![]() One of our newest club members is Morgan Caldera, a senior at Archbishop Mitty High School who is committed to UC Davis. Though she is new to our club, she already knew several of our players from Nexus and other recruiting events and we're happy she joined us to play her last club season. Morgan had been considering UC Davis seriously for school, "I wanted to go to UC Davis because they have strong academics, the “college” town itself is great, and obviously they have a great athletics program. Also, my brother attended UC Davis, so I grew up visiting him at Davis’ campus and town. I always enjoyed traveling up to Davis..." Combining her love for the school with the possibility of playing collegiate field hockey there was super exciting. She contacted UC Davis in the summer/fall 2021 after playing in Davis' spring 2021 11v11 tournament and at their summer camp. But her recruiting process hit "pause" when the coaching staff changed. Regardless, Morgan knew that she wanted to go to Davis as she intended to study Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior. UC Davis is well respected and highly ranked in the country for its biological sciences. This meant she had to restart the recruiting process with the new coaching staff - emailing them, sending videos, and making plans to be seen. She attended the pre-clinic camp in April 2022 where she met Coach Austin, the new head coach. Having seen her play at their camp and then their 7v7 tourney, Coach Austin contacted her and invited her to an official visit. "On my visit, I was able to see what being a part of the field hockey program was like and I learned about the resources and support that they provide for their student-athletes. I really enjoyed being able to meet the team and experience life in Davis, and it confirmed how great of a fit that Davis was for me." At the end, she verbally committed to UC Davis. Morgan's story highlights a few things when being recruited and after committing:
Knowing what is important to you in a college will help you decide which ones to continue to pursue. Like Morgan. She knew UC Davis was right for her and we're looking forward to cheering her on as she competes for the Aggies.
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![]() Jordan Reicher's story is a bit different from most. We're excited for her to join the field hockey program at American University where she committed last year. But her path to American U was not a straightforward one. The past few years have seen several coaching changes throughout the collegiate field hockey community. Coaching changes could happen for several reasons - retirement, restructure of athletics organizations, movement to administrative roles in USA Field Hockey, assistant coaches taking the next step to head coach positions, and more. You, as a field hockey prospect, need to stay on top of your recruiting process, even after you've committed to a field hockey program. Jordan did not start playing field hockey until her freshman year in high school. [While this seems late, she spent several years playing soccer and fortunately, many of the tactics of playing the game translate directly to field hockey.] She attended Super 60, a popular multi-day event that lets prospective student athletes meet and work directly with several college coaches. Many of our players attended this at the beginning of their recruiting process to get broad exposure to many different college coaches. "During my summer going into junior year I did super sixty and started the NEXUS program where I first met the UC Davis head coach and gained interest from a lot of D3s and a few small D1s. Later in that summer Davis gave me an offer and I accepted it. I knew UC Davis was an amazing school with great academics. I didn't really get the chance to look at any other schools so I accepted." One would think that she could relax now that her search was over. Six months later, though, the UC Davis head coach moved to an east coast school, leaving the position open. This put Jordan back in limbo. Well aware that a verbal commitment is just that - verbal - she realized that she had two options. Does she stay and hope that she will like the new head coach and everything will work out or does she start searching for a new field hockey home? Jordan decided to look at this as an opportunity to do more exploration and research into other colleges. UC Davis was/is a great school but with such a big unknown, it makes sense to take the time to rethink your priorities and your fit into the program and university. This of course meant that she had to get back to work - introducing herself to coaches, sending video highlights, essentially, restarting her recruiting process. "...so I started sending emails with highlights to other schools that I had interest in. Unfortunately by this time in my junior year, I learned that most D1 schools already had full rosters for my class. I did gain interest from a few D3s again and a few more D1s like Indiana, Bucknell, and American through emailing them and sharing my highlights." The new search opened her eyes to the possibilities of studying and playing outside of California and what she could gain from a collegiate experience on the east coast. "After researching American more I decided that it would be the best fit for me. While Davis was great, I wanted a change of pace from what was too familiar to me. AU had an amazing location and had more of what I wanted in a major. I came to learn that AUs coach is one of the best in the country, he was super positive and I felt strongly that he was going to help me grow as a player. Luckily he valued me as a player and offered me a spot on the team. I gladly accepted." Jordan hasn't decided on a major as yet but AU offers several more fields of study that interest her than UC Davis. And living and studying in Washington, DC, would be a decidedly distinctive collegiate experience. We're thankful that Jordan was happy to share her story because it highlighted several things about college recruiting to keep in mind:
We love a happy ending, especially when it comes to college recruitment. We're looking forward to streaming Jordan's games next fall as we watch her play in her American eagles uniform. ![]() This time, we are highlighting Jaiya Labana and her choice of Cal for her collegiate field hockey career. Currently a senior at St. Francis High School, she is looking forward to joining the Class of 2027 at Cal and competing as a bear. UC Berkeley has always been at the top of her list of colleges. "I chose Cal because of its beautiful campus, its great coaches, and amazing academics. Cal has always been my top choice and I am super grateful to attend in the fall." Currently, Cal is the top public university in the country and offers a broad range of fields of study for its students. "I am still deciding [on my major], but will possibly be a major in engineering or data science." We're happy for Jaiya getting a spot at her top choice field hockey program though she considered other field hockey programs back east as well. We're looking forward to watching her compete next fall in a Cal bears uniform. As you start looking at field hockey programs, put together a list of about 20-30 schools in all levels (D1, D2, D3) to consider. Keep in mind that more often than not, players end up at a university that was not in their original list of favorites for various reasons. As you embark on your recruiting journey and begin to tour campuses, meet college coaches and teams, you will start to figure out what is important to you. Location? Size of school? D1? D3? Training time obligations? Restrictions on possible majors? Coaching staff? In addition to field hockey, make sure you consider other aspects about the college that could matter to you. ![]() This is the first in a series of blog posts about each of our current committed players. We hope that their stories will highlight certain aspects of choosing a college and the recruiting process that our younger players may want to consider. First up is Emma Robbins, our youngest committed player who is a junior in high school. Staying close to home was key to her decision to become an Aggie and join the UC Davis field hockey program. “At the beginning of my junior year, I committed to UC Davis in August of 2022, joining the recruits for the class of 2028. I chose UC Davis partly because of its location— it’s both close to home but not right in our backyard, and it’s only an hour and half drive to the mountains where I can ski, hike, and mountain bike.” Emma kept an open mind and considered heading east as well when contacted by a couple of coaches there. “At the start of my recruiting, a couple of schools reached out to me, like Swarthmore, after I went to Super Sixties and attended a couple of clinics. However, after talking it over with my family and visiting the east coast, I decided I really wanted to stay in California for school. With that choice, I narrowed my options down to Cal or UC Davis before eventually choosing Davis.” UC Davis was always a strong contender as family road trips took them through the vibrant college town of Davis, solidifying her desire to stay relatively local for college. “…when driving to Truckee, my family and I would often stop to eat in Davis, and I loved the college town vibes and food!” Academically, UC Davis is ranked #10 in the country for public universities. Emma liked the “…broad diversity in both the programs they offer and the students, which added to its appeal. At Davis, I plan on either majoring in English or International Relations with an emphasis in creative writing; I’ve always loved reading, especially fiction, and creating my own stories.” While the UC Davis field hockey coaching staff is relatively new to the university, their shared enthusiasm for the game is addicting and motivating, which inspires the players they coach. “They also seem to have so much fun coaching and working with the team; they’re always laughing and exuding positivity. Coach Austin encourages players to follow their interests and major in subjects they see themselves pursuing in the future, rather than picking something to accommodate the field hockey schedule.” "Since Coach Austin took over the team, I can feel his genuine excitement and determination to continue improving the Aggies’ program. For instance, he’s created a really challenging pre-season schedule for the team as they will be facing off with highly ranked programs, illustrating his growth mindset." We’re super excited for Emma and look forward to watching her play in an Aggie uniform in Fall 2024. |
AuthorThe official blog of NorCal Impact field hockey club. This is where you'll find the latest goings-on with our club and field hockey at large. Archives
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