Ally Hammel has become an Olympic-bound field hockey player by focusing on “the next three seconds.”
“We understand in order to succeed, sometimes we need to fail and learn from our mistakes,” said the Duxbury native and Boston University alum. “We often talk about how in elite sport, you need to focus on the next three seconds.”
Focusing on the task at hand instead of the miscues of before has helped Hammel and her USA Field Hockey teammates rebound from losses, including not qualifying for the 2021 Olympics. They are headed to this summer’s Games in Paris, hoping to show that the future for the sport in the US is bright.
Field hockey runs in the Hammel family. Her mother Jennifer, the athletic director at West Bridgewater, played at UConn. Ally Hammel was a multisport athlete at Duxbury High, earning accolades in field hockey and ice hockey before doing a postgraduate year at Loomis Chaffee.
She joined BU’s field hockey team as a forward, collecting seven goals and an assist during her rookie year. After the season, coaches Sally Starr and Tracey Paul had an idea.
Advertisement
“We really felt that she could really be an outstanding defender,” recalled Starr. “She was receptive to that conversation.
“I used the analogy that in ice hockey, she was more of a defensive player, a blue-liner. Just the way that she said, ‘OK, if you guys think that’s where I’m going to be best for the team, then that’s where I’m going to play,’ was memorable.”
Starr said that in her 42 years of coaching college field hockey, it’s been extremely rare for her to make such a request of a player. But Hammel bought in, and it changed her career.
She finished her college career a two-time Patriot League Defender of the Year, the league title game MVP, and a two-time NFHCA First Team All-American. The switch worked, and Hammel credits her time playing both positions for her success on the US team.
“It has helped me develop a variety of skills,” said Hammel. “I have pushed myself to be a player that can get out of any situation.”
The sport has pockets of popularity in the US, with Massachusetts being one. Forty years ago, the US won its first and only Olympic medal in the sport: a bronze, with players Beth Anders, Leslie Milne, and Judy Strong hailing from Massachusetts.
Advertisement
The Netherlands, Australia, and Germany have had the most success in the Olympics, while the US still has that lone 1984 medal. The Americans found themselves at rock bottom in 2022.
“There had been a lot of change in the program, and we missed one Olympic cycle,” said Starr, a former national team player and coach. “We were kind of limping along a little bit until they hired Dave Passmore.”
Hired in October 2022, Passmore, a former Ireland and Great Britain team coach, came aboard at the same time that the US program centralized players in Charlotte, N.C. He found a national team where few players were devoting themselves to the sport past college. He needed to change that, and make field hockey as much of a players’ full-time pursuit as possible so that they could train and play together often.
For the past five years, the US has entered a squad in the FIH Pro League, which has given players many more chances for international competition than ever before.
“We have so many skilled players, but we were and still are a young team in terms of international matches played,” said Hammel. “Playing in the FIH Pro League for the last five years has allowed us to play against the best teams and players in the world. Every match, we learn something new about ourselves and about our team as a whole.”
“Hiring Passmore has been just huge for our country,” said Starr. “Having a group of athletes willing to make the type of commitment that Ally Hammel has just made, going in residence and living down in Charlotte and training together. Their fitness has improved, their culture has improved, and their hockey has improved.”
Advertisement
Even though the changes were obvious, many still doubted the US’s chances of qualifying for this year’s Olympics.
“The team themselves were probably the only ones who really felt they had a chance going into that Olympic qualifier,” said Starr.
The US’s unexpected run at the FIH qualifier in India in January included wins over three higher-ranked teams, including a come-from-behind semifinal victory over Japan that clinched an Olympic spot. Hammel’s standout defense of a Japan corner was one of the key plays of the game.
“We found success because of our game management,” said Hammel. “We were not perfect, and at times we did not play to our potential, but our preparation and how we played in key moments throughout the entire tournament allowed us to accomplish our goal of qualifying.”
Two weeks ago, the official team was named; it trended older, with only four current college players. It has become clear that USA Field Hockey believes older players, not current college players or coaches, are the ticket to putting the program back on the map. Preparations are on for the team’s opening game July 27 against Argentina, the reigning Olympic silver medalist.
Hammel and her teammates aren’t thinking about the struggles of the past years, though. Their sights are set squarely in front of them — the next three seconds at any time.
“What has happened in the past or what could happen in the future can be out of your control,” said Hammel. “We can influence what could happen by remaining in the present moment and focusing on what is directly in front of us.”
Advertisement
Kat Cornetta can be reached at sportsgirlkat@gmail.com.