After steering the field hockey team to its most successful season in years, coach Tina McDavitt traded in her whistle for a mouthguard and replaced her brown-and-blue with red- white-and-blue to join the ranks of some of the sport's best players.
McDavitt was recently one of 12 players named to the 2005 U.S. National Indoor Field Hockey team following team trials in Feasterville, PA on Dec. 17.
The fifteen-woman roster, which includes 12 players and three alternates, represents some of field hockey's most talented and recognized players. McDavitt is among a dozen returning members of the 2004 team and will be competing alongside three former All-Americans, two All-America East selections, several former members of the U.S. national outdoor team, and a former U.S. Olympian.
Scott Smith, currently the assistant coach of the Northeastern field hockey team, will return as head coach for the women's team.
The 2005 squad will compete in the 3rd Indoor Pan-American Cup late this year or early next year, where a finish in the top two would qualify the U.S. for the 2nd Indoor World Cup, to be held in Vienna in 2007. The U.S. team placed third in the 2002 Pan-American Cup and missed the cutoff for the first Indoor World Cup.
The team began its 2005 tour against the Canadian national team earlier this month, losing 4-3 and 4-0, and will travel to Vienna in mid-February to play the Austrian national team.
In addition to anticipating the bonus of traveling all over the world, McDavitt also believes that her continued involvement in high-level hockey will add to her coaching abilities.
"I can learn so much from watching others, especially such talented players," she said. "I'll see different moves and be able to bring them back as a coach and teach them to the team and get new ideas."
Although she has enjoyed coaching along the sidelines, McDavitt has not given up her spot between them. She has continued playing on a club team, which she says allows her to stay in game shape and keep her stick skills sharp, crucial qualities for the quicker tempo and more intricate stickwork of indoor hockey.
"[Indoor] is definitely much faster-paced," she said. "The game is much more tactical and you can really be creative."
Indoor field hockey differs from the outdoor game in both rules and playing style. The playing surface is dramatically smaller and each side fields only six players, as opposed to the 11 in the outdoor game. The traditional slapshot is prohibited, so the play is focused on shorter push-passes and dribbling, and the narrower goal requires precision shooting.
Field hockey has generated increased interest over the past decade at both the national and international levels. The U.S. sponsored its first national indoor team in 2002 after the International Hockey Federation recognized the indoor game at the world level. Previously, the U.S. had been represented by the under-23 national team.
McDavitt's field hockey career began in Walpole, MA with back-to-back state championships in 1994 and 1995. Recruited by Boston University, she was a four-year standout for the Terriers, rounding out her career as captain of the 1999 squad, the No. 13 undefeated America East champions.
McDavitt pursued her love of the game beyond graduation, accepting an assistant coaching position at Holy Cross. During her stretch there, the Crusaders earned regular-season Patriot League championships in 2000 and 2001.
After four seasons at Holy Cross, she was offered the head coaching job at Tufts to revitalize a program that had gone 12-30 the previous three seasons.
McDavitt did just that, nearly reversing the team's 2003 season record as the Jumbos christened their brand new Bello Field en route to a 10-6 season, finishing with wins in five of their last six regular season games.
And although she is sometimes mistaken for one of her own players around campus, McDavitt sees her selection to the team as somewhat of a reassuring sign.
"It's good to know that at 26, I can still keep up and play at this level," she said. "I really love the game, and I'm excited to stay involved."
