The Hard Hat

Maryland Field Hockey boasts a roster full of talent, heart, and adoration for one another. After every match, one athlete is awarded a bright red hard hat plastered with turtle stickers. It’s a “player of the match” award of sorts, but with a much deeper meaning. 

In 2004, a lacrosse player at Cornell, George Boiardi, tragically passed away during a match after being struck with a ball. Years later, author Jon Gordon published the book The Hard Hat: 21 Ways to Be a Great Teammate. 

Maryland Field Hockey head coach Missy Meharg read the book and was inspired by Boiardi’s story and the message of the story. 

“His temperament and his character and his behavior as an athlete and his selfless nature,” Meharg said. “That book just resonated with how you'd love for teammates to be, and the concept of being the very best teammate. The hard hat represents the characteristic of being the best teammate. And that book, if you haven't read it, read it. It’s phenomenal.”

When Maryland’s Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex finished construction, Meharg was inspired to get one of her own and purchased a Maryland red hat, and a tradition was born. 

It’s given to a player who embodied what it means to be a Terp throughout the match. Performance and heart factor into the coaches’ decision for the recipient.

“The coaches decide who gets it,” junior Maci Bradford said. “It goes to the person who’s really helping the team win as a team player.”

But after the hard hat is awarded, it’s the athletes who describe why the receiving player earned the recognition of the team. 

“It's nice to get coach acknowledgement, but also that your teammates are also seeing you thrive and also seeing that you're being a great asset to the team,” Bradford said. I think that's also really important. The best part of it is that you hear your teammates recognize the hard work that you put in. It's a great thing to hear.”

It brings the team closer together. Hearing the words of affirmation from their peers instills a trust and appreciation for one’s fellow Terps. 

“No matter who gets it, almost every single person on the team has their hand raised telling them what they did to help the team win, which is awesome,” Bradford said.

As in any sport, there’s a game plan before every match. A blueprint for success against each opponent. Following through on the plan can result in winning more than a match. 

“Honestly, it feels amazing,” senior Fleur Knopert said of receiving the hard hat. “We all have a game plan and we all try to stick to it, and the person who executes the best gets the hard hat. It’s amazing because you work really hard and it’s really nice to hear the kind words.”

It’s not meant to be just a recognition for the player with the most goals or the best shots, although that certainly can be part of the criteria.

“It’s a combination, for sure,” Meharg said. “Alyssa Klebasko got it one time because she had to make two saves and she made both. Sometimes that can be the hardest situation to be in, and those are the moments that matter most. The players seem to be very aligned with why players win it which is always very affirming.”

The hard hat has taken several forms over the years, but Meharg seems to regularly circle back to the hard hat that started it all.

“Last year, it was a cowboy hat,” Bradford said. “And this year, it's back into the construction hat. It's pretty cool.”

It’s a tradition that Meharg’s immensely proud of and has seen bring her teams closer together. 

“I think it does a couple things,” Meharg said. “One, it's not just coming from the coaching staff. It's coming from their teammates, and they can voice the very tangible, action driven, objective examples of why they're wearing it. Usually, it's just completely service oriented. And then it also gives some of the women who haven’t had a chance to  be in the competition an opportunity to be involved and to be focusing on highlighting the player that really signified the outcome of the match.”

After each match, a turtle sticker bearing the recipient’s name gets added to the hard hat. But don’t think for one second that it makes the players prioritize personal glory or anything other than a Maryland win.

“I don't think anybody really talks about it during the game,” Bradford said. “Obviously, it's a cool thing to get, but nobody's thinking ‘oh, I want to get this hat because I'm the best player today’. Everybody has the motivation to go out and work hard, but I don't think anybody talks about it until it happens, and until the coaches give it out. Then, everybody just really acknowledges that person. It's pretty awesome.”

As the season reaches a crucial set of home matches this week with Indiana and No. 1 Northwestern, the No. 10 Terps will need every player on the roster to step up. If things go according to plan, Meharg’s staff should have a hard time picking just one player on her incredibly talented roster to highlight.