Amazing tour
Trip Down Under won’t soon be forgotten by field hockey players
Their amazing experience included the opportunity to train, play and mingle with the Canadian senior women’s field hockey team during a three-week tour of Australia.
And to top it off, Jordyn Faiczak and Samantha McCrory spent an off-day at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Gold Coast, where they cuddled a koala bear and posed for snapshots with a friendly kangaroo.
It’s a trip the local high school students won’t soon forget.
“It was amazing and it was so cool to be in an atmosphere like that, with so many elite athletes,” said McCrory, a Grade 11 student at Cameron Heights.
“There were definitely a lot of nerves and it was definitely a bit intimidating, but everyone looked out for us … they were very helpful and supportive.”
Faiczak — a Grade 12 student at Bluevale — and McCrory were two of the five junior-aged athletes invited to take part in the Australian tour by national senior team head coach Ian Rutledge.
Twenty athletes made the trip and the Canadian squad played eight matches against the Queensland state team that features several players from Australia’s senior national team which is ranked fourth in the world. They arrived in Gold Coast in mid-January and returned to Canada last week.
The Canadian squad included local products Amanda Woodcroft of Waterloo and Brienne Stairs of Kitchener, players who competed in the Waterloo County high school league before continuing their careers at the university level and making it to the senior national team.
Faiczak and McCrory want to do the same, and both hope to attend the University of British Columbia and be close to the national team’s home base in Vancouver.
“It was cool to learn about the path Brie and Amanda took to the national team and hear their stories about how they made the transition,” said Faiczak.
“And it’s really inspiring to hear about the sacrifices they’ve made to get where they are now.”
A day-trip to the wildlife sanctuary was the non-hockey highlight of the adventure.
“Outside of playing, that was the best day,” said Faiczak. “It was so cool and everyone was pretty pumped about it.”
“I got to hold a koala and pet a kangaroo,” added McCrory. “It was so much fun.”
Faiczak and McCrory are members of Canada’s junior development squad and have both previously trained with the senior national team in Vancouver. The trip to Australia, however, was the first time either had competed for the senior team.
Previously, Faiczak was a member of the Ontario under-18 team that finished second at last year’s national championship, and she then led her high school team to a first-place finish at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations tournament. She trains with the Guelph Gators club and will travel to Pennsylvania this weekend with Ontario’s U18 indoor field hockey team.
McCrory played for the Ontario under-16 team that finished first at the national championship, and she played a key role for her high school team that reached the final of the Waterloo County league (losing to Bluevale). And she made it to the semifinals of the Central Western Ontario championship. She trains with the Toronto-based A&C Field Hockey Academy.
Faiczak and McCrory are both skilled ice hockey players who are key members of their high school teams. Faiczak played AA rep hockey in Waterloo before giving it up two years ago and McCrory continues to play AA hockey in Kitchener.
The pair, who both have aspirations of playing full-time for the Canadian senior squad, will rejoin the senior team for a oneweek camp in Vancouver next month; and spend a week with the junior development squad.