York University Athletics

Joel Brough selected York University to give herself the chance to train under the guidance of two of the top coaches the sport has ever known. In the process, she helped York maintain its label as one of the best field hockey programs in the country.
 
“I chose to come to York because of the physical education program and also because it was where the national team coaches [Marina van der Merwe and Kathy Broderick] were,” said Brough. “It could have been a double-edged sword because I was in the eye of the national team coaches every day, but I took that as a positive and wanted them to see what I could do.”
 
And what she could do on the field hockey pitch was impressive. Her skills helped York win five provincial silver medals and three medals at the national championship tournament – silver in 1989 and bronze in 1988 and 1990 – and she stood out as one of the top players in the league with three OWIAA all-star selections and three CIAU all-Canadian honours in her five-year career.
 
Her decision to train with the national team coaches on a daily basis proved to be a good one. After a strong showing at the inaugural Junior World Cup in 1989, she was selected for the senior national team and went on to represent Canada at multiple international events, including the 1991 World University Games, the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, the 1995 Pan American Games, as well as two world championships.
 
Brough’s success came early and often for a player who did not even take up the sport until high school. She attended L’Amoreaux Collegiate, a school with a dominant field hockey program thanks to a coach from Australia who was an international umpire, and after seeing a neighbor participating, she decided to give it a try. She did not make the high school team in her first year; however, she kept training and the summer following grade nine was named to the under-15 provincial team. After that her development took off, and she quickly earned a place on the junior national team and progressed from there.
 
“I started taking the sport seriously almost right away and I was lucky that it came to me so quickly. I wasn’t one of those kids that had an Olympic dream at a really young age, but when I made the junior national team and started training with some Olympians, competing at the highest level became more of a goal.”
 
After a successful career in the sport, Brough turned to teaching and is now the head of the physical education department at The Sterling Hall School, a private, all boys’ elementary school in Toronto. She hasn’t forgotten many of the lessons she learned from her time at York, and is now trying to impart some of that wisdom on the students she teaches.
 
“I love the change that comes with being a teacher. I keep getting older but the kids keep staying the same. It is also great when the kids come back and visit after they’ve graduated. You know you’ve done a quality job when they come back and talk about all they have accomplished.”
 
She is also working to grow the sport of field hockey. While there is currently no league available to start up a competitive team with the children at her school, she has incorporated field hockey into an elective class to expose the kids to a sport that gave her so much as a teenager.
With the sport giving her a great deal, its only fitting that she has given back.  She spent her collegiate days giving back to York, she spent her competitive days representing her country and now has a hand in shaping the next generation of young athletes.