do you need to play for performance teams and things like that to play field hockey in college?
i’m a junior in high school this year and i’m a goalie. around the community and within our league/district i’m very well known and considered to be a good athlete but my school is literally in the middle of NO WHERE in pennsylvania. we have about 150 in our graduating class, and i’m worried that i’ll go unnoticed just because it’s so hard to get discovered when you go to a small school. i’m joining futures this year and was invited to and am applying for the delaware-hudson collegiate sports of america (which is pretty much a high school sports agency that gets you noticed by recruiters), but i feel like that’s not enough. i recently went to camp at penn state and there were a lot of girls there from huge schools that played on all these performance teams and did all these tournaments and did private training with coaches and things like that. the thing is, there really are no performance teams or training available in my area, so it’s nearly impossible for me to play on them, which i feel like is ruining my chances. penn state also has an “elite” camp, but i won’t ever really be able to go to that because, again, the girls that go to that have tons of playing experience from different squads and training, and i’d be so far behind them. i just don’t understand how there are so many athletes that are in futures elite and doing private training and playing for all these squads simply because they live in a city or a quad A school while i know lots of players who are good enough for all of that and never get heard of. i’m not trying to brag, but i honestly feel like if i lived in a different area i would be someone who did all of that. i feel like because of my location i have no opportunities of getting discovered and am falling behind because there’s no chance to get more professional experience, and it’s really upsetting me. will joining CSA and futures help me, or is there any other advise you can give? i would LOVE to join a whole bunch of other teams, but a friend on my team tried and ended up having to quit because she had to drive 3 hours there and back a few nights a week and it just got to be too much, and that’s exactly what would happen with me. i really, really want to go as far as i can with hockey, definitely play for a respected college like psu and my dream is to make the big 10 or all-american team, but i’m so far behind just from living in place that has no opportunities. any suggestions? thanks!
it also doesn’t help that my team has no goalie coach so i’m teaching myself.
NO CHANCE TO GET AHEAD WHATSOEVER.
alright, so i found a club somewhat nearby that does national tournaments and all but isn’t a HUGE time commitment, they only practice once a week and the traveling to arizona and all the national tournaments are the only things that will be super time consuming, so i’m gonna try out for that. will playing for that club team and futures be too much? both are about $500 to join, meet once or twice a week and are about an hour, hour and a half away. the traveling for the club team will be really expensive and i know that, so how can i convince my parents to let me do both? every time i talk to them about something serious they brush me off and say we’ll talk it about it later because they don’t feel like saying no. i’ve offered to pay for stuff myself before but they just don’t feel like dealing with it and i know they’ll automatically say no as soon as i bring it up. has anyone tried doing both?


Almost all of the girls on college teams have played club since the they started high school. I know people who drive 2 hours every weekend for practice. They make that sacrifice because they really want it. If you really want it, you can make that sacrifice.
That being said, futures is good, especially if you can make regionals. Other than that just keep in good shape (running, weights, etc). You could also see if any clubs need a goalie for a national tournament like the Disney Showcase, Festival in Arizona, or Club Championships. Those tournaments give great exposure with college scouts, and most teams could use an extra goalie.