Katie Wyman, from Havertown, Pa., is a redshirt junior goalkeeper for the Longwood Field Hockey team. In her previous season she received Second Team All MAC honors, while playing every game in the cage. She also received the honor of being a captain and still holds that honor today.
Every person has a journey that gets them to the point they are at today, and for Wyman, her journey began as a result of unfortunate circumstances.
“I tried out for my middle school team in seventh grade, at that point I was still a field player. Then I broke my arm, and they said the only way I could play is if I put a huge, thick, four-inch pad around my cast, and then I went into the goal,” said Wyman.
At the time, players were a little apprehensive about taking over the position, but it was a challenge Wyman took head on and never looked back.
“I was like 'I’m going to try it', because no one ever wants to be goalie, everyone fought and argued that no ‘it’s your turn to be goalie,' so I was like ‘alright I’ll do it’ and then I ended up loving it,” said Wyman.
After winning a multitude of awards in her four years of playing at Haverford High School, Wyman decided to take her talents to Farmville.
Wyman was introduced to Longwood by Daan Polders, who trained her to build the skills she puts to use today.
“If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here, because I had no idea where Longwood was, what it was or if it even had field hockey," said Wyman. "I never bothered to search because I didn’t know if I wanted to come down here, and then, when I got in contact I was like, actually I really like the south because I’m from Philadelphia, so it’s completely different cultures."
Head Coach Iain Byers was impressed with Wyman’s skills from the outset of watching her play.
“The way our recruiting structure goes is, you see them play, ask them to come to campus, if they come to campus it shows a level of interest, and that was a good start for us. Then Katie came down for a clinic, and did very well at the clinic. She is a very intelligent, well-spoken young lady, so we chatted afterwards and then it fell into the traditional recruiting,” said Byers.
After her freshman season in 2015, Wyman decided to redshirt during her sophomore season as she looked toward her future.
“I wasn’t going to play, I was told. I can either sit on the bench for the season, or I could redshirt and save a year of eligibility. I looked at my schedule, and looked at where I wanted to go in life because at the end of the day it is about sports, but it’s really about school and where you’re going to be. Even though I love field hockey and love everything about it, at the end of the four years I’m done. This is it. I’m not going to play anymore,” said Wyman.
Wyman looks back at her choice to redshirt as the correct one, because it enables her to academically achieve more.
“I’m going to be a nurse, and to go on to nursing school I have to get some extra classes in. So it worked out that if I would redshirt I could take that extra semester just to get some classes that I needed. I believe everything happens for a reason, and I think that happened for a reason because it all works out perfectly,” said Wyman.
This is Wyman’s second year of being a captain and in the offseason, leadership was an aspect that she worked to improve. The improvements have been noticed by the coaching staff.
“She is widely respected by her peer group which I think is a good start, and Katie is a hard-nosed individual, and she is honest in nature, and the team embraces her and appreciates her honesty," said Byers. "It is one of our core values, so it was a pretty easy decision."
Goalkeeper Katie Wyman started playing goalie in seventh grade when most other people were too afraid to try it.
