Indoor Hockey

I played indoor hockey in a gym on campus once a week, on a team with three other girls. We trained once a week and then played a match once a week against one of three other teams in our league. The league was organized by my Dutch co-year here at school. He is also the person who helped us learn the rules of indoor hockey and developed training drills for us. I could not have participated in this activity without his direction.

I was very physically actively back home but I did not do any real organized physical activity here at college, so the Indoor Hockey League was my first experience with organized sports in almost a year. I had never played indoor hockey before and I was quite out of shape when I joined a team so I had to work extra hard to both understand the game and become fit enough to play it.

I do regret not having trained enough for my team because I could have gone running on my own or worked out in the gym by myself and that would have likely improved my performance for my team. If I participate on a team again, I will make sure to train more on my own.

Playing hockey was a nice way to release the everyday stress of college life. I finally had a constructive outlet to go and vent the week's frustration in. I bonded with the girls on my team over the common challenge of competitive sport. We had to schedule out our own practices and work together to win matches.

It was a rewarding experiences on many levels as well as being beneficial for my health. Even though I could have participated more in the activity by taking more personal initiative, my shortcomings have motivated me to work harder in the future.