
We sat down with Casey Walker, member of the National Field Hockey team
Balancing school and being a star athlete
We sat down with Casey Walker, a first year, Environmental Scientist & Management major with a minor in secondary education, who also happens to be a member of the USA Under 21 Junior Men’s National Field Hockey Team.
We asked him some questions about his love for the game, as well as what it’s like to balance all of life’s demands.
When did you start playing field hockey?
I started playing when I was 11, about 8 years ago, at a middle school level. Field hockey was originally offered through my school and then from there I joined a city club team then a regional club team then a men’s team and then from there I was asked to go to try out tournaments to make the junior national team.
What was the experience of knowing you made the nationals team like?
There was definitely a sense of satisfaction, but then immediately afterwards it was very much, “Now what are the steps?” Once you make the team, that’s just the beginning. From there it’s like, “what’s my training program look like, what does my diet look like?” Everything is pretty regimented.
Your team members are all over the country, so how do you stay in touch?
We have a chat that we use to stay in touch. The thing is we’re actually all over the world, not just the country. So I have a teammate in New Zealand, a teammate in Holland, two teammates in England… I went to see one of them in Holland, and I’ve always wanted to go see my teammate in London.
We all have our respective clubs, but we come together on the team.
Does the international aspect influence players’ style of play?
There are definitely different styles of play. Another thing we have to overcome is communication. People speak different languages, so sometimes it can be hard for us to communicate. Especially verb tenses can get confusing, so there’s small slang differences, but hopefully that dynamic brings us together in a positive way.
How often are you all together in person?
I just recently came back from a tour in Holland where we were there for 10 days, but we try to meet every 6 weeks in San Diego, so I travel quite often. I’m going down to San Diego to train at the Olympic Center in 4 weeks.
What has field hockey taught you?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is there are a lot of things out of your control, a lot of things can go wrong and all you have to know is what you can control. To be honest all I can control is my attitude and how hard I work. Skills can come and go, but knowing what I can control and what I can’t helps me stay calm.
It can get pretty wild out there, there’s cursing, there’s threats… it’s like any competitive men’s game. I just smile at them – kill them with kindness.
Has your love for the sport diminished at all from playing at such a high level?
It’s something I have to reaffirm or re-establish pretty often because to be honest there’s not too much of a path after this. It’s really easy to be caught up in the competition, especially at this level where I’m essentially representing my country. It’s definitely an honor, but… I play field hockey for fun. l always reaffirm that.
There’s much more to my life than just this game.
What’s been the hardest moment in your career so far?
Losing against Canada in the Pan-American games of 2014 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. That 6-5 loss took us out of contention for the chance to go to Nanjing, China for the chance to compete in the Junior Olympics. I think I had fun out there and I know I tried my best, but it was… that was difficult.
How do you juggle your school-life and athlete-life?
Field hockey is a very under-represented sport in the US, especially compared to other countries. The difficulty is, it’s very scarce to find quality men’s hockey and I have to travel quite a bit to receive that. I miss a lot of school from traveling and I have to work hard to catch up. In terms of sharing what I do with other people… to be honest, it’s a part of my life that I’ll talk to people about, but I don’t openly bring it up.
To people interested in learning more about field hockey, if you ever see me around, I’d love to answer any questions! Even at this level I really just try to reestablish that it’s a sport and it’s just for fun.