Kidsday: My future in field hockey

I was asked to play for the New York field hockey team in the Futures program. The Futures program is where the best field hockey players from New York State play and compete against other states in tournaments.

This year, the championship game might be at Virginia Beach, and I hope that my team will be there. There are three teams per state: under 14, under 16 and under 18. I am currently on the under 14 team, and I am excited to play this month. It is weird and pressure-packed, because you have only 10 practices. You are required to attend 70 percent of these practices. If you don't, you won't be asked to play with the team again next year, and if you wanted to play, you would have to try out again.

You need to be recommended by coaches to make the Futures team. One popular way is by attending a Nike camp where they recommend players for the team. I went to the Adelphi University camp, and they were allowed to send 2 percent of their entire camp. I was lucky to be picked.

The Futures program is part of the pipeline to the Olympics. I'm still very far from that point, but I got to the first step of the ladder.

I am hoping sometime in my life to get to the Futures National team, and that is where Olympic athletes are picked.

I recently found out that only 18 new athletes from ages 12 to 16 got picked to join. I received an e-mail saying my invitation to join should be coming soon, since all the people who had made the team were getting them this week.

It is lucky for me that once you get in to Futures, you are usually asked back every year as long as you attend most of the practices.

I can't wait to start practicing, and I can't wait to be playing for New York.

It's too late to apply for the 2011 Futures, but if you think you have what it takes, visit the website: http://usafieldhockey.com/futures, for more information.

Can't erase the memories

Have you ever needed an eraser but couldn't find one? Well I'll let you borrow one from my 250-eraser collection. That's right, I own a collection containing more than 250 erasers! I started this collection when I was just about in second grade. I thought of this collection when one day I found a packet of these colorful, fun mini erasers. Then, I expanded my variety to huge erasers. I have everything from mini hot air balloon erasers to big rose erasers - any color, any size and all. I'm still expanding my collection today. So who knows how many I'll have 10 years from now.

- Brianna Ramalhete/Kidsday Reporter