DIDSBURY - A Grade 11 field hockey player from Didsbury High School recently returned from France where he travelled with the Canadian National Men's U-21 Junior Development Squad. Josh Dick, who plays goalie, returned to Didsbury last week after spending almost two weeks overseas.
"It was a pretty surreal moment," said Josh about when he found out he was selected for the team. "It doesn't seem real until you finally get on the field and start playing and you realize, 'hey, I made it.' It's the dream you have ever since you start playing -- you want to go as far as you can and hopefully play for Team Canada. When you finally get selected with the possibility of playing for them when you're older – there is no feeling like it."
Josh started playing field hockey several years ago after a former national team player, Jenny Johnson, who worked at Westglen School at the time introduced it to the students. Josh played from 2013-16 for the Westglen Wildcats field hockey team.
"There's really only Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton where they play in Alberta," said Curtis Dick, Josh's father. "He managed to make Team Alberta last year and went to nationals in Surrey (July 2017). He was scouted for the U-21 national team. They've got him on the junior national development squad right now."
Josh has been playing in Calgary with a men's league team there. He was the only player from Alberta to make the junior development squad.
"He's been playing for five years," said Curtis. "He played at a men's tournament in Boston in January at Boston University. He's a pretty phenomenal player. He works his butt off. I didn't know anything about it before he started. The rules are pretty different. I played goalie in ice hockey. I'm still trying to figure out some of the rules. It's the world's third most popular sport."
Curtis said that field hockey is played both inside and outside. When outside, the size of the field and the nets are similar to soccer.
"His goal is 12 foot by seven foot," he said. "It's almost like soccer. It's the same size field as soccer when they play outside. When they play indoors it's the size of a gymnasium and a half."
Curtis said the trip to France was a great opportunity for the players to test themselves against teams from Europe.
"At this level with them being junior development, it's just a chance to get exposure to playing against Europeans," he said. "What it does is it allows the nationals coaches who are out of Vancouver and Toronto, it gives them a better chance to scout them."
Josh said playing in France was a great experience and the team was very busy.
"We had training with the coaches," said Josh. "We had the team out on the field doing shooting drills and going over strategies. There was also time after games where we'd see film and take notes on what we were doing right and what we needed to improve on. It was a lot of learning in 12 days."
Josh said they also played several games against local club teams and against the French U-18 national team.
"They were older than us and had more experience but it was still a good experience to play against older guys and better competition in a different place," he said. "The pace was definitely a lot faster than any game I've played in Canada before including nationals. You needed to be focused and ready because anything can happen in those games."
Josh said he also realized that he needed to be much more vocal during games even when playing in club games.
"The goalies are expected to be vocal but it's not as high intensity as for playing for Canada, so you need to be more vocal with your team as well as not saying anything negative that'll bring your team down," he said.
Now that Josh is back in Didsbury, he will be training in Calgary with Team Alberta getting ready for nationals in July.
He is also helping develop young players in the area by coaching with the Funstix/Try Field Hockey for Free program Thursday afternoons at Westglen School in Didsbury.
"Field Hockey Alberta reached out to me to run six or seven Try it For Free lessons here in Didsbury," he said. "We're trying to make field hockey great here like it was before when Jenny Johnson was at Westglen."
Josh said it's challenging teaching younger players but is very rewarding as well.
"It's a good opportunity," he said. "We definitely want to get more people out playing in Canada where it's not as popular as Europe. But it also shows me what abilities I have towards coaching and how I can better younger athletes as well as myself."
The Funstix/Try Field Hockey for Free program is open to anyone under 12 and goes until mid-June every Thursday from 3:45 until 5 p.m. at Westglen School. Players need to bring shin guards and a mouth guard but sticks will be provided. For more information contact Curtis Dick at 403-335-3356 ext. 5955.
