With the countdown to the Olympic Video games Los Angeles 2028 ticking steadily, the USA’s ladies’s and males’s nationwide hockey groups took vital strides earlier this 12 months on the FIH Hockey Nations Cup and FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2, respectively — showcasing rising skills, constructing depth, and sharpening their long-term ambitions.
On the FIH Hockey Ladies’s Nations Cup in Santiago, Chile, the USA ladies’s crew, below the steerage of Head Coach David Passmore, gained helpful expertise regardless of a difficult competitors the place they completed fourth general, narrowly lacking out on a medal following a 2-1 loss to the hosts within the bronze medal match towards hosts Chile. For Passmore, nonetheless, the event was all the time about greater than speedy outcomes.
“This was an ideal alternative to suppose long term,” he mentioned in the course of the occasion. “We’ve a robust mix — skilled Olympians and thrilling younger gamers — and it’s very important to see how they cope below stress. LA28 could be very a lot a spotlight already. If you happen to ignore it, it’ll come again to chunk you later.”
Passmore emphasised that with Paris 2024 expertise and proof of idea, the crew might afford to broaden its horizons — managing veteran gamers rigorously whereas giving rising stars the chance to step up.
“That is about constructing the proper psychological and bodily readiness for the problem of internet hosting the Video games,” he added.
One of many younger gamers embracing that mission is Maddie Zimmer, who spoke concerning the crew’s pleasure and camaraderie in the course of the Nations Cup marketing campaign.
“That is positively step one in an extended journey in the direction of LA,” Zimmer mentioned. “It’s actually particular to know we’ll get to share the Olympics with the hockey world on house soil. We’re all motivated, and occasions like this assist us construct connections on and off the sphere.”
Zimmer mirrored a sentiment shared throughout the squad — that whereas the highway to LA28 is lengthy, the inspiration is being laid now, by each match and each expertise.
In the meantime, on the FIH Hockey Males’s Nations Cup 2 in Muscat, Oman, the USA males’s crew, led by Head Coach Allan Legislation, additionally made vital strides, ultimately ending fourth after a robust marketing campaign that included a semi-final look, ending simply shy of a podium place, after a shootout loss within the bronze medal match.
“Our focus is on constructing our program, with LA as an actual marker,” Legislation mentioned after the event. “But it surely’s additionally about sustainability — ensuring the USA is constantly competing within the prime 15 globally, not simply peaking for one Olympics.”
Allan famous the resilience the crew confirmed, even when dealing with defensive challenges from opponents like Egypt, Austria and eventual champions Scotland.
“These experiences are a part of the educational course of. It’s about a couple of event — it’s about getting ready ourselves for the pressures and alternatives of enjoying at an Olympics on house floor.”
With clear ambitions, rising depth, and a united sense of function, each the USA males’s and ladies’s groups are steadily constructing towards what guarantees to be a historic second for American hockey at LA28.
Supply: FIH.hockey
