Ayeisha McFerran is a former FirstPoint USA client who attended the University of Louisville with a field hockey scholarship. Currently, Ayeisha is playing for the Irish National Field Hockey team. She kindly took some time to give us an insight into a typical game day...
“It all begins in the changing room before hand, the music is pumping and everyone is doing their own preparation for the game. For me, it’s all about being focused but having a laugh with my friends which allows me to stay relaxed and not get to anxious about stepping on the field to represent my country. Heading out onto the pitch to warm up, there is always a few nerves, but I always take a minute to take it all in, the crowd, my goal and the fact I am about to play an international game.
Once I start doing my warm up, that’s when I hone in and focus on my goals for the game. During my physical warm up I focus a lot on my movement pattern, as they will transfer across to when I put my pads on and do my technical warm up in the goal. Doing my GK warm up, I keep it as basic as I need to and it all depends how I feel on the day. Once that’s completed, the team then comes in to do shooting drills and penalty corners, which is key to keep focused on movement prep, because a lot of the time you there will be several balls in the back of the net, which is always slightly frustrating and makes me question whether I’m going to play well or not, but I know I always do what I need to when the time comes.
Warm up is over, time for the anthems. There’s nothing like standing linked with your friends belting out your national anthem. I always get goose bumps on my arms as it is always a surreal feeling. Anthems over, its game time! The fun begins; I head towards my goal knowing that the moment is right now and nothing in this moment in time is important. When playing, I don’t really notice anything else that is going on, the crowd nearly seem silent to me which is nice because they can be loud some times. There is always such a buzz, making a double save you get a rush of adrenaline that it was good and it pushes the team on giving them confidence. The game as a whole is normally a mixture of nerves, excitement and frustration, but in the end, it’s always an honour pulling on the green shirt!”
