PEABODY — This week’s youth clinic gave Peabody field hockey coach Tawny Palmieri and her team a unique offseason experience. Along with having the chance to fine-tune their skills before the season, the team got to focus on helping the next generation of players learn the game.
“I would say it’s more about teaching the younger kids,” Palmieri said. “It’s less team practice type of thing and more about teaching the drills, skills and introducing the rules of the game. For us it’s really just sharpening our team skills, mindset of the game and focusing on teaching it for the younger kids. I think we all get a lot out of doing this.
“I go through the recreation department in Peabody,” Palmieri said. “I take the numbers that I have and go from there. I do focus on fundamentals and skills at this level more than game structure or stuff like that. As far as numbers go, if we can fit more kids on this turf even better. Nothing would change as far as drills go.”
The clinic started Monday and wrapped up Thursday afternoon at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School. The week, which drew in 20 young athletes, gave the Tanners a great chance to grow the sport of field hockey in Peabody.
“It’s for the younger kids,” Plamieri, who starts her second season as Peabody High’s coach this fall, said. “I have some of the high school players working the clinic. We’re really trying to get the younger kids in the city involved in the sport and grow the game. Peabody numbers have always been kind of low because track, volleyball and other sports here are great. We’re trying to get the word out there and show how good the game really is for the younger generation so we have kids coming up into high school.”
The clinic also gave Palmieri’s high school players a chance to see the game in a new light while providing the younger players with someone to look up to.
“It’s good for my team to come up and teach the kids,” Palmieri said. “I like having the older girls get involved because the younger kids see them coming back and enjoying the game and teaching them.
“When you teach something you learn it from a different perspective,” Palmieri said. “I think it’s good to have them teaching the younger kids so they get it a little bit more themselves. It’s a cycle. It’s good for everyone and I love doing it.”
The overall talent on the field is something that stood out to Palmieri this week and she’s excited for the possibility to coach some of these athletes at the next level in the future.
“Besides the heat it went great,” Palmieri said. “There’s a ton of talent coming up. More than I’ve seen in previous years for field hockey. I see a lot of athletes and a lot of good players coming up. Hopefully kids that understand it right away and can step in freshman year instead of playing a year or too on JV to get it. I think I see those kids that are ready for that jump from doing something like this.”
