At play

The Baltimore Sun

The final minutes of the game between the Royal Blue and Teal teams sure didn't seem like a summer field hockey matchup.

The players chased every ball at a full sprint. They banged into each other as they fought for the ball. They argued with the referee.

A few minutes later, though, players from both sides stood on the field and the track, laughing and joking with each other. It was hard to comprehend that a hard-fought game had just ended.

"It's definitely a competitive league," said Liz McNichols, who runs the Teal team. "There's no playing for fun."

Now 23, McNichols' playing career is over, but she still loves the game.

Played at Broadneck

She played field hockey at Broadneck High and at St. Mary's College in Southern Maryland and served as volunteer assistant coach for the Broadneck Bruins' junior varsity team last year. She just finished her first year as a teacher at Piney Orchard Elementary School.

McNichols is always seeking to improve at defense, but now she's able to teach other players in this summer league run by the Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks.

There is an unusually variety of ages in the league: High school freshmen often mix on the field with 30-year-olds. The concept has done nicely for more than 20 years.

"We believe it works," said Franklin Chaney, director of operations for the Department of Recreation and Parks. "We did it initially because we didn't have as many participants for more than one league. But this just works out so well that we just keep on doing it."

McNichols said that it's a good way for younger players to learn from more experienced people and try different things.

While that kind of experimentation could result in a mistake that could hurt a high school team and land the player on the bench, it's encouraged here.

"You don't have a coach standing right there watching you," McNichols said. "You just go out there and play. Some of my best games have come from the summer league because I feel like I'm not inhibited."

Blend of abilities

Each player can request two people they'd like to be on a team with. But the Department of Recreation and Parks sets up the teams -- now 14 -- and tries to keep a good blend of ages and abilities with the 25 players on each group.

The teams also can bring together friends and family. Suzanne Keys, 28, who runs the Maroon team, plays with her sisters, Valerie Bryant, 25, and Melissa Bryant, 23. All three played varsity field hockey at Chesapeake High, and Keys was on the York College team.

"It's a lot of fun for us," she said. "We always get along well together, and our mom still shows up for the games."

Keys also supports letting younger and older players compete together. She's been playing in this league for 14 years and said she tries to be careful when working with younger players.

"We don't want to mess with what their coaches have taught them," she said. "But if we can tweak something, we will."

Many who play in this league don't need skills tweaked because their high school/college playing days are long gone. This league lets them get back on the field with old friends they played against years ago, sometimes at the same place.

That's where the laughter comes from. But when they step on the field, everything changes.

"It's pretty cutthroat competition," McNichols said. "It's an awesome league to play in."

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