As the spring season winds down, one can see a change in coaching philosophy for the Ohio field hockey team.
At the beginning of his tenure at Ohio, coach Neil Macmillan said he looked to recruit and develop players able to run the entire field and play multiple positions.
Now, in his seventh year, his style has changed.
I learned from trial and error
he said. We're set on getting a player in to play a certain position and developing her for that position.
This process, he said, increased efficiency at practice and improved the overall skill of his team.
Ohio is expecting very few position changes for the 2010 campaign. Included in this select group is Brooke Edwards. Edwards, who will be a junior in the fall, has seen significant playing time all over the field.
She scored four goals last year and started all nineteen games that she played.
Her moving around really won't be a surprise Macmillan said. She can play every position on the field and is an incredible addition to wherever we line her up.
Cathryn Altdoerffer, who will be a sophomore, is also expected to make a small transition this year. Last season, Macmillan said she saw the most playing time at the forward position.
This year, Altdoerffer will make the transition to the midfield position but may rotate back and forth when needed.
She saw action in all 21 games last season, scoring one goal and three assists on the season.
Macmillan and the team have a policy of not releasing any information regarding spring scrimmages, but he said his reasoning behind this practice is sound.
We're not looking at the score he said. If we released all of that stuff
it'd put a number on our progress and that's not what I'm looking for.
The team is also focused on trying different formations and styles of play in order to see what will work and what will not.
All of the players' spring development will be evaluated, Macmillan said.
It's a nice
relaxed time where we get to work on some things
he said. It's nice to see some individual improvements rather than always focusing on team scores and development.
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Sports
Noah Meyers
