Denise Krimerman is an experienced international already. She was part of the senior squad that narrowly lost out in the bronze medal match to host nation Canada in the 2015 Pan American Games. She also played a key role in Chile’s third place finish in the 2015 Hockey World League Round Two event in Dublin, Ireland, scoring three goals over the course of four games.
This year, the 21-year-old will be competing for the Chile junior women’s team in the Pan Am Junior Championships and hopes to improve on the fourth place finish of 2012.
Besides her hockey training schedule, Denise is a student at Universidad del Desarrollo, in Concepcion. So how does she combine study and representing her country?
“It is difficult,”she admits. “We must learn how to organise and manage our time during the day. However, it helps that our training sessions are usually in the afternoon and my university classes are in the morning. I use any free time –and there is not much admittedly - to catch up on studies."
“My family’s support is crucial,”she adds. “I started playing because of their encouragement and they motivate me constantly to achieve my goals.”
The fact that hockey remains an amateur game in Chile and is still very much a sport that is establishing itself demonstrates that the national squads at all levels are very much punching above their weight.
Chile men and women are constantly runners-up to the hockey heavyweights in the Pan American region – Argentina, USA and Canada – and to maintain that level of consistency is no mean feat.
“We sacrifice a lot of things to play hockey in Chile,”says Denise, but you sense from her lively enthusiasm that this is not a hardship.
Sophia Lahsen is another member of the Chile junior team and a prolific goal-scorer. Like Denise, Sophia goes to college in the mornings and early afternoon and then does hockey training in the evening.
Her biggest concern is that she may overdo things and burn out, something that has already happened to her many times over the past few years. “I haven’t been able to take time out to study enough or simply just rest. I got frustrated and I didn't know how to sort out difficult situations.”
Help came from family and friends. “I talked to my family and friends, and then I realised that I am very supported by them and that I have to learn how to control my anxiety and despair because it only makes me feel down and it also affects my performance in hockey. The person that I most talk about it all with is my dad. He helps me very much, gives me a lot of very good advice and supports me in every decision that I make.”
Sophia’s parents really have proven a rock as pressures of balancing study and sport have taken their toll. “Without them I wouldn't know how to sort out my problems. My parents give me a lot of support in terms of hockey so that encourages me to keep training and performing even when I'm full of pressure from tests and stuff at college.”
Despite the stress that Sophia sometimes feels under, she is under no illusions that she is the only one. “It is something that happens to all athletes in their respective sports. We all make sacrifices. Like waking up earlier than everyone else to train before going to college, or not being able to go out with friends or going on vacations. But after all it's not an obligation, it's a decision that you take that, at the end, brings its own benefits.”
Whilst the balancing act is difficult for junior athletes to manage, it serves them well as they develop personally and physically. It's also an indication that hockey is moving in the right direction, with the standard of play consistently increasing as the sport becomes a high performing sport.
This is a crucial aspect of the International Hockey Federation's Hockey Revolution - their 10 year strategy aimed at making hockey a global game that inspires the next generation. To find out more about the Hockey Revolution, click here.
For more information about hockey in Chile, click here, and in the Pan American region here.
