Congrats! Three years in a row the United Brothers and Toros have taken top spot in our Annual Invitational Seniors Tournament. In the men’s division, the United Brothers defended their title in a shoot out against the Lions, after no score in regulation time. And no less exciting on the women’s side, was the final match where the Toros managed to pull out a win over the host team, A&C. Excellent, fast paced, skilled field hockey with competitive and passionate teams…amazing for newcomers to the sport to watch.
In its third year now, this tournament is becoming a bit of an institution. In both divisions, we’re sure there’s now some major motivation to dethrone the reigning champs and put someone new up on the podium. And win or lose, the consensus is that it is just a fun place to be for the weekend, to soak in the spirit and passion of the sport. Competitors on the field, friends off the field. The camaraderie is amazing in this sport and that’s why we love it.
On the Titans men’s team the ages ranged from under 12 to over 50. It was fantastic. On the A&C team the age ranged from under 16 to age 37; The Toros team consisted of a number of A&C alumni; There were ex-national players; There were current junior national and senior national players; There were ex-national players from other countries; There were current, upcoming, and retired Canadian university players; There were current, upcoming, and retired NCAA players; There were provincial players; There were Dads and sons; There were sisters and cousin; There were players from other provinces and players from other countries; There were national coaches playing; There were national and university coaches coaching; There were internationally and nationally certified umpires; There was an athletic therapist who also played; There were high school kids who have never played field hockey volunteering to help out; There were parents who have never picked up a stick, helping out behind the scenes; There was City staff excited to be an integral part of the event by ensuring the watering was on time; There was food donated for the players. This tournament and the passion of the participants, every volunteer behind the scenes, and every supporting spectator defines and exemplifies what IS the sport of field hockey.
Once this sport grabs you, it doesn’t let you go. We are not even sure what it is that makes it so. It is fast. It is highly technical. It requires skill. It requires fitness. It requires stamina. It requires tactics. It is amazing to play. It is amazing to watch. It is the second most popular sport world wide. It is an Olympic sport. It is a high school sport. It is a middle school sport. It is a university sport. It is an opportunity for travel. It is an opportunity for education. It is an opportunity for friendship. It is an opportunity for excellence. It is a recreational sport almost everywhere in the world except Canada. It crosses all borders, all nationalities, both genders, and all ages. People love it! And we love it! And that is why we do this tournament.
We are so lucky to have a world class field hockey facility in Brampton. If we could run programming on it from the first of May until the end of October every year we would. The field was the first in Ontario, installed two years ago for the Pan Am Cup and now we have two more down town Toronto being readied for this summer’s Pan Am Games. We know that there is enough interest and enough passion to sustain a tournament like this every weekend. It’s a lot of work and because of our short summers, it requires a lot of cooperation between all the field hockey clubs, the province, and the national programming to make sure we can accommodate each other’s schedules and programming to make sure as many people are able to participate in as many events as possible. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. We know we have the will and so we just need to commit to pulling together, keeping communication open, supporting each others programmes and we will continue to not only produce top notch players to feed into our university system and national programme, but we will also be able to provide opportunities like we did this past weekend for athletes to stay engaged in the sport they love and for the “old” and talented and experienced, to play along side the “new” and talented and inexperienced. These tournaments are one of the keys to making sure our developing athletes get the experience they need to go on and become the Ontario’s (and hopefully Canada’s) strength.
