Dear editor,
As the current captain of the Carleton women’s field hockey team, I feel the need to respond to the two articles written about the team in the recent edition of the Charlatan. Last week, the Charlatan’s varsity report card awarded the field hockey team a failing grade. The goal of every competitive team is to win. No player on the field hockey team trains year-round, attends early morning practices and sacrifices employment, schoolwork and often a social life, with the hope or expectation of losing. Our performance this year was not good enough to garner us a place in the Ontario University Athletics playoffs – in this respect, we failed to achieve our primary goal for the season.
Although I am disappointed with that article, my greater concern is with the editorial that suggested that the field hockey team should be stripped of its varsity status. The editorial argued that the women’s rugby team’s record as a competitive club has earned them a chance to compete as a varsity squad. As a member of the athletics board for the past two years, I have whole-heartedly supported the addition of women’s rugby to the varsity roster; however, I have also suggested that this school needs to move away from the notion that the addition of one team must necessitate the termination of another.
My teammates are pillars of the field hockey community in Ottawa. Along with other contributions, these young women are responsible for coaching and umpiring high school field hockey (including umpiring at the OFSAA high school championships), coaching the Eastern Ontario regional team and organizing the Ottawa indoor and outdoor field hockey leagues – contributions that make me extremely proud to have had the opportunity to call these women teammates and friends. The termination of the Carleton women’s field hockey team would be a tremendous blow to field hockey, not only in this city, but in the province. Without Carleton, it would be difficult for other Eastern Ontario and Quebec schools to justify the travel costs of their teams.
Ultimately, I think that it’s unfortunate that the editors of the Charlatan have chosen to use this as a platform to advocate for the success of one women’s team to the detriment of another.
Nora Draper
master’s of communication
captain, Carleton varsity women’s field hockey team