Dear Editor-In-Chief Sean Brady,

I am writing you regarding the article "Field Hockey's Quiet Dignity" that appeared in the Sports section of The Cadre last week (October 19th, 2004). The article that was published was unfit and horribly written for three main reasons: the sports editor had no business personalizing his feature, his opinion of why people should play the sport was irrelevant, and he wrote about the sport in a manner that diminishes it. | am concerned that you would hire such a terrible sports edit.

In his article, your sports editor identified one of our rookies and along with her comments, added his personal thoughts about her. Mr. Editor, please tell your sports editor to save his "shy smiles" about our female field hock- ey athletes, unless he is prepared to go into the locker room of one of the men's university sports teams and write the same about them. | am sure they would not appreciate his commenting on their cuteness.

Secondly, your sports editor's opinion of why people should play field hockey is unrepresentative of the sport and irrelevant, especially when his sentiments do not apply to other university sports. With his article on the U.P.E.L. women's field hockey appearing between non-opinionated features on the men’s hockey, men's volleyball, and men's and women's basketball teams, his field hockey article stands out as the only section where he provides his personal judgement, and an uneducated and clumsy assessment at that. If he is going to be nonjudgmental with other university sports, it is essential he be consistent instead of presenting faultfinding material on one specific sport or sports team. It is not his job to single out a sport and provide his personal thoughts.

Thirdly, on top of including his personal persuasion and opinion in his article, he writes about the sport in a dimin- ishing way. It should be acknowledged that it is right in saying that "Field hockey does not need a large crowd to keep the players pumped for the duration of the game" and that the players "function as a microcosmic crowd themselves, with communication and support being a crucial element for a winning team." Many sentences inside the article are complimentary, but not in the depreciating manner he writes around them. He had the choice of taking the comments in the interview in the positive light they were meant for, or twisting them to suit his own awkward opinion of the sport. He chose the latter, which exemplifies his poor writing choice and ability.

According to a reporter at The Guardian, your sports editor is normally a good writer, but on this occasion, he let his personal views get in the way of his writing.

I am embarrassed for both the sports editor and yourself as editor-in-chief that such an amateurish article could be published. For the time and work our U.P.E.I. athletes put into being a student-athlete, each player and sport deserves support and recognition, but most importantly, an unbiased, non-opinionated review: field hockey is no exception. Each student-athlete and team is worth respect, and receives esteem from all over the country. At the very least, we can expect respect from our own student newspaper.

Additionally, the next time your sports editor needs pictures to publish for the U.P.E.I. women's field hockey team, please inform him to simply ask myself, another player, the Yearbook staff, or to check the U.P.E. 4. web- “~ instead of posting pictures from the men’s German National team.

In conclusion, | would like to formally invite your sports editor to U.P.E.1. women's field hockey regular early morning practice on Friday, October, 29th at 6:00AM at the U_P.E.I. Sports Centre, so he can see and experience for himself how "quiet" our athletes, coaches and team really are. Please tell him to bring his sneakers, shin- guards and mouth-guard if possible. Be sure to arrive before 6:15AM, we lock the doors.

Sincerely, | Maureen O'Connor

3-time AUS All-Star, 4-time Academic All-Canadian, Captain, and Sth year senior of the U.P.E.1. Women's Field Hockey Team

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UPEI Cadre October 26, 2004 page 5

Dear Editor,

I am writing this letter in response to Liam McKenna’s article entitled "Field Hockey's Quiet Dignity,” in the fourth issue of the Cadre. I'd like to congratulate you for having the insight to print such a wonderful piece of journalism.

I'm sure UPEI students and Cadre readers were thrilled to learn that your paper's sports writer finds it fitting to write a self-indulgent opinion based article attacking the legitimacy of field hockey as a sport - A sport which is known as the old- est of all games using a stick and ball ~ A sport which is cred- ited as being one of the first to allow women to compete ~ And a sport which has been included in the Olympic games since 1908. The Arabs, Greeks, Persians, and Romans all played versions of field hockey. But hey, what did they know?

In his brilliant account, Mr. McKenna states, "It is a quiet sport, one not prone to massive publicity or huge crowds.” This statement couldn't be further from the truth. Worldwide, field hockey is one of the most popular spectator sports. Here at UPEI field hockey does seem to lack attention... Perhaps this is because the Cadre's (sarcastic cough) "Sports Editor" saw it fit to take the time to mention our "quiet" team only after all our home games had been played. Despite this lack of attention, our games were attended by UPEI students, non- students, and people who just have a love for the game. Though, come to think of it, I didn't see any sign of our beloved "Sports Editor."

Mr. McKenna went on to argue that, "It [field hockey] does- n't boast the speed of ice hockey, nor does it possess the rugged physical game of rugby; it can't claim the finesse of soccer, or the strategy of baseball. For that matter, field hock- ey can't even claim to have the chaos of dodgeball. Why would anyone ever want to watch this sport, let alone play it?" So why would anyone want to play field hockey? Perhaps you should talk to Ambyr Gallant or Kirsten Currie, two former winners of UPEI's Athlete of the Year Award... And field hock- ey players. Or you could speak with the numerous All- Canadian, AUS All-Star, and individual field hockey award winners, who have emerged from UPEI's program.

In a year which saw our funding cut by the UPEI athletic department — a year in which we had to fight tooth and nail to keep our AUS status — our team cannot express how pleased we are that we have the support of the Cadre's sports depart- ment. Keep up the superb work.

And that my friends, is what we call sarcasm.

Chelsey MacLellan

‘|| Proud member of the UPEI field hockey team

http://www, For follow-up, see “Causing a Stir” on page 17