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American players struggle with. Madison said Kon‑ ing and Bergmann are no different. "They both bring a high field hockey IQ," the head coach noted. "Hockey is one of Holland's national sports, and the kids start playing at a very early age." In the Netherlands, players compete in the nu‑ merous hockey club circuits, they are required to coach a younger team of players and they have to umpire games. "That's how they learn the game and they deal with coaching a whole differ‑ ent way," Madison explained. "They bring a maturity about being coached because they're all required to coach them‑ selves." From a team standpoint, Madison said the biggest adjust‑ ment for the players, especially from Holland, is adapting to the schedule. "They spread out their hockey season from Au‑ gust to June, play one game a weekend and they train two days per week," she said. "The fitness component is different also. Our fitness component is multiple games a week and their 11‑month season is compacted into three and a half months here. Lift‑ ing weights is new to them because we have to do it for injury prevention because of the compacted schedule." The two first‑year standouts do bring a lot of athleticism and talent. Bergmann was a two‑time Dutch skiing champion in slalom before choosing to just focus on field hockey. "I used to ski when I was little," Bergmann said. "When I was 2 years old my older sister got into skiing first, and when I started I fell in love with it." Bergmann skied competitively until she was 13, but discovered skiing was not huge in Holland pri‑ marily since there is very little snow and the nation is essentially flat. "They used to create the hills out of plastic," she recalled. The team aspect also appealed to the gregarious Bergmann versus the isolation of an individual sport like skiing. "Field hockey is more of a team sport and I ab‑ solutely love the people that play hockey," she said. Field hockey has been the family sport since the day Koning was born. Her father, Hans, played field hockey at the top level of the Dutch National League, so her love of the game came naturally. "A lot of my friends played hockey when I was young, but eventually my dad and I would play hockey on Sundays be‑ cause we lived just a minute away from the hockey field," Koning said. "My family would play, me and my dad and my little sister." Unlike his daughter, Hans de Koning was an offensive player. "He wouldn't pass the ball to too many play‑ ers, but I'm the opposite of him. I'm more of team player," she said with a laugh. "He would just score lots of goals." Koning said that becoming a Cavalier was an easy decision for her. "I chose Virginia because I knew they were very good in field hockey and I like Coach Madison very much," she noted. She also fell in love with the Charlottesville area on her official visit and is excited that her parents are coming to watch her play in October. The first time Bergmann saw the University of Virginia was when she arrived in Charlottesville Aug. 7. "I came out of the blue," she said. "I love it here. The cars are so big and the refrigerators are enor‑ mous. People are all so kind and welcoming and I can really see myself living here for the next four years." ◆ "We talked about how it would be so much fun if we got to go to the same college, but we figured it was never going to happen." BERGMANN