Anne van Erp and Christine Fingerhuth are two nationally recognized field hockey players. They are also international students, whose first trip to the United States was in August of their freshmen year. The trip wasn’t for a campus visit or a school trip; instead it was for preseason of the sport they love.
Both athletes hadn’t thought about playing field hockey at a university in America until they spoke with team alumni who had done just that. Fingerhuth spoke with two Chilean girls who played for AU, while van Erp got the idea from her friend who plays at Georgetown.
A junior and one of the team’s most relied upon midfielders, van Erp is from Hilversum, Netherlands. She began playing field hockey on a club team at the age of 8. Since there are no school teams in Europe, she was forced to turn elsewhere to play.
Fingerhuth is the team’s lead striker and a junior from Santiago, Chile. Surrounded by a family of field hockey players, including her grandmother, father and brother, it is no surprise that Fingerhuth picked up the club sport when she was 9 years old. Since then, she has played on Chile’s Junior National Team and was named MVP of the Junior Pan American Games in ’08.
Although both van Erp and Fingerhuth learned English in school, neither of them would have called themselves fluent upon their arrival to the States.
“There are so many words that you obviously don’t learn,” van Erp said. “You only learn them when you go to the country.”
Many may think these words are slang words known only to American youth. Instead, they are something much more important, words that are almost required to play American field hockey.
“The first practice was like ‘Ahhh, is this English?’ I had no idea what as going on,” Fingerhuth said.
Traveling home is hard for the two players during the school year. As a result, their families have also come to AU to visit and watch them play. Even with the visits, if it were not for Skype, the Internet and cell phones, it would be a lot harder.
“With all the technology now you can talk to your parents all the time or with friends,” Fingerhuth said. “There are times when you are really homesick, but it’s not like back in the day when you had to wait two weeks to get a letter from your family.”
On the other hand, van Erp said she feels like she has to live two lives. While the life she has in the United States is important, she still wants to keep in close contact with the people from Europe, she said.
At the moment, both girls are focused on this season. The team’s goals are to win the Patriot League for the seventh year straight without losing a game and advancing to the NCAA Final Four. After a handful of disappointing games, including a 5-1 loss to Michigan State last week, the team has a new game plan to look inside themselves for inspiration and focus.
Both agree that faith in the team is something they have worked on over the summer. Both girls look to start a game with “attitude,” showing the team is prepared and in game mode.
“We need to look at every game separately, and not look ahead because there is no point in that,” van Erp said. “We need to look at every game as it is our last game.”
Van Erp has a very different outlook on the season. Coming for the defensive side of the field, van Erp has an opportunity to see plays develop.
“We haven’t really shown all the work that we have put into the sport,” added Fingerhuth.
Upon graduating in two years, van Erp and Fingerhuth both plan on going back to Europe. A business major with a minor in German, Fingerhuth hopes to play field hockey at the professional level in Europe. Van Erp, a Biology major, wants to travel for a few months and then attend medical school in Holland. Even though van Erp sees more academics in her future, she still wants to keep field hockey in her life.
When the two are not concentrating on school or the team, they enjoy their opportunities to travel with the team. Fingerhuth thought Chicago was the most interesting place she has visited, while van Erp enjoyed their trip to New York City.
Both said they have loved their time in the United States. While it may have been an adjustment at first, it is almost impossible to tell them apart from normal college students now. Their play on the field has been important to the team and without them, the team would have a hard time winning games.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
