Inside The Circle - Week 3
9/19/2001 8:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 19, 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.
In the third edition of "Inside the Circle," Kateri discusses the difficulty of dealing with last week's national tragedy. She writes about how the Terps, like many across the U.S., had to take the time to come to grips with the reality of Sept. 11's events. But the Terrapins found solace in the united Maryland campus community and within their squad, and were able to come together to bring something positive out of the otherwise trying situation.
Click here to see photos from Maryland's trip to Columbus, Ohio.
Such and incredible mix of emotion has found its way into the lives of everyone on this team for the past week. Right now we are flying high after a solid win over Michigan State. The game wasn't originally scheduled for Monday, but after the ACC cancelled all games through the weekend, including ours against Louisville and UMass, we picked up Michigan State at the last minute.
And although spirits are high now because we just played great hockey, the week began much grimmer. Wednesday we stepped out onto the field to practice, some of us with tears in our eyes, feeling a bit awkward about playing this game while the rest of the world was showing their respect for those who died in the horrific tragedy. Missy stressed the importance of team unity and going on and being strong together, but still, it felt a little like we were disrespecting those who suffered. Once things got rolling though, we were able to put the sad reality on hold for two hours and put our best efforts forward. After practice, the team, coaches and staff went together to the campus memorial service on the mall and witnessed a beautiful ceremony on that sunny afternoon.
Starting practice the following days got a little easier each time, except for the day the coaches decided to focus most of the three hour practice on conditioning! Yeah, that hurt a little.
It was hard to say how we thought we were going to do against Michigan State after an emotionally draining week and a not-so-up-to-par warm-up, but we really played incredibly well as a team and did the simple things we needed to do to play great hockey.
We showed our respect for the victims of last week's horror by wearing a red, white and blue ribbons and black armbands while we played. I felt proud to play in their honor and I know the rest of the team did as well.
Click here to see photos from Maryland's trip to Columbus, Ohio.
