Athlete of the week: Stephanie Renee Lucinda van der Raad

Yes that is her entire name, a very long one at that! Stephanie, or as some like to call her "Gwen" after Gwen Stefani is one of our youngest strikers on the team, at the young age of 19 years old. She comes from the small town of Amersfoort and just recently moved out of the "nest" for the first time and is now living life in the big city of Amsterdam for the first time!

One of the biggest changes of living on your own, is that you now have to fend for yourself for all meals! Gwen has a great mindset on cooking for yourself, she said "It doesn't have to be difficult to cook, you can use easy ingredients and recipes." I thought it was only fitting for Gwen to teach me how to cook one of the most traditional Dutch recipe's out there, Pancakes!

We picked a date and time and met at the Albert Heijn (local grocery store) to begin our adventure of making Pancakes! The three main ingredients to make these infamous pancakes are milk, flour, and eggs. Once we purchased that we had to decide what we would put on top of the pancakes. The Dutch have many more options for suitable toppings for the pancakes besides just syrup! We proceeded to buy brown sugar, jam, apple mousse (apple sauce), and dutch syrup (much thicker than american syrup!).

Once we biked back to her apartment with all of the ingredients in my bike basket, it was time to start cooking! After putting 3/4 of the milk in a bowl, we added the flour until it became the proper thickness. Then we added three eggs to complete the mixture. We heated the pan and put a bit of butter in and then added a scoop of the mix into the bowl. Gwen then proceeded to do some crazy swirling movement with her arm to get the mix to thin out around the entire pan, you could obviously tell that she had done this before! We made a great pancake feast, trying all different toppings, it lived up to everything I have heard about them!

From what I can see of her cooking at only the young age of 19, she has a great future of preparing many more lekker (yummy) meals!

Until next time!

Lauren

Debora Amber Hesseling: Hurley Featured Player of the Week

Yes that is correct, I will be introducing you to each player on the Hurley Dames 1 team!

Our first featured athlete is Debora Amber Hesseling, otherwise known as "Debbie". Along with most other hockey players in the Netherlands, she began playing field hockey at the young age of 6 years old. When asked why she began playing, she simply stated, "Because my brother and friends all played!".

However, this was not her only passion at age 6, she also took up ballet and tennis, yes I said ballet! She didn't make it much past the age of 6 with ballet and she was enrolled in tennis for 1 year and only made it to 2 trainings. It seems that field hockey was the winner from the start!

Debbie loves the sport of field hockey because of the team aspect (might be why ballet and tennis didn't work out so well!). She loves the way you train for the sport, playing lots of mini games and also the technical and tactical aspects. When asked what her favorite field hockey memory was, it took her some time to search through all the files in her mind, but she finally came up with an Indoor season with Kampong when they made it to 3rd place in the European Cup. She enjoyed the combination of having fun with her teammates and having a good performance. Of course we will be changing this answer very quickly to the 2010/2011 season with Hurley!

Now lets get to know a bit of Debbie's Kindergarden Favorites:

Debbie's Favorite Color: "Green. Although I don't have any green clothes or any green in my house. When I was younger I had to pick a color and I kind of just stuck with green. It's not like when you wear green it looks good on you. I mean who can really wear green!? Maybe I should just stick to blue or petrol (dark blue)."

I think Debbie may be a bit confused on her favorite color, we may have to come back later in the year and ask her that question again!

Debbie's Favorite Animal: "My Dog. Dribbel"

If you had to be any animal, what would you be Debbie? "A duck. Because they waddle and they can hardly swim or fly. But, they do everything. A duck's landing is like you just got your drivers license."

Debbie's Favorite Dutch Holiday: "Queens Day. Because it is the best party in the world! Everyone is in happy spirits, wearing orange, selling their stuff on the streets. All of the trams and cars are stopped because people are walking all over the streets!"

Debbie's Least Favorite Holiday: "There's not a holiday I don't like. As long as I get free time, I'm good!"

Thanks you Debbie for letting us into your hockey life and childhood favorites, stay tuned next week for more Hurley Superstars!

Life in Holland!

Hello from across the ocean!

I have been in Holland now for exactly one month, and what a month it has been! I have lived in 3 different locations, been through 2 injuries, met a team full of new girls, and have coached a variety of U12 girls teams! A few of my observations of this foreign land so far:

1) When they were deemed are the tallest country in the world, they aren't lying!

2) The are probably the "Greenest" country I have ever been in, which I absolutely love. Why, let me tell you:

A. Almost everyone bikes everywhere. You see people on bikes in their business suits and dresses on their way to work, you see babies on the front of bikes in a little bike seats, and the best is when you see grandparents biking with someone sitting on the back of the bike, it is amazing.

B. They don't give you grocery bags. You can buy a bag, and then they expect you to bring that back next time you come to the grocery.

3) You always have to be prepared for rain. You can leave in the morning and it looks like it will be a beautiful sunny day, and then an hour later it is down-pouring on you while your riding on the bike, but that doesn't stop people from biking!!

4) Cheese, Cheese, and more Cheese! They love their cheese and bread, and I can see why. I am slightly addicted to it right now as well. No Kraft cheese here, it is all the real deal. They have so many different old cheeses, goat cheese, and more.

5) And of course you can't ignore the smoke shops. Yes, they are all over the place. You will be walking down the street and you just get a wiff of marijuana. It is just a normal part of life here to see them on every other corner. It seems as though it is much more for the tourists that visit than for the locals though.

6) The hockey. The club system here is amazing. The club I am a part of has something like 1500 members, ranging from 6 years old to 50 plus. They have 5 turf fields and a club house with locker rooms, showers, and a bar with food and drinks. It is really a cultural experience. After all of our practices the club feeds us dinner and we just sit around and socialize for an hour or so. It is so nice to spend time with everyone off the field as well.

7) The people. Everyone has been super friendly, going over and beyond to help make me feel comfortable here. I can't wait to become even more engrossed into their culture and give back for everything they have provided me.

That's all for now. Check back for more updates and pictures!

Lauren

Hello!

It has been awhile since our last posting. Life has been crazy, with a World Cup Qualifier tournament and the finish our first indoor club season! I would like to take the opportunity to give you an inside look at our lives on tour. Below is a video from our overseas trip to Argentina earlier this year. I hope you have as much fun watching it as we do living it!

To the future...

I'd like to share with you a thought or two about the KaPow Indoor Field Hockey Experience ... about where we've come from ... where we are today ... and where we hope to be in the future.

First ... a little personal history that helps me put local field hockey into its rightful perspective.

It's 1999 ... the night before our indoor qualifier, and my Mom and I don't get on the road to go to the tournament until about 10 PM because of course, there was a school dance that I just HAD to go to! On the way, we pick up one of my teammates, Katie Grant. For the next two hours in the car, she braids every single strand of my hair, inserting about 50 bobby pins along the way. I'm still not quite sure how it was legal to play with so many weapons in my hair!

We finally arrive at the arena with our boom-box in hand, lime green tie-dye shirts glowing, and braided hair flopping all over the place. It's time to start our special pre-game ritual. One at a time, each of us takes to the court, dancing to our own beat. Gradually, we start getting serious about the warm-up. By the time the game starts, we're ready to kick some booty!

This is how it all began. We all loved field hockey. We didn't even know what indoor hockey was. We just knew that we wanted to play the sport we loved. And looking back, my most vivid memory of NIT's was the time we all dove on the court in perfect synchronism with our goalie to save a ball. I think our team laughed about that play for the entire next year. And to make it all the better, we were pretty darned good. Somehow, the combination of hair-braiding, boom-box dancing, tie-dye shirts and a lot of laughter combined with some decent talent, brought us a lot of success at NIT's. In the years that followed, for better or worse, we and a lot of other talented players succeeded in earning for our area the reputation of being a "Hotbed for Field Hockey."

So wow ... let's fast-forward to the 2009/2010 KaPow Hockey Klub season.

Snazzy KaPow team uniforms have been ordered and screen printed. The warm-ups have been distributed. Talented coaches have been hired. Practices and games have been scheduled in a new facility. Our website calendar has been filled so much, we had to ask our website manager to enlarge it! And our KaPow team selections have all been posted.

Yes, we've completed all the superficial parts of becoming a club. But the question remains, are we really a part of something special yet? Are we all part of something we'll treasure for years to come? Or are we somehow trapped by the notion of being a "Hotbed for Field Hockey."

When KaPow Hockey Klub was formed, we knew it could be something really unique. We love the sport of field hockey because of our experiences and the people we have met through the sport. We love how much fun it was, and can be. We love the experiences we shared off the court, as much as (and sometimes more than) the successes we achieved on it. We love that hockey has helped to define us as the people we are today. We want our players to live and experience the innocence and the purity of our own personal journeys ... journeys we took at a time when we weren't a "Hotbed," but instead, just a bunch of kids playing the sport we loved.

Times change. For better or worse. Now we're the "Hotbed." And yes, we have earned that name, and we should be proud of it. But we didn't get there by over-training, or by always being on the "best" team, or by "sweating the small stuff." We got there by following a path filled with laughter, a deep compassion for the sport, and the unending desire to play ... for fun!

KaPow's mission is to recapture that innocence and fun and playfulness ... to combine it with skilled trainers and hard work ... and to keep our kids on a path that promises wonderful experiences and lifelong memories for them, win or lose. We have all the tools to make it happen ... great coaches, talented players, and committed parents.

We hope you'll help us stay focussed on what really matters. And as much as we might be tempted sometimes to think that it's "being on the best team and making it to NIT's so you can be seen" ... it's not. What really matters is taking one year at a time and making improvements. It's becoming a better player this season. It's meeting girls from other schools and learning their stories and growing from their friendships. It's laughing, and hair braiding, and boom box dancing ... and letting hockey weave it's way naturally into the fabric of our lives in a way that nourishes, enriches, and motivates us to be better people.

The KaPow Hockey Klub has a different perspective. Because we want it that way. We come from a place and a time that had a very different focus ... a focus that taught us some pretty important life lessons. It was a focus that helped make us the "Hotbed of Field Hockey." But our challenge today is to forget that we're a "Hotbed." Our challenge and our mission is to live the incomparable dream of playing a sport you love in an environment that helps you be the best that you can be. We hope you share this vision, and we hope you'll help us keep Kapow on the kind of path that puts a smile on everybody's face, and keeps the pressure of winning where it rightfully belongs.

The results will be ... special.

And the games begin!

It has been a whopping 7 months since our last international match! As much fun as it is to play small games against each other and the occasional scrimmage against some of the men's national team, it was nice to final

ly put on the uniform, walk out onto the field, and stand proud while the National Anthem played.

And of course, for it to be against Argentina was even better. As part of the Pan American region, Argentina is probably our biggest rival and one of the teams we most frequently compete against. With their victory against us last spring in the Pan Am Cup, they prevented us from solidifying a spot in the World Cup, sending us to a World Cup Qualifier. One of which we are still waiting to hear the location of for this upcoming spring, we are keeping our fingers crossed for San Diego in late March!!

Our recent series against Argentina, November 4th -12th, we competed in 5 games over the course of 7 days. To say the least it is very mentally and physically taxing to play that many games at that level in such a short time frame, however something not one of us would pass up the opportunity to participate in. We came out of the series with 1 tie and 4 losses. Definitely a position to grow from! With a young USA squad we learned a lot of lessons and will take the experience with us as we begin our 2 month training for our World Cup Qualifier!

Onto the Next Phase

In our lives, there are seasons marked by the weather, or seasons marked by the calender (if you're in California). There are also phases that overlap numerous seasons. This past phase in my life can be defined by playing for the National team (from 2006 to present) and further defined by living in New York City for a season (the fall).

NYC - UN building (green box-like building)

I've been living in NYC for almost two months now and have finally settled into what you could consider a "normal" routine for the city - that is, each day is different. I have a different set of friends in various activity circles - intramural dodge ball, soccer, and club field hockey - a coaching job with Columbia University's field hockey team, and of course my job and activity - yes, its still an activity for me because its fun! - that trumps all other jobs and activities - playing on the Women's National Field Hockey Team.
Empire State Building

At the beginning of November, we start a five-test match series vs No. 2-in-the-world Argentina. We will take on the best player in the world Luciana Aymar and Las Leonas (nickname; literally translated as "The Lionesses") for the third time this year. Side note, if anyone can think of a good nickname for the United States field hockey team, please email. Sorry, but please refrain from the common themes of "chicks with sticks" or anything along those lines. Back to the test match series - This time the competition will be held on our turf in Chula Vista, CA at the Oympic Training Center - matches will be held on November 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 10th. Check the US Field Hockey website for updates!! (www.usfieldhockey.com).


With only a week left in the city before heading westward, I had time, while on my 40 minute subway commute to practice, to reflect on the months I got to spend in the biggest city in the country. For being a PA girl, I didn't do so badly. I took the wrong subway only 50 percent of the time, when sub merging from a subway ride, I walked the wrong direction only every time, and I avoided getting my shoes spit on by the every day NYC passer-byer every single time - thanks to those agility workouts!

East Village

What I liked and disliked the most though was the fact that nothing was familiar to me. At first, it was intimidating to walk the streets. Getting elbowed in the ribs while walking as fast as possible to get to the subway, I learned the hard way. So, rain or shine, agenda or no agenda - as soon as I stepped outside of my apartment, I narrowed the brows and marched, speed-walker style with tunnel-vision until I reached my destination, throwing the 'bows if need be... just kidding.. only sometimes!

There are of course downfalls - black holes to be exact - where only your money goes. There are few places you can go in this world where grocery shopping is comparable to my monthly car payment. On the flip side, there are few places you can go where you are able to get every ethnic cuisine desirable within a 2 block radius - and it is absolutely the best thing you've ever tasted..for 100 dollars! So what I'm saying is that it's expensive here - to eat in, to dine out, to rent a 4 x 6 room, to take public transportation, to buy a yoga mat!

U.S. Open

Nevertheless, it has been an experience I would choose to do again. Living here has made me appreciate all of its characteristics - good or bad, beautiful or ugly. I feel "accomplished" having survived the shoe spitting, subways, and rough crowds and know it will be a place I will return to.. next time - better prepared! The city's got nothing on me!