Today, we are looking at the top 10 reasons why field hockey could interest you even if you are not its fan or sports fan in general. The only thing that is better than a pretty woman is a pretty woman with a hot athletic body. These girls are in shape for their whole life and if you add pretty faces you can get a reason to watch at least the next Olympic tournament of field hockey.
10. Charlotte Harrison
She was born in 1989 in Palmerston North, which is located on New Zealand’s Northern Island. She is of Maori descent. Debuting for Black Sticks in 2006 made her youngest player ever in the national team’s history. Her younger sister Samantha is also a field hockey player and has joined her sister on the national team for the first time in 2009. Although Samantha is younger than Charlotte, they were often mistaken for each other by commentators due to their similarities. Harrison studied beauty therapy in Auckland where she resides currently and works as a beautician.
9. Anita Punt (Anita McLaren)
Another New Zealander on this list is the 1987 born Anita McLaren. Considering that her father is of Dutch descent, and holds both New Zealand and Dutch citizenship Anita could play for both countries. She debuted for New Zealand in 2009, year after New Zealand was last placed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics which caused the team to be almost fully rebuilt for the next competitions. Punt is arguably one of the fastest players in the World. She simultaneously competes in 100m and 200m races. Her record is very impressive for a field hockey player because the time of 12.61 seconds led her to fifth place in the National Championship. Currently, she is studying veterinary nursing in Auckland. In March 2016 she married decathlete Scott McLaren.
8. Sophie Polkamp
Born 1984 in Groningen, Netherlands. She was one of the main factors in the Dutch great generation who were crowned World Champions in 2006 and runners-up in 2010. Also, she has a gold medal from both Beijing 2008 and the London 2012 Olympics. Considering that Netherlands won the Champions Trophy in 2007 and European Championship in 2011 she decided to retire from international hockey. The decision came shortly after another trophy win, but this time for her team Amsterdam HBC.
7. Eva de Goede
The Dutch midfielder was born in 1989 in a small town of Zeist. She is a regular international for Netherlands field hockey team and has achieved even more than Polkamp because she is actively playing for the Netherlands. Eva participated in three Olympic tournaments with the last one of them being Rio de Janeiro 2016, where the Dutch team won a silver medal.
6. Kelsey Kolojejchick
Kelsey Kolojejchick was born on October 2, 1991, in Kingston, Pennsylvania. She started her sports career as a soccer player, but later transferred to playing field hockey. In college, she also did various other sports like softball, gymnastics, track and swimming. Kolojejchick attended University of North Carolina, where she was  a crucial player in the field hockey team and lead them to the National title on her first year in college. She debuted for the National team in 2012, and her first big competition was the 2014 World Cup where she scored 5 times.
5. Ellen Hoog
This AHBC’s midfielder was born 26 March 1986. Since her debut for the national team in 2004, she has represented Netherlands in 232 caps, scoring 60 goals. Her most important goals were in a shootout in 2012 Olympic tournament semifinals against New Zealand and in 2016 Olympics semi-final against Germany. Hoog has gold medals from all four biggest field hockey international competitions. Two from Olympic Games (2008 and 2012), two from World Cup (2006, 2014), three from European Championship (2005, 2009, 2011) and two Champions Trophy golds (2004, 2005). She was FIH Player of the Year 2014.
4. Fatima Moreira de Melo
Maybe a surprise entrance on this list, considering that she’s retired and now aged 39, but this Dutch-born field hockey player of Portuguese descent (her father was a Portuguese diplomat in the Netherlands) has a very special lifestyle. Her first match for the Netherlands was in 1997 in a 2-1 victory against Germany. She ended her career after 191 appearances, scoring solid number of 30 goals. In her club career, she has played for three Dutch teams: Tempo 34, HGC and HC Rotterdam. De Melo is a Master of Laws and has presented TV programs for various stations in the Netherlands. She even has a singing career and had been performing at many ceremonies before and after field hockey events. In 2006, she won individual award Rotterdam Sportswoman of the Year, after which she signed a sponsorship contract with Rabobank. Her boyfriend is a tennis player Raymond Sluiter. Now, after her career has ended, she plays online and live poker tournaments for TeamPokerStars.
3. Marsha Cox (Marsha Marescia)
She was born on January 13, 1983, in Durban, South Africa. Marsha comes from great field hockey family. Her father is a former player and now coach, Marian Marescia. Marian Marescia is known to be one of the best South African hockey players which could not play for national team due to Apartheid. Since her debut in 2001, Marsha has collected over 300 caps for South Africa and is captaining the national team. She was selected three times for the IHF World XIÂ (2007, 2009, 2010). In 2013 she married her boyfriend, Dutch hockey coach Alexander Cox.
2. Anna Flanagan
This hockey player was born in Canberra in 1992. She is also known by her nickname Flanno. Her whole family played field hockey, so she started playing it aged 5, and was coached by her father many years later. Anna’s father is a PE teacher so she developed interests in many sports, which is the reason why she has a degree in Sports Journalism from the University of Canberra and was working for Fox Sports in Perth. She plays as a defender and is specialist in taking corner penalties. Now, she has 150 caps for Australia, debuting aged 18 in a test match against the Republic of Korea. Her favorite number is 9. In national league, she plays for ACT Strikers. She was crowned as the FIH Young Player of the Year 2012, which stands out as her biggest individual award. Flanagan is an ambassador for a Donar Mate (Organ Donation), National Breast Cancer Association and Cerebral Palsy ACT.
1. Luciana Aymar
Now retired, this Argentinian field hockey player is ex-number one in the World. She was born in Rosario in 1977 and is nicknamed ‘La Maga’ (The Magician) due to her amazing pace and dribbling skills and a lot of people drew a comparison with her and two most famous Argentinian soccer players, Rosario-born Lionel Messi and Diego Armando Maradona. She is the only player in history to win eight FIH Player of the Year awards. Aymar is famous for being first female field hockey athlete flag bearer, representing Argentina in 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Also, Mayer is second Argentinian in history who have won four Olympic medals. She started her club career in Fisherton, after proving herself, she went to Rosario. After Rosario, she spent two years in Europe, more precisely in Germany (Rot-Weiss Cologne) and Spain (Real Club de Polo Barcelona) and then returned to her homeland to play for Quilmes and GEBA. Luciana was declared ‘Legend of Hockey’ in 2008 by the International Hockey Federation.
These women really can make field hockey interesting and are one of the reasons why this relatively unknown sport is becoming more and more popular. More popularity means more players, and more players mean more hottest players so this kind of list for the few years should be an interesting competition. So this is our top 10 list of the hottest hockey players. Do you agree with us? Leave your opinion in the comment section below.
