Junior Girls Field Hockey: A Cinderella Season

In fairy tales, the magic comes on the third try; like Goldilocks’ porridge, it’s the third taste that’s just right. Our Cinderella story began on the Shawnigan turf. In our first game, a complicated system of hydraulic pistons subtly titled the field towards our goal: is there any other way to explain how desperately difficult our girls found it to even cross half, let alone score? In rags, we scrubbed the floor and dreamed of liberation from our wicked stepsisters of Mid-Island independent schools. In our next match, we tasted the bitter gruel of defeat once more and we could only shake our heads as we watched them high-five in celebration. Yes, we earned a Bronze medal at the ISAs, but there was only one dancer we wanted to get struck down by a pumpkin carriage at the season-ending Island Championships. Vegas listed the odds of Brentwood finishing the season above Shawnigan at 50-1, and even beloved assistant coach Brad Sinclair grabbed a piece of that action, muttering something about paying for the mounting costs of team Captain Kaela’s hair supplies: those curls are not natural. Credit it to coach Jackson’s cunning plan to play the final tournament in glass slippers instead of cleats, credit it to Bud Patel’s rousing caroling of “Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boo” throughout the final, credit it to magic if you will, but when the dust settled, when the scores were tallied, and when the clock struck midnight, Brentwood finished second on the Island, losing only to GNS by a penalty stroke, and, much more importantly, leaving our nemesis howling in jealousy when Prince Charming chose our hand, not theirs, in marriage. Thank you to the all of the young ladies, especially my Captain, Kaela, and my assistant coach Brad, who made this season of field hockey a very special one indeed. Just like the classic fairly tales, this will be a story passed on through the ages. Thank you also to Mr. Collis (proud parent) for this eloquently summarized account of our season. Mrs. Jane Jackson, Coach