When the Talawanda Board of Education suspended the high school field hockey program last year at the conclusion of a 2-11 season, a team of parents and volunteers stepped up to make sure the girls would continue to have a place to play.
The club field hockey program created at the end of last school year, Oxford Brave Field Hockey, fields teams for high school and middle school girls in the Southwest Ohio Field Hockey League, which is made up of eight club teams. The high school team’s record thus far is 0-3.
“I think with all the problems with the district and building a club team it really encouraged us to try and get better,” said Grace Bowers, a junior at Talawanda who had played field hockey for the school since her freshman year.
The Talawanda team used to play their home games at Talawanda High School, but the new club team now rents field time on the Miami University Field Hockey complex, which was renovated in 2018. The field is lined with state-of-the-art turf made specifically for field hockey.
“I think we’ve honestly improved a lot and I think being able to play on the astro turf is a really great experience for us,” said Ellery Duvall, a junior at Talawanda.
Wendy Duvall, who organized t-shirt sales to support the club team, said its funding comes from a mix of player fees, donations and fundraisers.
“Between all those things we’ve been able to manage the budget pretty well,” Duvall said.
Duvall and her husband used a mobile press to design and print on-demand t-shirts, which they sold at events even before the team was cut by Talawanda.
“We donated all the proceeds to the field hockey team,” Duvall said. “We knew the levy hadn’t passed and we were going to try to help subsidize fees.”
Most of the players are returning from Talawanda, so they had their equipment ready to go. Volunteer coach Madison Workman, a member of Miami University’s varsity field hockey team, said there were a handful of girls who relied on donations for their equipment.
“A couple of them didn’t have stuff and we had super generous donations,” Workman said. “We had a couple sticks, shin guards and pairs of shoes all donated to us.”
Duvall said that while there were some returning players, there were also a lot of new faces on the team.
“We’ve got a lot of new people, but I think everybody’s adapting to it really well,” Duvall said.
The fee to participate in the club is $400 for the summer and fall seasons. Transportation is not provided for games.
