Redwood’s field hockey team is off to an exciting start in its inaugural season.
The team of 25 girls was created by senior Emily Caindec, with the help of Athletic Director Jessica Peisch and coach Jen Reidy, and consists of players from all grade levels.
Together, they have been working to create a girls’ field hockey team for the past two years.
According to Caindec, the most difficult part of the process was how long it took to turn the idea into a reality, which was especially long because their plans to have the team ready for the 2014 season didn’t pan out.
“We had been working on the budget for the 2014 season, but we didn’t get the new sport into the budget on time in 2014, so we ended up having to wait another year until the sport could actually start,” Caindec said.
According to Athletic Director Jessica Peisch, her role in the creation of the team was working with the current coach and the district athletic coordinator to figure out the budget, the items needed, and setting the coach’s stipend.
Coach Jen Reidy said that she worked alongside Peisch and Caindec, as well as the Tamalpais High School Union District to help put together the proposal, budget, and the parameters for the creation of the team.
According to Peisch once the sport was approved by the school board, they had to ensure they ordered all of the proper equipment on time.
Although this is the team’s first season, over 50 girls attended the first day of tryouts, according to Caindec.
Caindec said that a lot of girls were interested in field hockey because it was both a new sport and less competitive than many other sports at Redwood.
“We still had to have cuts because we had so many girls come try out, but recruiting girls was not a challenge,” Caindec said.
According to Reidy, over 70 girls came to the information meetings prior to the start of the season.
“There was a tremendous interest in more women’s sports, and my hope is that we start with the varsity team, and with enough parents and athletes speaking up we can more quickly add a JV team,” Reidy said.
Although the girls’ field hockey team is not part of a league, they plan to play the teams at Marin Catholic, St. Ignatius and Berkeley University two times each during the season, according to Caindec.
Caindec said she first got the inspiration for the team while playing a game similar to field hockey during physical education class.
“After having a shoulder injury from volleyball, I knew that it would be a challenge for me to play to play overhand sports in high school,” Caindec said. “When we played a game similar to field hockey in PE, a group of friends and I joked around about how it would be fun if Redwood actually had a real team, and with that inspiration, I seriously started thinking about it and approached Ms. Peisch.”
Additionally, Caindec said that Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity, according to the United States Department of Justice, made it easier to create a new sport.
“Once we started looking into the addition of a new team, we realized that Redwood was lacking one sport for girls,” Caindec said.
However, Peisch said that the previously unequal number of boys and girls sports teams was not a deciding factor in the decision to add the girl’s field hockey team, and that the team was created solely based on the need and interest for it.
