It is no coincidence that the United States Para Field Hockey team chose St. Louis – a budding and vibrant field hockey community – as its final training camp destination before embarking on its first ever international competition.
“When we were looking for locations for our training camps, and especially our final training camp, our final building block, this was the immediate choice,” USA Para Field Hockey co-coach Heidi Lewis said.
The United States Para Field Hockey team, a co-ed team of eight intellectually impaired adults, practiced August 8-9 at Principia School. It was a final tune-up before heading to Belgium for the first ever Para World Cup, which takes place August 20-24 in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The World Cup begins August 20 with an opening ceremony before the United States plays Belgium to kick off the 16-nation tournament. Games are played 6-on-6 and utilize half the field and half the time of a standard field hockey game.
Makenna Webster, a former St. Louis field hockey star who recently signed to play professional ice hockey for the New York Sirens of the PWHL, helped coach the sessions at Principia before handing out jerseys in a ceremony at Maryville University Auditorium.
“You are making history as the first Para Field Hockey National Team to compete on the world stage,” Webster said while addressing the players. “Years from now, people will look back and remember this team, the group that opened the doors, the group that showed what is possible. That kind of legacy is incredibly special.”
The coaching methods used to teach intellectually impaired players rely heavily on iconography – mainly animals – to describe multi-step concepts.
“When we want them to be strong, hold their ground and be a presence, that’s a bison. When we want them to go fast, that’s a jackrabbit. In transition defense, you’re a wolf,” USA Para Field Hockey team manager Laura Jones explained.
Coaching techniques focus on demonstration rather than verbal explanations or written directions and include a steady stream of positivity and encouragement.
“Player-centered. How do you wrap your coaching around the player that’s in front of you?” Jones said.
Lindsay Jackson, a former collegiate coach at Holy Cross, had not coached intellectually impaired players prior to becoming co-coach for the USA Para Field Hockey Team.
“I’ve coached a lot of different levels. I’ve never felt the way I feel when I coach this group of athletes. They appreciate every single thing you do for them,” Jackson said.
The USA team includes field hockey and ice hockey players from Pennsylvania, New York, California, Virginia, Michigan and Tennessee, including reigning Tennessee Special Olympics Athlete-of-the-Year, Braden Jenkins.
The coaches and trainers are volunteers, and through sponsorships and donations, the trip to Belgium is completely self-funded.
“We felt that it was important for this National Team to not have to pay to go,” Davis said. “This team was selected because this is the team we want to go play with.”
Players have enjoyed their trips to the three training camps, which included stays at Agnes Irwin School in Pennsylvania, Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and Principia School in St. Louis.
“They’re loving the independence. They stay in rooms together, they come down to breakfast together and they look out for each other. They make sure nobody gets left behind,” Davis said.
During the final training camp in St. Louis, the team scrimmaged against players from St. Louis Field Hockey Club and received a warm reception during a jersey presentation ceremony inside Maryville University Auditorium.
“The hospitality, the welcome, the support and the volunteer efforts have been fantastic. It is a great capstone to the whirlwind journey that we’ve been on the last 11 months,” Lewis said of the St. Louis experience.
In her closing remarks during the jersey presentation ceremony, Jackson relayed three values of the USA Para Field Hockey team – gratitude, bravery and community.
“We are stepping into a space that USA Field Hockey has never been before. We are building the airplane while we are flying it, and we are really high up and going really fast. We’re taking this incredible moment head-on, and we’re doing it with enthusiasm and dedication.”
She added, “This isn’t just a one-and-done tournament. This is a movement in our country to create more opportunities for this community.”
For a photo gallery of the jersey presentation, click the link below:
https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Field-Hockey/2026-Season/USA-Para-Field-Hockey-Jersey-Ceremony-08-08-26
Watch the Instagram story at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Db689MKSPkK
Team Roster
#1 Noah Croy, California
#2 Katie Costello, Pennsylvania
#4 Braden Jenkins, Tennessee
#8 Nate Miller, Pennsylvania
#13 Scott Weisbrot, New York
#14 Aidan Smith, Virginia
#24 Jessi Everett, Michigan
#59 Madisun Rosier, Tennessee
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