The Goyda Field Hockey Camp took place at Treadwell Park during four mornings in late June with the goal of increasing interest in the sport and helping it grow in town.

Instructed by former Newtown High School varsity Head Coach Ellen Goyda, the camp prepares girls ages 5 to 14 for the next level. In addition to working on stick skills both offensively and defensively, the top priority is getting girls to love the sport.

“If I can lure them in then I can guarantee you they are going to love it,” Goyda said.

At the high school level, competing with other schools is not easy and introducing field hockey at a young age is a must as programs run year-round in other towns, starting as early as second grade.

When developing players early this creates time to eliminate bad habits, giving room to grow by failing first then overcoming obstacles.

“Now that we’ve started it [Goyda camp], we’ve been pretty competitive at the high school level, we’ve won two South-West Conferences within four years,” Goyda said when asked about the importance of teaching the sport at a young age.

“If we can start them younger, the proper way, the future’s better, right? It’s all about the future for me. We’re the stepping stone for our high school eventually,” Goyda added.

Over the past ten years, the camp has grown from about 25 signups in year one to 56 this year.

The advantage of learning early not only prepares girls for high school ball, but also at the collegiate level, as several former Nighthawk players continued playing after graduating, some of whom returned to help coach the young campers, alongside current high school players.

“The bonus is a lot of these kids will go on and play college ball because they have had such an advantage,” Goyda said.

For instructors still playing field hockey the learning does not stop as the experience brings these players back to the fundamentals.

“Sometimes they think they’re too good for the basics, but then when they come back here, they’re like, oh, yeah, I forgot. So, it’s a good reminder of basics, and it makes them a better player because they’ll see what it’s like,” said Goyda when asked about the takeaways the high school players get.

For current varsity Head Coach Megan Goyda, Ellen Goyda's daughter, the program establishes an understanding of who’s working hard and wants to grow. For example, the coaches voted one girl captain after not only performing well at the camp but also taking charge and helping others without being asked.

“It’s about who wants to do good for the whole town and program, not just the highly-skilled kid,” Ellen Goyda said.

Tyler Pruneau is a journalism student at the University of Connecticut interning with The Newtown Bee this summer. He can be reached at intern@thebee.com.