Australian field hockey/lacrosse prospect hopes to make mark in U.S.

To U.S. college coaches, few nations are more esteemed than Australia for high-quality prospects in tennis, soccer and swimming.  Now, 2016 National Scouting Report prospect Louise Richardson hopes to help her native country make a mark in field hockey or lacrosse.

In Australia, the sports are nearly interchangeable for many young women.  Both are booming Down Under and Richardson is accomplished in both.

In field hockey, Richardson was presented with two of her school’s top honors last season — the Curtin Trinity Hockey Club Coaches Award and CTP Recognition of Commitment Medal.  It is rare that an athlete receives both in the same school year which is a testament to her hard work and dedication.

In lacrosse, Richardson was voted Top 4 Best On-Ground Players in Women’s A-Grade Lacrosse in addition to being named one of the Top 20 Best On-Ground Players in Women’s A-Grade Lacrosse Western Australia Association.  With the quality of play across the country, those awards put her in elite company.

Hailing from Como, a suburb of Perth, in Western Australia, Richardson recently graduated with high honors from the John Curtin College of Arts, the U.S. equivalent to a top-tier, private high school.  During her career, she accumulated an impressive list of academic commendations and accolades such as: Certificate of Excellence in Live Production & Services; two Gold Swan Awards for outstanding academic achievement; two Silver Swan Awards for excellent academic achievement;  Certificate of Completion of College Requirements for secondary education; Certificate of the Arts for completion of the drama program with distinction as a gifted and talented arts student;  two Certificates of Excellence for achieving the highest college course assessment score (senior year) and for live production, theater and events.

America is a long journey from home, but Richardson knows that by playing college sports in the U.S., she will be realizing a dream which seemed unattainable until NSR came along a few years ago and recognized her considerable talents.  Once on board with NSR, her dreams suddenly became reachable.  Once in America, she has designs on major ing in Television Production and Drama, areas where she focused much of her training in high school.

“My goals for the next 12 months are to continue playing and improving my hockey skills,” Richardson wrote in her personal message to college coaches. “My competitiveness, tenacity and eagerness to succeed will help me achieve the best outcomes in all aspects of life.  I value my family and friends very highly and while it will be hard to say goodbye for a while, but I appreciate this great opportunity to study and play hockey in the U.S.  I believe my work ethic, eagerness to learn and my friendly, outgoing nature will enable me to establish myself as an integral part of any college team.”

The NSR scout who discovered Richardson was quite impressed with her on and off the field.

“Louise is a passionate hardworking student and athlete, confident in her abilities to achieve the goals she sets and improve her skills further in both academia and athleticism,” the scout noted. “She will undeniably do very well in college and fit the college lifestyle.  She is an easy-going friendly character and will always listen to others’ opinions and counsel.

“Louise maintains a high level of fitness throughout the year, often catching the fast break opposition players as they run down the line,” she added. “She possesses a strong hit and tackle, and has a great eye for game play. Louise pays close attention to all her coaches’ advice and continues to apply it to her game play. She is a very coachable player.  Louise, as a student eager to achieve as high as she can, works extremely hard to complete tasks and attain desired results. She has throughout all of her high school life shown improvement in all her subjects as the year progresses, and never considers failure.  I am sure she will continue to develop her athletic skills and strive for excellency in all aspects of her life. Louise is a competitive person, always up for any challenge.”