Monta Vista Field Hockey

The Team
The Monta Vista Field Hockey program is rich in tradition and parent involvement. The team has competed in CCS playoffs many times and has won three CCS championship titles and placed 2nd four times. Many of the athletes are also a part of the Futures program, which is the Olympic Developmental Program for Field Hockey in the US. Some Monta Vista players have been selected to compete in the US National Futures Championship Tournament and the AAU Jr. Olympics (national), both in which athletes are independently selected based on superior abilities. Many alumni have gone on to play at the collegiate level at universities such as UC Berkeley, Stanford and Duke. Some have even been awarded athletic scholarships to attend. This season is a promising one as the current team is filled with talent, dedication and motivation and the coaches have no doubt that they will continue to command the respect of their competitors.

The Parents
We pride ourselves on our strong parent support and involvement as well. We thrive on having more fans at our games than our competitors, even when we are playing at tournaments 3 hours from home! The parents are the organizers behind the scenes; they are as much a part of the team as the student-athletes are. There is even a day dedicated to having the parents on the field, playing hockey with the athletes. Oh, what a game that is!

The Coaches
Head Varsity Coach Denise Eachus has been playing field hockey for 24 years. She started at Lynbrook High School in 1983 and was instrumental in leading the team to 3 CCS championship titles the 3 years she was on varsity. In high school, she was selected to play in the National Junior Olympics and she also earned the honors of All-American, of which only 24 were chosen nationwide. She played for Chico State University and helped them into the NCAA playoffs, beating out the likes of teams like Stanford and Berkeley. She continues to play today through the Northern California Field Hockey Association.

Cheryl Blatt, the JV coach, started playing field hockey in 7th grade. She played 4 years, all on Varsity, at Columbia High School in New Jersey as a goalie. Her senior year of high school she helped lead her team to the title of state champions! She was selected to the All-state Team both her junior and senior years of high school. She was recruited to play for a number of D1 college teams, but decided to play ice hockey in college instead (again, as a goalie). She coached freshman field hockey in Boston where none of the girls had ever played before, and led them to a 9-2-2 record.