Port Alberni’s high school has a field hockey team for the first time in almost two decades.
For the first time since 2006, students at Alberni District Secondary School (ADSS) had the opportunity this year to join a school field hockey team, coached by Andi Shannon and Giles Wheatley.
Shannon explained that Port Alberni had a “pretty robust” field hockey program in the past, but this petered out over the years due to a lack of volunteers. Both Shannon and Wheatley played field hockey growing up, and hoped their kids could have the same experience.
“I loved the opportunity to participate on a team,” said Shannon. “I have a lot of memories from those days. I travelled a lot with it and went overseas. There are a lot of opportunities that can come out of it.”
It was around 2016 that a few volunteers—including Shannon and Wheatley—started up a junior spring program for field hockey. It was a “humble start,” said Shannon, with only 10-12 kids participating in the first year. Now, the program consistently has more than 50 boys and girls playing field hockey each season.
Wheatley says it was always their hope that they could get kids competing at the high school level, too.
“The kids who started with us in the spring program years ago are growing up and starting to enter the high school,” he said.
High school field hockey in B.C. is a two-tiered system, with a competitive and a development league. The sport is open to girls from Grades 8-12 and runs through September and October. Port Alberni’s team is in the development league, and experienced “middle of the road” success this year, said Shannon.
“We had some losses, some wins and some ties,” she said. “We were playing against kids who had a lot more access to bigger leagues and regular training. So being able to compete is really good.”
Wheatley added that they had “quite a few” players who were playing the sport for the very first time this season.
“It’s been a real steep learning curve,” he said. “But we’re getting out new players and building a base for future teams and future success.”
Although the high school season has ended, both Shannon and Wheatley hope they will be able to build on the success for next year.
“We seem to be getting some really good feedback,” said Shannon. “I keep hearing that people are excited to have field hockey back at ADSS.”
“This is really the first step in building a program for years to come,” added Wheatley.
The spring field hockey program in Port Alberni runs from April to June, and Wheatley says he’s “happy” to have new players come out. The program is open to boys and girls aged 4-13. For more information, check out the group Alberni Field Hockey on Facebook.