The weekend after Christmas was big for me. I had my U19 Nation Indoor Qualifiers (NIQs) for field hockey. What qualifiers do is help root out the best teams, out of indoor club teams, in a region to go play at National Indoor Tournament (NITs). Each team is guaranteed to play four games no matter the turn out of each game. Though only a certain percentage of teams are allowed to qualify. Specifically, the top eight teams at my tournament would qualify out of 14 teams.
While looking over the schedule a few weeks back, I had a really good feeling about qualifying. We would have faced teams that were our level, maybe a little weaker or maybe a little stronger. Two days before our tournament the schedule was changed due to two teams dropping out. Then our chances of qualifying plummeted. The teams we were going to face changed to teams that were well known for always placing high at NITs. The teams that we were evenly matched with turned to teams that far outreach the level of my team.
On December 29th, I woke up at 4:30 to go to The Sportsplex in Feasterville. Though it is only an hour and a half away, my team had one of the first game slots at 8:00. My entire team, including myself, was excited at having a chance at qualifying. even if we were faced with slim odds. In the first game, we lost eight to zero. In the second game, we lost six to zero. In the third game, we won four to three. In the fourth game, we lost four to three. In the fifth game, we lost three to two. It was a very rough start, but towards the end, we faced teams closer to your skill level.
Throughout the day my team fought to the very end trying as hard as we could to have a chance at qualifying. You could see that each loss took a hard hit on the team’s morale, but we still fought tooth and nail against some of the best teams in the region. I am proud of the progress we have made since our first tournament. We have grown as a team and after many tournaments and practices, we have grown to work very well together. I am proud to say I am part of Marajoka Purple.
While looking over the schedule a few weeks back, I had a really good feeling about qualifying. We would have faced teams that were our level, maybe a little weaker or maybe a little stronger. Two days before our tournament the schedule was changed due to two teams dropping out. Then our chances of qualifying plummeted. The teams we were going to face changed to teams that were well known for always placing high at NITs. The teams that we were evenly matched with turned to teams that far outreach the level of my team.
On December 29th, I woke up at 4:30 to go to The Sportsplex in Feasterville. Though it is only an hour and a half away, my team had one of the first game slots at 8:00. My entire team, including myself, was excited at having a chance at qualifying. even if we were faced with slim odds. In the first game, we lost eight to zero. In the second game, we lost six to zero. In the third game, we won four to three. In the fourth game, we lost four to three. In the fifth game, we lost three to two. It was a very rough start, but towards the end, we faced teams closer to your skill level.
Throughout the day my team fought to the very end trying as hard as we could to have a chance at qualifying. You could see that each loss took a hard hit on the team’s morale, but we still fought tooth and nail against some of the best teams in the region. I am proud of the progress we have made since our first tournament. We have grown as a team and after many tournaments and practices, we have grown to work very well together. I am proud to say I am part of Marajoka Purple.
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| Last practice before NIQs |
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| During one of our many tournaments |
That really sucks that you didn’t qualify for NITs :(. However, it’s great that you guys got a lot closer over the course of the season. Hopefully you guys can qualify next year!
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