I sat down with Nick Richardson, US Men’s National Field Hockey Team player

Nick Richardson, a Sophomore at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, is a semi-professional field hockey player. He is a member of the USA U21 Men’s Junior National Team, who just competed in the Jr Pan American Games earning 4th place. In addition to pursuing a degree in Nursing, working 3 part time jobs to keep himself afloat, being an RA, and coaching field hockey, he is one of the few men in the US who is working towards his dream to play Olympic field hockey for the stars and stripes.  He also plays on the National Men’s Indoor Team and the East Coast High Performance Team, which is one of only three high performance training centers and teams for boys in the United States. He even went to Australia for a year to play semi-professionally for Yarra Valley Hockey Club in Melbourne.

Though his success is palpable now, getting to where he is wasn’t easy. He says that reverse sexism is one of the biggest setbacks he’s faced; something he describes as the idea that guys can’t compete with girls because they are either a danger to other players or an unfair advantage on their teams.

In the United States, men playing field hockey is basically unheard of. There aren’t any high school or college teams, and to be quite honest, before I met Nick, I didn’t even know the world of men’s field hockey existed. But men’s field hockey in other countries is very popular; it is one of the most popular men’s sports in Australia, France, Holland and Belgium, countries that aren’t much different from America. It is the third most popular sport in the world. So why is there so much grief against men’s field hockey in the US?

“At my own high school, I wasn’t able to compete on the high school field hockey team because I was a boy, yet a year after I graduated, a girl was praised and supported for being on the football team,” he says.

Though Nick has faced extreme discrimination in his life for ‘playing a girls sport,’ he deems this one of the most insignificant of his setbacks. He has learned to overcome the negative things people say and not let hurtful words affect him.

“It doesn’t bother me now when someone calls me a fag or a fairy or makes fun of me for playing what they think is a girls sport, but when you’re a 12-15 year old, it’s much harder to grow that thick skin and not be baited into a bully’s trap.”

Nick says this double standard and idea that boys are the ‘wrong gender’ for field hockey affects every boy in America who wants to play, not only on a social level. The opportunities girls have to play field hockey are numerous versus what men have access to. Though most schools in the US boast their Title IX sports, there are no men’s field hockey teams at the high school or college level. The problem with this is the fact that the only way men around college-age can play in the US is if they commit to an international level schedule and travel regimen. This is exactly what Nick is currently doing.

“Being able to balance the rigorous demands of nursing school, one of the most challenging majors offered at Saint Anselm College, as well as being a member of a national team is the single biggest challenge I face,” he says.

Unlike most collegiate athletes, Nick doesn’t play a sport through his school. Since he is part of the USA Men’s Field Hockey Program, he misses an unimaginable amount of school due to the fact that the team is based out of San Diego. He thinks 4-6 weeks in advance for assignments, homework and tests. He gives a lot of credit for his ability to do this to his teachers, adviser and the administration at Saint Anselm.

“I want to be the best athlete I can because that’s my passion, so I push myself to do that, but I also know that my education and career is most important because I won’t be a hockey player forever, but I will be a nurse for the rest of my life, and ultimately, the skills I learn as a nurse are significantly more important than the skills of hockey.”

Since both of Nick’s parents are teachers, he says this adds incentive to perform well academically. Though his parents have strict rules about putting academics first, he says his career wouldn’t exist without his family’s unwavering love and support.

“My family is the single pillar on which I stand and I could not be where I am without that, and I am forever humbled and grateful to them.”

The financial commitment to his hockey career isn’t something to take lightly. He works as a maintenance person at his high school (Kents Hill School) where his parents taught and his dad coached field hockey. He works three part time jobs as well, has an equipment sponsorship, and he independently fund raises to try and cover most of his travel costs.

He has had to sacrifice a lot to get to this point. He missed his high school prom and his high school graduation ceremony to go to a tournament and try out for the national team. While his friends are out partying and drinking, Nick spends his free time in the library studying, working out or traveling for his teams.

“While my friends tell me stories about the parties I missed, I get to tell them what Holland is like or what it’s like to walk onto a field with USA on your chest or how awesome the Olympic Training Center is and the Olympians I’ve met there or what it’s like to take a year off and play in Australia semi-professionally.”

Though this endeavor is the single hardest thing he has ever had to do,  he says he wouldn’t change any of it for the world.