Field Hockey Blog: Rhian Jones

Oct. 10, 2008

The only noise I could hear as I walked to the bus on Friday morning was the wheels of my travel bag sliding on the gravel and the low murmur of the bus waiting in the East Campus parking lot. It was 8:30 a.m. and we were headed to Maryland for THE game, our shot at the No. 1 team in the country. I had been excited for this game the whole season... Maryland is a big ACC rival and it was the closest game to my home, so lots of family and friends would be able to come. The bus was filled with the smell of breakfast sandwiches, bagels, and yogurt as everyone settled in and got ready for the ride ahead of us. I snuggled up with my blanket and pillow and was OUT until we arrived in Maryland.

I had a feeling that this had the makings of a good weekend when we arrived in the hotel and were met with complimentary cookies and lemonade... Maryland was definitely our kind of place! Since everyone knows that a good performance on the field requires a good meal the night before, we set off again in the bus for a kind of dinner none of us had since we came to Duke for preseason: a home cooked meal! Our big travel bus maneuvered its way through small streets to Sammy Nelson's house (our sophomore goalkeeper), where we met up with parents on the team and had a DELICIOUS team dinner. Chicken, veggies, steak, salad... everything was perfection. But Duke field hockey is all about the dessert, and the dinner definitely didn't fail in that department. We all indulged in pie with ice cream and cupcakes. After a couple team pictures, a few rounds on Sammy's rope swing, and plenty of good food, we headed back to the hotel for a quick meeting and got some sleep.

At 12:00 on Saturday, we all sat in the Maryland locker room for our usual pregame routine. This time, though, we were decked out in our pink warm-up shirts (in honor of breast cancer awareness), pink pre-wrap, and pink sweatbands. We watched a highlight film that our coaches had put together for us from our games so far this season, a new locker-room tradition that's been getting us SUPER pumped for our games this year! Then it was time for our game of Zoo, our crazy clapping, symbol game we play. As a still-learning Zoo player, I have been working hard to develop my skills, and for the first time of the season, of my life, I had a solid performance. I finally have mastered the waving elephant trunk in two beats, and once I even managed to clap in between my symbol and the next one (you have to see this played to understand fully). Everyone had all star performances, and it was official we had come to play.

The energy on the field was amazing. We may have been at Maryland, but you'd never know it because half the bleachers were a sea of our hardcore Duke Field Hockey fans that made the trek to the big game! The game was the definition of a team effort. We all worked hard for every minute, and came away with a huge win that every last one of us deserved. I have never felt prouder to wear my Duke jersey than I did after that game, because we had proved to ourselves and to everyone that we are a top team that can achieve amazing things this season! Being a part of this team has been so much more than I had ever hoped for. Every day is a reminder of why I chose Duke... for its great academics, beautiful campus, and excellent hockey program. But the greatest thing about Duke is sharing in the infectious passion for field hockey and the desire to be the best that all of the girls and our coaches embody.

I am so happy to play with and be around this team!

Go DUFH!!!

---Rhian Jones