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Sports

Chicks with Sticks in Cinnaminson

Cinnaminson field hockey league grows due to volunteering spirit.

A grant from USA Field Hockey in 2008 gave Cinnaminson mom Grace Porrini, and her oldest daughter, the opportunity to begin building a field hockey program here in town for young girls.

“My daughter Heather and I came up with the idea her freshman year (at CHS) when the high school field hockey team didn't have enough girls for a freshman team and too many for the JV team making it difficult for everyone to get enough playing time to improve their skills,” she said.

Most field hockey players never touched a field hockey stick until seventh grade at the . Towns like Medford and Moorestown have long-running and very successful programs for younger girls so they have strong skills by the time they reach the middle school and high school levels which makes it hard for towns without a program to compete at the same level.

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This all changed for Cinnaminson in 2008. Porrini says, “It was tough getting started that first season, it was mainly word of mouth. We had approximately 30 girls in the whole league. Thanks to sponsors and great feedback from our parents and players we have grown significantly through the years and now have 100 girls.”

That first group of players will be moving on to the senior league next year and have been consistently progressing in skill and knowledge of the game. Each year more girls join and each succeeding group of young ladies is significantly larger.

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Porrini has single-handedly organized and implemented Cinnaminson’s field hockey program, no easy task. Luckily, she has had significant help from dedicated high school students and CHS graduates whose love of the game and volunteering spirit should be acknowledged.

Courtney Kaminski, a 2011 CHS graduate, has been involved with the league since it began when she was still in high school and is currently the clinic director. The clinic is an eight week mentoring program for girls in kindergarten through second grade. JV and varsity players from the high school work with them on basics of the game.

Porrini proudly speaks of Kaminski. “She does a great job with our clinic players and they just love her!”

Kaminski works full time and attends college but still finds time to help train Cinnaminson’s future players. When asked why she makes the time, she says she’d like to give Cinnaminson’s kids an “early team advantage” which they didn’t have when she played. It bothered her when they played against teams like Moorestown because you could tell they had been playing together for a long time.

Porrini’s daughter Heather volunteers a lot of her time also. She organized a weeklong clinic this summer at where she worked with girls on skills and agility. She also spent the little bit of free time she had during her summer break from college to coach Cinnaminson’s summer league. Heather says she takes the time to volunteer because it’s her way “to give back.” She said she never had someone to show her how to play when she was younger so she’d like to give that to the younger girls. She also added, “Kids like older kids.” Then she quickly quipped, “No offense to parents.” 

She needn’t worry about that comment. Parents are not offended. Most parents are happy that other parents aren’t coaching and like that their daughters are working with girls they can look up to.

One local parent, Maryanne Adams, has a 5th grader who plays and loves it. “It is such a wonderful program. Local girls who played in high school and college coach the teams. They are great role models for our daughters. My daughter loves her coach and looks up to her. The coaches keep it fun while they are teaching the sport. Also, I hope it teaches my daughter to give back and coach when she is older.“

In addition to Heather and Courtney, some other local young women who have volunteered their time to develop and strengthen Cinnaminson’s field hockey program are Ashlee Hess, Jackie Jones, Bridget Quigley, Meghan Christmas, Jeanne Barger and Kelly Blackman.

As the 2012 season begins, Cinnaminson’s field hockey league is hoping to find some space at Wood Park so the girls have a field to call home and they are looking for former high school and college players who might be interested in coaching.

The clinic is held on Sundays in the fall and is open to girls in kindergarten through second grade. The junior league is for third- and fourth-graders. The Dodgers league consists of fifth- and sixth-graders and the senior league is for seventh- and eighth-graders.

Cinnaminson’s field hockey program is open to all girls from Cinnaminson and other towns as well. For more information, visit the Cinnaminson Field Hockey Website or contact Grace at gporrini@comcast.net.

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