. As Kateri points out, she and her teammates are plenty "fired up," but they strive to slow things down, focus on the task ahead and enjoy their time together.
Wow...so much has been going on in such little time! Last week we played and won three games in five days, ended our regular season this past Sunday and celebrated the seniors with senior day. Tuesday night there is open mic with rockin' Lucy "Deuce" Morris at a local coffee shop, then one more home practice on Wednesday before ACCs, and Thursday we leave for North Carolina to shoot for our fourth-consecutive ACC championship!
Of course, there is still much more on our schedule that will end on November 18th in Kent, Ohio, but one thing at a time, right? That's right, still focused on one day, one practice, one win at a time. That's the only way we are going to make it all the way. I know that's the only way I want to get there. Otherwise, if we are looking too far in the future, then the short time we have left together this year will fly by way too quickly.
Not much is going to change for us over the next three weeks. We'll keep practicing like we have and keep on working hard at improving our game, but there is definitely a new excitement about the season. Every team experiences it this time of year. This is what we've been working for all season and now is the chance to show it.
I try to keep from thinking about NCAA's right now because regardless of what happens, after the tournament the season is over. So for the next weeks I want to be able to savor and appreciate the time I spend with my team and those eight seniors who I have known as teammates and friends for four years. They mean so much to this team and to me that I can't even imagine hockey without them. So for right now I won't imagine any of that. I am just going to keep on playing and enjoying everything we have, and if a conference or a national tournament happen to come our way, and we win, it's not our fault, that's just what we do and how we play.
I'm not indicating that we aren't totally psyched about postseason, but since we try to play everyday with everything we have, then there won't be much difference in how we play for the championships. Even in that last game on November 18th, Maryland field hockey isn't going to play to beat the other team that's there with us, we will play against ourselves so we can play the best game of field hockey that Maryland has ever played, just like we try to do every game.
peace,
Kateri
P.S. - I also want to thank everyone who has responded to these journals and thank you for you input and questions! We appreciate it, so keep on rockin' Terp Fans!
