With a new coach and more vigorous practices, the RHS varsity field hockey team hopes to improve significantly last year’s 4-8 record in the upcoming fall 2007 season.

The Lady Rams have two new coaches this year, varsity coach Amanda Gordon and JV coach Brittany Knowles. Knowles, who also coaches JV girls’ basketball and softball, is working on getting her girls in shape by focusing on conditioning during practices. “I think we’ll do better because she actually makes us run,” said junior Paige Hall. Also, the team is working on stick skills much more than in previous years.

Although nine seniors graduated last year, there is a lot of new talent being added to the team. With practices being centered around skills and conditioning, players new to the varsity level of sports will be able to improve their playing level quickly. “We have better players this year…we will win,” said Hall. The team’s main goal for this year is to do better than last year.

This past week, the Lady Rams participated in two scrimmages. The first scrimmage, which was against the Wheaton Lady Knights, ended with a win. After a slow first half, the team picked up the pace, becoming very aggressive. With a renewed confidence, the team was able to get to the ball first, gain possession and ultimately take control of the game.

This gave the Lady Rams a big confidence boost which carried into their second scrimmage against the Sherwood Lady Warriors. However their confidence soon diminished due to nerves. With nerves running high, the team was not able to perform at their best, which cost them the game.

With practices going well and having won one of their scrimmages, the Lady Rams are ready for this upcoming season. It is their chance to prove that with a new coach and new players, they are on track to being better team than ever before. With senior captain Danielle Duplain and coach Gordon leading the Lady Rams, the season looks very promising for field hockey.