It didn’t take much for Macy Szukics to get hooked on field hockey. When she was just seven years old, she found her mom’s old field hockey stick and asked what it was. Her mom, Jennifer, who played field hockey at Dieruff High School and later in college until a back issue forced her to give up the sport, sacrificed her senior field hockey ball with signatures from teammates to let Macy hit around.

With a quick lesson on how to hold the stick, Macy took her first swing, and later that day, her and mom were out shopping for a stick that would fit her smaller size. Now, Szukics is on the Junior Olympics team and playing club field hockey with a team looking for a national championship.

“I showed her how to choke down on the stick and with her first swing, she hit the ball really well,” remembered Jennifer Szukics. “I said ‘we have to get you your own stick,’ and we went on a three-hour drive to find a store that had the right size.”

That was five years ago, and nobody could have known just what that day would lead to. Now, having just turned 12 in April, Macy is playing with and against players a few years older than she is, and she is holding her own against the competition. Among local high school players who she has been teamed with are Parkland’s Brie Barraco and Grace Royer and Emmaus’ Meredith Sholder.

“It’s important to play with them, and I learned a lot,” said Szukics, who is entering seventh grade this fall. “I’m really glad that I get to play with them, because playing with them makes me improve and then I feel better when I play against players my own age. The compliments they give me make me more confident and I feel like they respect me.”

Szukics gladly soaks up any lessons that her older teammates can give her. She remembers Sholder helping her with positioning and stressing not giving up on a play.

Ironically, the foray into playing field hockey brought Macy’s mom, Jennifer, back to the sport. Parkland didn’t have a program for Macy to join when she was younger, so her mom started one and has since become the middle school coach.

“It’s gotten me back into the sport, and I had forgotten just how much I loved it,” said Jennifer Szukics. “It’s so exciting to help these young girls and now, the first group of players I had will be seniors and they still call me for advice or even to help watch their cat or anything.”

Once school begins, Macy will be playing with her mom as her coach, which is an interesting situation for any parent and child, no matter the sport. Macy is taking it all in stride and looking forward to the opportunity.

“It’s interesting sometimes,” said Macy Szukics of playing for her mom. “But she’s the reason that I’ve gotten this far.”

Sholder has set school records for scoring at Emmaus and has gotten a scholarship to North Carolina and Barraco has seen field hockey help her gain admission to Penn State to continue her career. Szukics is hoping she can be the type of player who can possibly set scoring records at Parkland, but more importantly, is hoping that the sport can help her gain admission to a good college.

“I really want to go to college and play field hockey, hopefully, at a D-1 school,” said Szukics.

Szukics and Barraco went to Houston to compete in the Junior Olympics in early August. They’ll team up with Royer in the National Club Championships, playing for the WC Eagles, the top-ranked club team in the country. Szukics is also a member of the Stars and Stripes Elite team with Barraco, Sholder and other local high school standouts.