International Students and Field Hockey in the ’80s

In reading your article on the impact of international athletes on the game of field hockey (Sports, October issue), I wanted to add that the tradition at Princeton of recruiting foreign players started before the time frame mentioned in the story. I think that I was the first foreign recruit in 1984.

I clearly recall meeting coach Betty Logan way back in 1983, as I was initiating my life in the U.S. as a newcomer from Argentina. It was a brief encounter at the tournament she used to run in Port Jervis, New York.

Little did I know that a year later, I would be enrolling at Princeton and starting in the first game of the 1984 season. I had developed as a player at the Northlands School in Argentina, where my team had won the national championships a couple of years in a row. My stickwork was European style, where the hypotenuse ruled whenever you could find the gap, and transitioning to playing on a U.S. field of the ’80s with all the “flat and through set plays” was horrifyingly predictable and hard to adjust to. I am glad the art of field hockey at Princeton is now a gratifying sight.

Princeton had its worst record during my time as a field hockey player there, but I do not regret it one bit — it was the opportunity of my life being able to attend the “best place of all.” I will always cherish my experience as a college athlete.