The Field hockey team has many different traditions that they continue every year.
One of the first traditions that the team has is “Big and Little Sister”, the seniors pick a freshman and juniors pick a sophomore that is who they will help throughout the season, during the season the “Big Sister” will write notes and give them little gift bags before their games to help encourage them and to show that they are there to support them.
“Traditions are important for our team because they bring us all together as one and make us truly feel like a family. On and off the field being all together as one is the thing that will set us apart from all the other teams. And will help us achieve our full potential as a team,” Kowalski said.
The biggest tradition is their own mascot that they carry with them to games and practices.
Her name is Winnie.
She is a very old teammate but she is always pushing through every game giving everyone good luck during hard or rough games no matter the outcome.Winne came from an old teammates mom who made it for the team, She has been with the team for over 31 years and she was there even when Coach Drudy was still playing for the team.
“The specific origin of Winnie is still under research. Winnie has definitely been with us since the early 2000s. Other recollections go as early as the 90s,” Coach Drudy said.
The field hockey team has made it a tradition to pass her down, every year at their team banquet a senior will pass her down to a junior (A rising senior) then they will get to keep her for the rest of the season to bring her to games, practices, and anything else the team does together, they will keep her till their next banquet at the end of the season.
“The field hockey team loves to have Winnie cheering us on, on the sidelines because she just brings the whole team together. She is always there no matter what the outcome of the game is and is just a constant for everyone,” senior Ella Kowalski said.
Kowalski was chosen to take care of Winnie all season this year. She is very excited to be the one who gets to have her throughout the season.
“Ella has gone as far as bringing Winnie to every game and practice. Winnie has now upgraded to a car seat for her travel safety. Ella bought that at the beginning of the season,” Drudy said.
Winnie has her very own jersey. She wears Amanda Strous’ #40 jersey. Stous is a former DHS field hockey player who passed away in 2016.
According to Kowalski it is a great way to keep her involved in the program.
“Amanda was an amazing player on the field and such an amazing person on and off the field. Winnie having the honor of wearing her jersey every year is just a small way that we can always have a piece of Amanda with out team and carry her legacy throughout the years.”
