The lap, called Louie, began and ended on the grass outside Comet Field near the scoreboard.
All of Penn Manor's athletes ran the course at the start of summer practice – each run is about three-quarters of a mile – giving them a chance to get in shape with the fall sports season fast approaching.
Brooke and Emma DeBardine, like everyone else who wore the blue and gold, hated their early morning jogs, but as the years went by, they grew nostalgic about them.
Louies' field hockey experience spans her high school years, when she won a PIAA championship and qualified for the U.S. national team that will compete in the Paris Olympics next month.
The sisters made every step part of a sibling competition. They didn't run for time or to get strong; they ran to beat each other.
“My goal was to keep up with Brooke,” Emma said. “I definitely lost a lot, but it definitely made me faster.”
For the DeBardines, the good old days weren't that long ago: Brooke graduated from Penn Manor in 2017, and Emma followed two years later.
Their family lived on George Street and could walk from their backyard to the grass field at Millersville University, where their father, Mike, taught them to swing their arms as they ran, and it was there that they discovered the sport and what was within them.
“My dad helped us to be competitive with each other,” Brooke said, “and we still play together and encourage each other to this day.”
By middle school, much of their kinetic energy was being channeled into hitting a ball with a stick, and their transition to field hockey was not in the expected order.
United States player Jill Witmer (10) advances the ball against Chile during the first half of the Pan American Cup women's semifinal on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017, at Spooky Nook Sports Complex in East Hempfield County.
Follow in their footsteps
The sisters honed their skills in Jill Whitmer's chicken coop, where they all played as children. It was an indoor arena, and although it wasn't a full-scale arena, it was thought to be the first of its kind in Lancaster County.
Whitmer was Penn Manor's first Olympian, competing for the U.S. at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. The temporary training facility was built on her family's farm.
“It was amazing,” Brooke said. “I walked in and there were flags of all the girls who'd trained there, and what colleges they went to. Looking back, it's amazing how many hockey players came from a place like that.”
Brooke was passionate about soccer when she was younger, and when her sister Emma started playing field hockey, Brooke decided to try soccer too.
Brooke and Emma DeBardine reflect on their selection to the U.S. Olympic Field Hockey Team and their memories at Penn Manor…
With girls' soccer moving from spring to fall, Brooke had to choose one. Her mother, Debra, encouraged her to choose field hockey. It was a wise decision. Penn Manor was becoming a powerhouse, and much of the DeBardine family's success can be attributed to the school they happened to attend.
Penn Manor won its first state championship with Whitmer in 2008. Brooke helped the Comets share the title in 2014 and Emma led an undefeated team in 2017.
Emma started as a ball girl along with Brianna Hirsch, Lisa Schafer and Gaby Bitz, who chased down balls that were out of play and helped keep play going. Emma got off school early from Eshleman Elementary to catch the team bus for away games.
“We took it very seriously,” she said, “and in doing so, we learned the rules of the game very well. It made us want to go out on the field and play for ourselves.”
Emma admired the 2008 team photo hanging in the locker room and imagined what it would be like to excel at that level.
Brooke began making the transition from soccer to field hockey in earnest in the seventh grade, when her middle school coach was Brittney Clugston, a Penn Manor graduate who played at Penn State.
“The people at Penn Manor really pushed my dream forward,” Brooke said, “They helped me fall in love with the sport. They made my dream come true.”
Brooke chose to attend the same University of Maryland as Whitmer, and Emma soon joined her sister.
In the days after making the Olympic team, the DeBardines were inundated with congratulatory messages from former Penn Manor players whose numbers they still have saved in their cell phones.
“It's fun to give back to them,” Brooke said. “I wouldn't be here without them.”
Maryland Penn Manor High School graduates Brooke DeBurdin and Emma DeBurdin hold up the 2019 B1G Field Hockey Championship trophy.
Build your team
The DeVerdine sisters had been part of the national team at every recent tournament, but their chances of making it to Paris were far from certain. The field of 28 players had been whittled down to 16. The sisters received the news the day before the roster was released on June 12.
“It was really emotional when we reached the final round and both of us were selected,” Brooke said.
The DeBardin brothers were teammates for two seasons at Penn Manor and three at Maryland. They remain teammates well into their 20s.
It's rare for brothers to wear the same uniform for so long, and it's remarkable that two of the top 16 players in the country grew up in the same house. They've always looked to each other as a benchmark, dating back to when they were young kids, pushing aside living room furniture to have impromptu wrestling matches.
“The ball is in the middle of the field and we both go after it,” Emma said. “One of our teammates will say, 'Oh, one of us is going to fall.' We're just so competitive, and I think that's really been a benefit to us.”
Their brother, Nate DeBardin, was always there to mediate and defuse heated situations, and the relationship between the sisters has softened and grown closer as they have matured.
“We became friends as we got older and went to college,” Brooke says. “I think that's when we started encouraging each other more.”
The DeBardin siblings are often confused; even announcers and coaches sometimes have trouble saying their names correctly. Emma once spent the entire time at the grocery store talking to someone she thought was Brooke. Their shared success, unique talents, and similar looks make them inseparable.
The team will play its first match against Argentina on July 27. The DeVerdeans will play on the same field they played on in the Chicken Coop. They are the first sisters to play for the U.S. field hockey team since Julia and Katie Reinprecht in 2012 and 2016.
“It's so amazing,” Brooke said, “We feel so blessed to see both of our names on the list. I think it just makes this whole experience even more special.”
They've spent most of their lives trying to be the best DeBardin sisters they can be, and they've become two of the best players in the world.
Brook DebeldinDeBurdin and her sister, Emma DeBurdin, both Penn Manor High School graduates, have been selected to the U.S. Olympic women's field hockey team.
