Flat and Thru

Welcome back to episode 12 - our Season Finale!! August is here, and so we are wrapping up Season 1 of Flat and Thru just in time for preseason (our favorite time of year)! For this last episode, we are finishing Season 1 the way we started, with a Liv and Les episode - but with a twist. We asked you all to submit questions via social media, and you guys delivered. There was great participation and lots of questions submitted about hockey, the podcast, and our advice based on our playing experiences. We have had so much fun doing Season 1 and we can't wait to be back for Season 2…more info to come soon. But for now…let's get to these questions of yours!!

Welcome to our 11th episode of Flat and Thru! Today, we have a unique and fun episode for you all. We chat with identical twins, Ellie and Karen Seid. Ellie and Karen played D1 field hockey and both graduated college in 2019. We excitedly jumped into the conversation about twins through the lens of sport, and we were eager to hear about their unique, shared experience of playing field hockey. Our episode covers their journey getting into field hockey together and playing together through middle school and high school until their paths diverged when they went to different universities. Ellie graduated from Brown University, and Karen graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. We dive into their individual recruiting processes, what they each wanted in a college, difficulties they faced being apart for the first time, lessons learned, and as always, we share a bunch of laughs. Enjoy! 

Here we go with our TENTH EPISODE! Woot woot! We have a great episode in store for you guys. Today, we sit down with two talented and inspiring male athletes, who just competed in the Indoor Pan American Cup the last weekend of June. They are not only members of the Men's Indoor National Team but also the Men's Outdoor National Team - Indoor & Outdoor Captain and Outdoor Assistant Coach, Pat Harris, and Outdoor Captain and Rutgers Assistant Coach, Ajai Dhadwal. We talk about the IPAC tournament and dive deep into the topic of boys and men playing field hockey in the United States. We learn a lot about Pat and Ajai's path to playing at the international level, and they shed some light on how to grow the game for boys and men in the USA. This conversation was awesome to have, we hope you enjoy it!

Hello! Welcome to episode 9 of Flat and Thru. Today, we have two guests from The College of William & Mary - first, Hillary Fitts, Assistant Field Hockey Coach, and second, the field hockey program's S&C coach, Erich Murphy, who is also Head of Athletic Performance and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach. We brought the two on today to talk about the importance of summer fitness and to give everyone a greater understanding of why packets are important to follow. We have a great discussion about the planning and organization put into the packet, load management and rest, and how hockey fits into all the weight-lifting and running. This episode will give you great insight on why it is beneficial to stick to the summer packet as best as you can because of the way it is purposefully designed. Whether you are a high school athlete who is training this summer, or a college athlete who has just begun the summer packet grind, this episode is for you. Enjoy!

Episode 8 on the 8th! Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Flat and Thru! We are excited to have Ryan Langford on the podcast today, Assistant Coach at the University of Michigan. They were BIG Ten Champs and the NCAA runner-up in this year's unusual season (and as you know, Leslie's alma mater). We start this episode with a peek into what DI athletics looked like during the fall and spring. We chat about the prep behind the uncommon format of this spring season - conference only play, COVID regulations, testing, etc. And then we dive into the topic of losing on such a big stage and how to move forward, channeling loss into motivation. Along the way, we talk a lot about Michigan field hockey and its culture which drove them to the National Championship game. Enjoy!

Welcome to our 7th episode of Flat and Thru! Today our guest is Paul Caddy, Head Coach of the legendary field hockey program at the University of Connecticut. We talk to him about the pros and cons of the many summer opportunities PSAs can choose from, and how much the summer playing opportunities have evolved over the last two decades. From attending a showcase as an individual or with a club to the traditional college summer camps, there are virtually playing events every weekend through the spring and summer. We hope this conversation with Paul gives PSAs the confidence to make informative decisions on what to attend, why, and how it will be most beneficial to their respective recruiting process. Enjoy!

Welcome back to episode 6 of Flat and Thru! After a brief break we are back with two truly special guests - Liv’s mom and Leslie’s dad. After the topic of parents being brought up in episodes 2 and 5, we thought this would be a great opportunity to bring on our parents to get their perspectives on the parent's role(s) in sport from HS all the way to college. We first talk with Liv’s mom, Steffi, more specifically about sideline etiquette and how she emotionally supported Liv and her siblings. And then, we chat with Leslie’s dad, Bruce, about logistics and balancing work, life and hockey schedules. We share a lot of laughs and memories with our parents, making us miss our playing days and even all those long drives to tournaments!

Today we talk with Head Coach at Wilkes University and former club coach, Katherine Bowie. We hear her perspective on how PSAs can best utilize club coaches through the recruiting process so that they feel empowered, prepared and supported. Bowie gives insight and advice from her many years of playing and coaching, and shares factors to think about when considering different colleges and universities. This is a highly informational episode, we hope it helps all of you going through the recruiting process right now… and like always, we share many laughs and relate it to our own club and recruiting experiences. We hope you enjoy it!!

Episode 4 of Flat and Thru, here we go! Today we talk with three recently graduated student-athletes from Division 1, Division 2, and Division 3 about their respective collegiate experiences. We cover a lot of information in this episode...and we mean A LOT! We discuss what they looked for in a college during the recruiting process, what their in- and out-of-season schedules looked like, academics, free time and opportunities outside of field hockey, and their take-aways from being a student-athlete. Throughout the interview we share many stories, memories, and laughs. We had a lot of fun recording this conversation with our three guests, we hope you enjoy it!

Welcome back to episode 3! Today we talk with Katharine DeLorenzo, 4x National Championship Head Coach at Middlebury College. In this conversation we discuss how video has changed the game over the years, her own recruiting philosophy, team values, and end with advice Coach DeLorenzo has for PSAs of every and any sport. The three of us definitely had fun being back in the same (virtual) room once again!

In episode 2, we jump right into conversation around recruiting during COVID with Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Northwestern University’s field hockey program, Will Byrne. We cover topics like what the “dead period” for Division 1 means, things PSAs can be doing in the recruiting process during this time, and general advice Will has for all the PSA’s out there. You don’t want to miss it!

WELCOME TO FLAT AND THRU! In this first episode, we introduce ourselves to you so that you can get to know your two hosts a little better. We touch on how we met and how this podcast idea came about. Then we dive into the similarities and differences in our recruiting and collegiate experiences, we reflect on our first field hockey memories, and we talk about our proudest accomplishments. We share where we are now in life, what to expect from this podcast, and what is in upcoming episodes of the show!

Welcome to Flat and Thru! You are here with Liv Green and Leslie Smith and we are ready to dive into all things field hockey. We are going to be talking hockey on and off the field, including relationships we build, the triumphs and struggles we face, the lessons we learn along the way, and the process from the first time we pick up our stick until the last. We will be covering many, many topics with different coaches, support staff, graduated student-athletes and more. Welcome, we are so excited you're here!