HARTFORD, Vt. (WCAX) – Field hockey season is hitting its stride at Hartford High School.
Assistant coach Gail Patch and coach Heather Scudder work the JV and Varsity teams on a hot, late summer day.
“First thing I want you to do is stretch,” Patch instructs the students. “Bend your knees.”
The coaching team has been on the field together for 35 years, taking the team to 12 championship victories for the school. Patch and Shudder are like mother and daughter.
“She has helped me guide and grow me as an individual, as a head coach,” Scudder said.
Reporter Joe Carroll: You grew up in Brattleboro, you didn’t play sports.
Gail Patch: They didn’t have sports for girls.
There were no opportunities for team play except for clubs, where young women had to pay to play. For the young field hockey players today, it’s hard to believe.
“I remember my freshman year asking her what field hockey was, like when she played, and she was like, ‘I didn’t play, that wasn’t even a thing,’” said Paige Trombly, a senior on the team.
Despite the lack of opportunities, Patch had the desire to play. She studied physical education down the road at Springfield College in Massachusetts. “The opportunity that I had to see the change and growth, from where I’d never heard of lacrosse. There were so many sports that I never head of,” Patch recalled.
After college, she married Charles and started her career, including coaching gymnastics
Now 83, Gail faced a tough decision this season.
Reporter Joe Carroll: This might be your last?
Gail Patch: This will be my last… I’ve given my notice.
Reporter Joe Carroll: Why so?
Gail Patch: Don’t make me cry…
She says it goes back to Springfield College’s motto — “spirit, mind and body.” “My spirit will go on for another few years. My mind could go on for another few years — body can’t do it,” Patch said.
From breast cancer to knee replacements, Patch says it’s time. “It will be really hard to leave because these girls become part of my family. I love being with them,” she said. “I love teaching them and encouraging them and hoping to find themselves.”
Reporter Joe Carroll: For a person who didn’t play high school sports, you certainly made up for it, huh?
Gail Patch: I have, I just loaded my life with it.
A Super Senior finding herself on the field and beyond.