‘U-S-A!’ Charlotte crowd sends Olympic field hockey team off in pep rally at Providence Day

USA Field Hockey is headed for the Olympics after a sendoff from its new hometown.

The best field hockey players in the United States now train on the blue turf field at UNC Charlotte after moving out of their longtime home in Pennsylvania. Most of this year’s roster of Olympians — which includes several recent standouts at UNC and Duke — have moved their lives down to the Queen City.

Providence Day, the private school off Sardis Road in south Charlotte, hosted a pep rally inside its gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. Hundreds clad in red, white and blue filled the bleachers on the near side, with families of the Olympians on the floor representing their players’ last names on their backs of their shirts.

“Our team strength is our culture,” Ashley Hoffman, the starting back on the Tar Heels’ 2018 national championship team, said in a news conference. “What’s so great about our team is we’re just super connected, and we’re really good friends. So when we’re in those tough moments and situations — which are definitely going to happen at the Olympics — we’re able to pick each other up.

“And we know what each other needs so that we can all go out there and fight together. Having that really strong culture is something that will shine through with our team.”

A new home in Charlotte

Patriotic anthems blasted through the speakers inside the Mosack Athletic Center on Saturday.

Several former Olympians were introduced early in the pep rally — including Brenda Hoffman, the mother of Ashley. Née Brenda Stauffer, she won a bronze medal in 1984 competing for the United States.

Young kids volunteered to head down to the floor and play a game: Dribbling a field hockey ball around cones. “It’s harder than it looks,” the emcee noted. Hoffman and the former Olympians joined the children, split into two teams in the form of a relay.

The crowd was riled up throughout, and the engaging hosts kept them on their toes with different “U-S-A!” chants throughout the afternoon. After each member of the U.S. women’s national team heading to Paris was introduced one-by-one, a slow “U-S-A!” developed into a boisterous one, and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” reverberated as the Olympians headed to their families.

These athletes have come a long way — and haven’t forgotten their humble beginnings. Even if they grew up around the sport and experienced stardom early.

“Our field was, like, pitched,” Team USA captain Amanda Golini said, reflecting on the slanted freshman field in her hometown of Randolph, N.J. “One way, you’re hitting the field hockey ball, you’re cruising, and you’re like: ‘of course I’m having a great day.’ Next thing you know, you’re hitting the ball up the hill, and you’re like: ‘What’s going on?! Why isn’t it going as far?’

“It’s just super sweet to reminisce and see what a long way I’ve personally come. Just the journey that I’ve been on personally, and then all of us as a team.”

‘We get to leave a footprint here’

While the sport is most popular in the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it’s been on the rise in Charlotte.

USA Field Hockey moved its training site to the campus of the Charlotte 49ers last year after more than a decade in Lancaster, Pa., at Spooky Nook Sports. The women’s national field hockey team now trains full-time in Charlotte, while the men’s side uses the new facility for training camps.

Players on the women’s team have gotten themselves involved in Charlotte’s growing field hockey scene. Several of them lead youth field hockey teams and teach lessons to aspiring players.

“We’ve all moved down here — moved our lives down here, it’s been really special,” Emma DeBerdine, a first-time Olympian and Pennsylvania native, said. “But I think one of our favorite parts of it is that we get to be a part of the field hockey community here and see how that’s growing. They’ve gotten so much support from the Charlotte Ambush and all the high schools around here, and it’s cool for us to be able to give back to them.

“If that’s coaching teams — a lot of the girls coach teams and give lessons — I just think that’s really special that we get to leave a footprint here, too.”