Kate Oliver

 Playing Field Hockey at Harvard University of 2022
 MICDS, St. Louis (K - 4th)
 MICDS, St. Louis (5th - 8th)
 MICDS, St. Louis (2018 - 2022) Varsity all four years

Profile Link
From Kate: 
Favorite Field Hockey Memory? Why?
  • My favorite memory was winning Disney this past year in shootouts. In past years, my club team had never made it past the first round of bracket play, so to be in the final four was insane. We dealt with so many adversity in our first game of the day (mainly the frost delay) and it was amazing to see our team come together through two really challenging games and two rounds of shootouts.
 
What was your most exciting recruiting experience?
  • My most exciting experience was being in the middle of studying for a math test and having my coach call my mom and tell her to get me to the field because the coaches had called her and said they wanted to watch me play more. It was so chaotic but a really special moment.

Why are you playing field hockey in college?
  • I am playing field hockey in college because I love the game itself, and I didn’t want to stop playing before I had too. I wanted to be able to form the types of friendships I have made from club in college and be able to keep doing what I love. I wanted the community of a team to be a major part of my college experience and to have the opportunity to continue in competitive athletics.

What have you been doing to prepare?
  • I have been coming down to Houston for club practice in June and early July. I went to Nexus and NCCs. For the rest of the summer, I will be going to FIH camp and training with Allen Law on Nantucket on top of continuing my workout packet.

If you could give one piece of advice to younger girls who want to play field hockey in college, what would it be?
  • Do not get too caught up in your dream school. When Stanford cut their program, my mindset shifted to I am going to end up where I was always meant to be, and it was not where I thought it would be.

Who was the most influential person in high school?
  • Kelsey Scherer. She moved to St. Louis my eighth grade year and I immediately started working with her. She was instrumental in my commitment to Stanford and was one of the first people who called me when their program was cut. Even though she has moved back to California, I still talk to her after every tournament and use the drills she taught me when I am training on my own.

​Favorite post practice/ game snack?
  • Tropical Smoothie Açaí Berry Blast

What pre game rituals do you use to hype yourself up before a game?
  • I don’t actually put on my teal headband until the game is about to start. I like to use this to shift from the mindset of warming up to actually competing.

What made you want to be a college field hockey player?
  • I wanted to become a college field hockey player after seeing all of my older friends from AIM go and play in college and then come back and having grown so much in the game. Seeing how they could get better while going to strong academic schools made me want to do the same thing. I also didn’t want to have to stop playing field hockey once I got out of high school.

What was one of the toughest experiences?
  • One of my toughest experiences was restarting my recruiting process when Stanford cut their program. I was in isolation in my room, so my mom had to sit outside my door while I talked to coaches. In those first few days, it was really hard to talk to coaches because I still, in my heart, only really wanted to go to play at Stanford, so it was hard to take the blinders off and look at other schools. I am really thankful for this experience, however, because I could not be more excited about going to Harvard and the experience has helped prepare for any life-altering changes I may encounter down the road.

Year you began playing field hockey? How?
  • I started playing club field hockey in third grade after our PE unit at school.
From Tina:
Favorite Kate Moment (old) / why?:
  • Kate only played with us from the summer of 2021 - summer of 2022. She came down to camp in 2021 and really enjoyed playing with the girls. A month later, we received a call from Kate asking if she could play and train with us for the next year. She agreed to make the weekly trip down to Houston, and here we are.  I remember watching her play with our girls at camp and thinking, wow, she fits in really well with our team.  
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Favorite Kate moment (new)/ why?
  • Kate was incredible at finding a way of getting to Houston. She was so on top of it, that she scheduled herself to take an AP exam at Kinkaid so she could make the practices in the week leading up to RCC.  It was impressive what she went through to make it to our practices.  

Story we will forever tell about Kate:
  • Kate has a lot of history with St. Louis field hockey. This year at RCC, she wanted to win this one game so bad.  During this particular game, we were tied for a period of time, and then she went down the field and took this shot from the top of the circle and scored.  It was certainly a statement goal.  One her and her family will never forget. And neither will we.  
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Favorite Kate recruiting moment/ why?
  • We were not a part of Kate's recruiting process. However, she was originally committed to Stanford. Stanford then dropped their program in the summer of 2020, so Kate had to re-enter the recruiting process. She later committed to Harvard which is where she will be playing this Fall. 

First memory of Kate​ / why?
  • Our first memory of Kate dates back to an AIM game at Festival. It was the 7am game and the field was a mud pit. We were playing this game and it was ugly. There was this one girl on the other team that we couldn't contain - it was the girl in the blue headband....Kate. We lost that game and always remembered the girl in the blue headband.  It was fun having her on our side of the field :)