Charlotte, North Carolina (charlotte sports live) — The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are just a few months away.
The United States already has about 500 athletes who have qualified in 30 different sports.
Sixteen of these athletes are on the women's field hockey team headquartered here in Charlotte.
The girls, who missed out on participating in the 2021 Tokyo Games, are more motivated than ever.
The winning goal brings us one step closer to our final goal.
The U.S. women's field hockey team earned a three-game shutout win in an Olympic qualifying match earlier this year, earning them a ticket to Paris for the first time since Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“Just like the fight back the last four years, it's something none of us will take for granted,” says USA Field Hockey teammate Brooke DeBerdin.
None of them were on Rio's roster.
“Internationally, we are definitely inexperienced compared to other teams, but I think what's special about us is that we don't use that as an excuse,” DeBerdin continues.
Head coach David Passmore has Olympic experience and knows what it takes to succeed on the world stage.
“What really impressed me and helped us qualify was how the players prepared mentally and how they prepared mentally to handle the pressure.” said Passmore.
The United States will face Argentina, currently ranked second in the world, in their first match, so there is no time to get nervous.
“They're a better team than us at the moment,” Passmore said. “They've got a lot of talent. They're a much older team, so not only are they more mature in talent, but they have world-class experience on what to do and when to do it in major games.”
Ashley Hoffman is the team's veteran with 116 caps, and although Paris will be her first Olympic appearance, Hoffman has valuable insight into what's to come.
Her mother, Brenda, won a bronze medal as the youngest member of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic team.
“Of course, she had a bronze medal at home, so I've been watching that ever since I was little,” Hoffman recalled. “I'll take it [it] Go to school and show and teach. So for me it was really like, 'If you see that, you can believe that you can be that, too.' ”
Since the sport was introduced by the International Olympic Committee in 1980, the United States has qualified and competed in seven of the 12 Summer Games.
Now, the team's headquarters are in North Carolina, and these women hope to inspire the next generation to pursue their Olympic dreams and grow the sport.
“Moving to Charlotte was a big opportunity because we’re not that big here,” DeBerdin says. “A lot of us are from the East Coast, where the sport is more populated, so it was great to come and a lot of girls are joining local clubs, so we want to grow it. I think we’re doing a good job for that, and we’ll continue to do that.”
The team has been in Charlotte for less than a year. They broke ground on a practice facility on the UNC Charlotte campus last May and were able to practice for the first time in September.
The team has expressed their love for Charlotte and is excited to be further involved in the sports community here.
Many of the players experienced a Charlotte FC game for the first time last weekend and said they had a lot of fun rooting for them.
In July, we will all be rooting for them.
