Kids in Alberta don’t start playing until high school



Photo by Les Mann

Residence- Duncan B.C.

Currently attending the University of Alberta

JENNY…Most kids in Alberta don’t start playing field hockey until high school. It was kind of funny when I first got to my residence at the U of A (University of Alberta). I had my stick bag with me and when I walked onto my floor all the guys looked at me and said “why did you bring your rifles to residence ”. They thought I had rifles in my bag, a big shot gun or something, “no these are my field hockey sticks”. They didn’t know what they were which was kind of shocking. You know they don’t start playing until maybe grade ten or so. Almost all of the kids at the U of A are recruits or foreign players. We have one girl from Edmonton and the rest are from either B.C. or Calgary.

LES …. How does Field Hockey Canada or Sport Canada help you financially while you’re playing field hockey for Canada?

JENNY…. The top 16 field hockey players from Canada get senior carded. Carded players in Canada , no matter what sport you play, get $1100.00 a month and their tuition paid for (if going to university). Out of that pot there is all your equipment, your weight room costs, your sticks and everything that you wear. For every tour and or camp that we go to, we have to pay a levy fee of at least $200.00. For example, the America’s Cup in Jamaica was about two months ago. They originally told us we had to pay $1800.00 each for this tournament. I freaked out. I began to write letters to my sponsors. We have something called an adopt a player program where we can find, hopefully, local sponsors who are willing to help us financially. For them it’s a tax write off but nothing more. For example Dr Gerald Philippson (the Orthodontist) sponsors me and he’s always been very generous. Mann’s Pharmacy has sponsored me and sometimes I’ll go to the industrial site. Other times I’ll just pay it. You get tired of asking, and it’s not just one tournament so you’re always going back to the same people. It’s really hard to ask people for money, it’s terrible, and I hate it. I don’t have that many but I do have the odd sponsor. I’ll ask Dr Philippson once a year, sometimes every year and a half and I make sure that I write them every single tournament and send them thank you cards and, when I’m in town, I make sure I go in and say thank you in person, that’s really important.

JENNY… Just before we left, our levy went down to $750. But what kind of made us laugh was before, when we had a levy of $750.00, It would make us just croak to begin with so we think maybe they just hiked it up to $1800.00 so that $750.00 sounded reasonable.

JENNY… A couple of the levies that were only $400.00 I just paid because…..well, I’m carded and that’s what the money should be going towards. But on the same hand, if I was working a part time job, If I had the time for a part time job, the money would be for my living expenses and not for paying my hockey expenses. I don’t know, I’m just really grateful for the funding we do get. Just being a typical Canadian, I’m grateful for anything.

JENNY… All senior carded amateur athletes get $1100.00 /month. There are approximately 7-8 reserve cards as well that get $500.00 / month plus tuition. That’s for all the junior players, and a players ranking can drop, and players could go to a Reserve card one year and back up to a senior card another year depending on how they perform that year.

LES …So there is a lot more pressure to not only make the team, but to also maintain your carding?

JENNY ….A little bit. I would have to be very honest, if I wasn’t carded at all it would be very difficult to train at the level I have to.

LES … What would your schedule be like over a year. Would you train all year long or would you take a break for so long…...?

JENNY…The timing of the tournaments vary throughout the year. The last tournament that I was in was the America’s Cup in March. The next is the World Cup Qualifier in France, September 2001. After that is the Common Wealth Games in England, summer of 2002. Followed by the World Cup 2002, Perth, Australia and then 2003, Pan American Games, 2004 is the Olympics. Those are kind of the major international games.

LES… Do you train all year long for them?

JENNY… Normally we all meet for centralisation (where we all go to one area to train together) for an average about 3 months with the longest for me being 6 months. This year its in Vancouver, B.C. For the past couple of years its been Winnipeg but usually its Vancouver.

LES ---How do you keep up with your schooling?

JENNY…I missed a month in March. I kind of make a deal with myself, I train really really hard, I do school really really hard and when I go, I just focus on the hockey. I find it’s really hard to focus on hockey and school when I’m in tournament mode. I find that mentally I’m not as prepared for a game. I remember going to San Diego for a tour and I had school with me, I didn’t perform as well as if I just put school aside. When I get back, I usually take two weeks off of hockey, I’ll do light training and then I’ll start up again.

JENNY…During centralisation we’ll have about 7-9 practices a week. We’ll have 2-3 workouts a week and 2-3 cardio’s a week. In the off season (when we’re not preparing for a major tournament) I’ll do 4 cardio’s a week including intervals, 2 weight workouts and 4-6 hockey sessions.

LES….Do you work out as a team…. Do you all go to the same gym?

JENNY… During centralisation we do a lot of team stuff. There might be little a group that’s living in Richmond and a another that’s living in north Vancouver so when we are all at the field, we do everything together and sometimes we’ll have team breakfasts. In Richmond, for example, it used to be Aoibhinn Grimes, Anna Grimes, myself, Krista Thompson and we all kind of do a little weight workout or cardio workout together so you rarely do a workout by yourself. And even in your regionalisation state, you’d try to find your training partner and you try to workout with them.

LES… When you’re staying in Duncan do you travel down to the U-VIC’s turf field to practice?

JENNY…. Yes. For the past two weeks I’ve been going down to U-VIC 3-4 times a week to practice.

LES… Do you go out on the field by yourself or do you pick up U-VIC players to practice with?

JENNY… There was Andrea Rushton down there, Meggan Hunt and Haley Wickman (came out one time) and we had a goalkeeper as well. Lynn Beecroft (the U-VIC coach) ran the session, which was fantastic. I love having different coaches. You just learn so much more.

LES… Are you looking forward to the new Team Canada coach (Graeme “Butch” Worth)?

JENNY… I don’t know anything about him. I know he’s Australian. I think it’s going to be great.

LES….Do you see the North American style different from the Australian/European style of field hockey that he coaches?

JENNY….It will be interesting to see if he tries to make us fit his system or if he takes a system and tries to match it to the players he has to work with. A good coach will combine them and I’m sure he’ll do something along those lines. The Australians play their typical 5-3-2 and all 8 up front players do a lot of rotating. The midfield will rotate up into the forward line and they are able to play in all those positions, which is part of the reason why their system is so great, there is just a lot of flow.

LES… That leads to another question. What do you think of the Whirl system that has been discussed and written about (Discussion Topic: Variations, Styles & the Australian Perspective: by Tracy Belbin) by Australian and European coaches? That’s where all players on the team can play anywhere and the system allows them to mover over and take each other’s places.

JENNY… I think its ideal, but also in Australia and Europe they have a lot more players to look at. I think it would be good (as a coach) to get young players to become very adept in a program like that. If only every place was like Cowichan where you started playing at the age of seven.

There are so many great players that come out of this Valley, if we could only get more hockey communities like this. It would be fantastic, and more hockey communities not just in B.C. but all over the country. You could even get indoor programs going in places where the weather isn’t as good as it is here. Indoor players can make fabulous outdoor players. I love indoor, it’s so much fun, it’s a nice switch.

SUE… You started playing at seven and you went right through, you also went to Cal Cup (California Cup)?

JENNY… I guess Duncan Elementary had I little bit of a team and I played at Drinkwater Elementary, Brian Stott coached me at Drinkwater.

When I was younger, I never forget Marg Lott coaching me. She taught me the granny dodge and I thought that was the greatest move in the whole entire world. I remember in one practice, on Queen of Angles field, I was out of my mind trying to learn how to do that granny dodge and it wasn’t just the granny dodge it was also the right hand pull. She was teaching us all these offensive moves and that’s when I think I fell in love with the game. I was probably ten or something then.

JENNY… When I was twelve I started playing in the Cowichan Ladies League. I was an older twelve, because I’m a January baby, and I think you normally have to be thirteen or something. I played Div Two with the Cardinals, and it was the greatest thing ever because I was playing with ten other coaches. It was the highlight of my weekend. I would get so excited but also really nervous at the same time because I wouldn’t know what to call my team-mates at half time.

SUE .. You remember that, you were just a quiet little thing and you looked like you weren’t having any fun at all.

JENNY… Well mom always taught me to be very polite, and here I was with what I thought were 10 other coaches. I would say “Mrs Achurch, Mrs Fraser” and finally at half time Marg turned to me and said “ you don’t have to call me Mrs, we’re on the field, it’s a different thing. I think when she told me that I felt more relaxed. It was a little hard for me to call Mrs Grimes, “Barb” on the field when I’m so used to last names.

JENNY… Then I went to Mt. Provost, and Liz Gamble coached me there. I went to Cowichan High School where I was coached by Mr. John Ferriera. The greatest thing about him was, as players, he allowed our creativity to develop. He was very easy going and he had a strong foundation of basic team play and team strategy. But the best thing of all was he allowed us to be creative. He’d say just go out there and do it and have fun. I think that’s what I loved the most.

JENNY….I will never forget winning provincial high school championships. They always send shivers down my spine. Riding home with him (Mr Ferriera) in the van from Port Alberni with our big provincial cup, with Tracey Court in the front seat, and just thinking how great it was, the underdogs coming through. He was a pretty special coach. I think about him sometimes. When I’m having a hard day, I’ll just think of High School hockey and about how much fun it was.

JENNY…..Gillian Braun (Nee Szamosi) coached me (as a club coach, provincial team, Mid Island Provincial team) and she was awesome. She brought all the new skills and kind of gave us all new tools to work with.

SUE…..Did you ever sit on the bench for any of the teams that you played for?

JENNY… I graduated early (1997), and that was my first step. I went to go train with the senior team and some of the junior kids. I’m so glad I did, I loved it. I went into camp known as a development player and sucked in everything I possibly could. I never made it that year. I didn’t really expect to make the team…. Well there was a small little hope in me though. I went to a Canadian Team identification camp in my first year in university. I never got selected to go away to San Diego that year, but I was asked to tryout again in 1998. It was at that camp that I was named to the Canadian team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. I remember Drew (Canadian Senior team head coach until this year) telling me, “I honestly thought this would be another developmental year for you, I didn’t think that you would improve that much”. But when you go in with a “nothing to lose attitude”, and you just give it your all and have fun doing it, it usually works out.

LES…. What’s it like, to wear the maple leaf?

JENNY… My face lights up when I think about it, It’s really exiting, it’s pride in your country for sure.

LES….Was it a dream?

JENNY… Oh ya, no question. I get so exited when I put my uniform on. And even when we just get our uniforms, I get real exited, and I’m very … my uniform has to be folded just right and has to hang up just right.

SUE …Are you superstitious?

JENNY… Ya, I’m a little superstitious. I get dressed from the left side to the right side, I put my mouth guard in the left side of my shin guard. I don’t know if that’s superstitious or just following a pattern. I don’t like to change hockey sticks, but it has to happen. I don’t really like changing my turf boots either.

JENNY….I think walking out in the opening ceremonies like in the Pan American Games, especially in your home Country (Winnipeg being the host) is a really awesome feeling. Seeing people with their Canada flags waving and you know that they are there supporting you. Singing the national anthem before a game. I mean there is nothing better than that.

LES .. Of all the places you have been, where is your favourite place to play?

JENNY… Of all the places I’ve been, probably Chile. At the Junior World Cup qualifier in 1997. We were playing the Americans. I’ll never forget, Aoibhinn scored a goal in the first minute of the game. The American’s were quite strong and we played superb defence. We had a couple of attacks but I think we were so exited that we had scored and that we were ahead that we were afraid to attack after that. We just played defence the entire time. I remember that tournament because it was my first time on the Junior National team. It was my first time away from home for a good chunk of time and I really loved the country, it was so beautiful. We were playing on this club field down in Chile, at the foothills of the Andes, it was beautiful. I just thought “oh wow I could stay here forever”. Nice water based turf, with a pool in the background, it was really super.

LES … Hopefully we will have a water based turf field here (Cowichan) in a year or two.

JENNY ….. I know, it will be fabulous. Cowichan is going to get so many strong players out of that. Cowichan already produces strong players to begin with.

LES…. What is your most memorable moment in Field Hockey.

JENNY…That Provincial championship back in 1994/95. My first one in grade 10 was probably one of those experiences I will never forget. I will never forget playing Vanier in the final game on their field, which wasn’t very nice at the time. I will never forget Tracey (Court) scoring her goals. Most of all I will never forget the van ride home. Coming into town we were on the fire truck, that was probably one of my most memorable moments, and of course the first time dressed in my red and white both junior and senior. Both are very memorable but for feeling and emotion, definitely the provincial championships, and putting on the red and white and having my first cap. Having my mom come to the Commonwealth Games was pretty important to me too. She just kind of came at the last minute as a surprise. She said she was just thinking of coming but I didn’t think she would actually come.

JENNY… I first started playing nationally in 1994, I went to all the camps and if there was a junior team to play on in the national championships, I would play. In 1995 I went to another camp, 1996 was the junior world cup qualifier and then in 1997 was the junior world cup in Korea.

LES ….. Who do you consider the ultimate women’s hockey player in the world today?

JENNY ……Well I mean obviously Alyson Annan (the top striker from Australia), everyone knows of her, she’s phenomenal. The phenomenal player right now is the number 2 player from Argentina, she is their sweeper, I forget her name, “Celicia Reginony”, she can hit anyone just on a dime. She actually got carded and ejected at the Pan Am games for throwing a ball at an umpire over a bad call. In terms of a role model, don’t ever do that, don’t ever throw a ball at an umpire in an international game or you’ll get kicked out. But she’s a phenomenal player and she’s passionate about the game, obviously.

LES …What about Canada?

JENNY…Canada…. Phenomenal player… Lauralee Kopeck, I think, she’s consistent, she makes these amazing saves and she sacrifices…on the field …all the time …constantly. She’s a phenomenal athlete. I’ll never forget Lauralee coming in to sign my Barcelona poster in 1992, I was at Mt. Provost, I was so excited, I’m going to play with you one day, I’m going to, stick around, wait for me. And you know what, Lauralee is genuine, she would do anything for you, she would give you the shirt off her own back if she had too, she’s great that way, she’s a good team mate.

LES … What does the future hold for you and what are your dreams?

JENNY… My dream is to qualify for the Olympics. Go to the qualifier in France and qualify for the world Cup and then qualify for Athens Olympics in 2004, so that’s another 4 years for sure. I don’t know if I’ll retire after that. For sure I’ll be involved in field hockey, maybe in a club system. I don’t think I would ever stop playing.

SUE … What about playing through injuries?

JENNY…. Playing through injuries … I think it’s a mental thing, I’m sure of it and it’s not something I’m good at yet, because I have never had to deal with it before. Right now I have turf toe (a sprain in my big toe), usually I have a tight back in the morning and after practice. I’ve had some hamstring and muscular problems in the past but I’m feeling a lot better now. I’m even seeing Gary Ecklin for physiotherapy and he’s excellent, he really cares. Injuries are something you just have to stay on top of.

JENNY…. Make sure you tell your kids to stretch their backs and do back exercises. Because after playing hockey for ten years it begins to add up. I’m beginning to feel it know. I was just telling my husband, Jeff, “you know I use to go do about an hour long workout (I go and do my intervals a little quick warm up a quick cool down) but now it’s a 10 minute warm up a thirty minute stretch and cool down afterwards to make sure I hit all the muscles”, I also do lots of strengthening exercises for my back.

LES … how do you balance going to school, playing hockey and married life.

JENNY…. Before, I use to be very picky about school. I use to be so concerned before and now I’m not as concerned about how I do in school and I seem to be doing even better. It’s balance, if I was to just do field hockey I would probably go crazy and if I was to just do school I would probably go crazy and if I didn’t have Jeff…. well I mean I’m really lucky to have him. He’s my bonus and my support and if I need to vent he’s there, its balance which is really important. Sometimes it’s hard to balance. How do you add in other things. I have a handful of close friends and its certainly hard to keep track of everyone. You pick your moments on whom you want to be with and you do the things you really want to do. Some things you have to put on hold. I’m away from home a lot, it’s always fun to come home.

LES….What is the future of Field Hockey Canada for Women.

JENNY…I think right now we have a really good foundation, we have a lot of older core players and a lot depends whether or not they are going to stay in the program. It looks like they are, because if they weren’t, this would probably be the year that they would retire with the transition and all. We also have some great younger players coming up. I’m thinking that the only way is up. I don’t really think there is any other direction we can go.

LES .. In reading some of the comments (on the web) about our countries skill level, Canadian players are on par with a lot of the other countries they just haven’t been able to put it together. Would you agree?

JENNY…I agree. When we were on the field in Jamaica playing the U.S. team, you’d see these moments of brilliance. We were awesome but for all of three minute of the game, there was a break down, and they scored a goal to tie the match. We should have won. We’re doing the right things, but where are the results? Maybe that’s what it is, being consistent for 70 minutes because we have got skilful players, we work really hard. Even when we play other top teams, the scores aren’t that bad.

LES…. What advise would you give kids if they wanted to play for Canada one day?

JENNY..… Stay balanced. If you’re seven, eight or ten don’t just play field hockey and that’s it, play a variety of sports up until about grade ten or eleven. When you play a variety of sports you gain a lot of knowledge from other games, different strategies and even biomechanics and you develop good hand eye co-ordination. I played basketball and soccer right up until about grade ten (age 16) and then I think as soon as you decide (when it co-ordinates with your age for the junior program) I would say that’s when you start focusing on field hockey. You might have to make some compromises and say OK well I guess I’m not going to play soccer this year, I’m just going to play Field Hockey because its much more demanding to train at both. Don’t burn yourself out at a really young age. Really work hard at your skills and to do it because you love it. Other countries might disagree, they would say you have got to start specialising when your 10, but I don’t think so.

SUE .. Can you talk about how your dad supported you earlier on? Got you out practising, what age was that?

JENNY… At a young age. He had me kicking a soccer ball at age four or five and even probably before then. I remember him saying to me once “Jen, you can’t use your right foot, you can only use your left foot” He tried to get me to be ampedexterous and to this day I kick with my left foot (except now I can kick with my right foot). I think dad was pretty talented that way. As far as field hockey goes, he signed me up. He also helped me with gymnastics, I think dad just gave me a really good base for athletics. I remember right from square one, he told me if you want to be good and if you want to be the best, you have to practice. He would practice with me and he would show me different skills to work on. “Oh Jen, you should try doing this shot you should try it this way for George Boner School”. He would tell me to go run around the block for practice. And I would say “sure and I’d go run around the block and come back and say now what should I do dad” and he would say “Go again” so I’d run around the block again.

Dad was always really active with us in the back yard. I was really lucky. Both of my parents were really supportive.

LES …Any good stories that you want to share with us?

JENNY….Most recent story …. When I was away in Jamaica playing the U.S team, I scored the first goal so it was one to nothing for us. It took place in about the first 10 minutes of the game on a beautiful play. The ball had been worked up the left hand side and it slowly came back to the Centre midfielder, there was a little bit of a mix up, not too much, it came into Carla (Somerville), and Carla passed it over to me right at the top of the “D”. I received the ball and drilled it right into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. It was the best goal I have ever scored in international play. I was so excited because I knew this was a big game, I always celebrate goals to begin with, they don’t have to be mine, I celebrate regardless. I was so excited about this goal, I jumped up and I threw my stick. I guess I let go of my stick. I didn’t really mean to, the stick went flying and it, well the Americans said it landed on the goalie’s head. I think it landed on the ground and then hit the goalie’s pads. I don’t know exactly what happened next because I was so excited. We (the team) went back to the fifty and everyone was happy and then “tweet”, number six (which was me) I went over, yellow card, off the field, no idea why. Well I got carded for throwing my stick in celebration, I didn’t mean to at all, and I was off for ten minutes, and we had to play with only ten players.

LES… I was following that on Planet Field Hockey with their live (text only) coverage.

JENNY …Mom was laughing because she said that when she heard about the goal, she was so excited she was jumping up in the living room and ran down the hallway. Then she went back to hear the rest of the play, and she just couldn’t help but laugh because she has done the exact same thing. So I get that from her.

JENNY…..About Cowichan Junior Field Hockey.

I credit my development to the strong, well organised, junior program and all its many volunteers. It was so much fun playing junior hockey in Cowichan and in the Vancouver Island Ladies League, I mean this is a really special program.

This interview was conducted by Cowichan Field Hockey’s Sue Fraser and Les Mann.

On behalf of Cowichan Field Hockey I would like to thank Jenny Johnson for her open and warm comments and for her time.

Les Mann

Cowichan Field Hockey

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