JHU field hockey takes a trip to the sport's holy land - Think you had an interesting summer? Try playing 40 year-old smokers in field hockey and eating nothing but ham for 11 days.

When the Johns Hopkins field hockey team steps onto the field this season, they can rest assured that they have an advantage of which most other teams could only dream.

The Hopkins girls were lucky enough to spend 11 days this summer playing against highly competitive club teams in Holland, a land that boasts field hockey as its national sport.

"Field hockey there is very different from field hockey in America. Men and women play it, and it's huge," said senior forward Jenny Farrelly. "It was nice to travel somewhere where people truly respect the sport."

The team spent the second half of August touring The Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, playing five games against the Dutch club teams. The teams are for amateurs who play the sport as a hobby, but each team holds tryouts and has its own field.

"There were teams with 12 year-old kids and teams with 40 year-old women who took cigarette breaks during halftime," said Farrelly. "And then they totally embarrassed us in the game."

This is standard fare in Holland, where fans pack large stadiums to see their favorite teams compete. In fact, the Hopkins team attempted to buy tickets to the Champions Cup, which took place while they were in Amsterdam, only to find that it had sold out.

Although the team was only able to pull off one victory against the tough clubs it faced, this fact did not stop them from enjoying Holland's notorious night-life.

"The night-life in Amsterdam was certainly a little bit different than it is here," said senior co-captain Kelly Hewitt, a forward on the team. "It's crazy."

The trip was organized by the Harvard Sports Management Group, a company that helps college and high school sports teams plan such tours.

The team was only able to afford the trip after extensive fund-raising, which included hosting a high school tournament, helping to set up homecoming, and selling raffle tickets, magazines and field hockey gear.

The field hockey team, composed of 19 players and three coaches, was able to check out all of the classic Dutch tourist attractions, including windmills, the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank house, and of course, the Heineken museum. They would generally have a training session in the morning and then spend the afternoon exploring.

The trip's highlights included an "adventure day," during which the team bicycled through limestone caves, and a side trip to the German wine country.

The team also had to come to terms with the cultural differences that they encountered while they were abroad.

"All they eat there is lunch meat!" said Hewitt. "And it's all from pigs. You couldn't find turkey anywhere. Actually we couldn't wait to get back to American food."

Fortunately, a language barrier wasn't much of a problem for the team, as most of the people they encountered, including the opposing teams, spoke English.

"We thought we would appear to be arrogant Americans," explained Hewitt, "but everyone was so friendly."

"We would hang out with the other teams after the game," said senior co-captain Ashlee Duncan, a midfielder on the team. "It was great to meet people who loved the sport so much."