S.A.M.: Science, Art, and Magic. Those are three important words for the new women’s field hockey coach, having already embarked on the journey of creating the first ever women’s field hockey team at Pace.

Head Coach Valerie Hickman believes that those three words are the key when it comes to learning the game of field hockey.

“It’s more art than science because it requires a lot of skill,” Hickman said. “The girls need to be fast and energetic. For the first season, especially, there is going to be a lot of learning involved. It’s really all about making the right choices and having the right mental approaches.”

Part of that mental approach that Hickman seeks is practicing and honing those skills until “you can’t do it wrong, ‘till you have an innate sense of how to pull through.”

Similar to approaches with any new team, the main goals are to just get the foot in the door. Hickman believes it’s important for the team to give themselves measurable goals in order to know how high to reach.

She explains that when it comes to goals, it’s important to make sure that the players create these goals themselves as a group, in order to have ownership over them.

The idea is that with ownership, the players will want to accomplish those goals as opposed to following someone else’s, in which case Hickman says people usually don’t.

Aside from goals, trust is another important component that goes into Hickman’s method of “art and science.” Seeing as it’s a new team mainly composed of freshmen, it will take some time for players to really get to know each other and get to that point where they are comfortable. Hickman has several methods that she looks to implement in order to make that happen.

One way is by doing fun practice sessions that really let the team bond while working on their skills.

“Whether it’s doing a luau themed or Halloween themed practice or having some team bonding over dinner, it’s all very important for them,” said Hickman, who learned some of her methods from her own experiences. “Then also we’ll do a lot of charity work such as adopting a family or donating to charities or doing a 5k run for cancer awareness. These are all things that will bring us together and will really put what’s important into perspective.

“It’s really easy to lose sight of things in our society. Sometimes a loss or not mastering a skill might seem like the biggest thing in the world, but once you put yourself out there and you do these things you really become more aware of what’s really important in life and I think that’s crucial.”

Helping others is something that Hickman grew up doing; what seemed to make the biggest impact for her was when she would go to orphanages to spend some time with the kids. Hickman describes it as a rewarding feeling in which she was able to see just how lucky she really was.

The act of community service in itself is where the magic lies, as it takes a lot for a person to be able to give to others in need; it creates a sense of fulfillment and also an aura of positivity, the last important factor for Hickman.

“Having that positive energy really brings everyone together,” Hickman said. “You know, there isn’t any point in being angry all the time because that’s not going to do anything. I want my team to have that sense of positivity because that is what will make them better. If they don’t get something right away, they’ll keep working on it ‘till they do.”

Science, magic, and art. That is what it is going to take for this new Pace team.