When you think of Greene field hockey, the words “tradition, excellence, and champion” come to mind. It is also a team blessed with continuity. Only three women have ever served as head coach in the four-decade-old program beginning with the school’s legendary hall of fame mentor, Nancy Bromley.
Bromley won over 300 career games and four state titles during her tenure before retiring in the late 1990s. She fostered a program in which Greene field hockey players – past and present – remain connected as part of a large and still growing family. An extension of that family will take the field in London next week at the Summer Olympics where clubs around the world will compete for ultimate prize in field hockey: A gold medal.
Sisters Julia and Katie Reinprecht, residents of Perkasie, Pa., earned spots on a U.S. team this spring, and it is a good bet the Americans will be in contention for a medal. The Reinprecht sisters happen to be the daughters of Tina Reinprecht (Klecha) and the nieces of Afton’s Hall of Fame field hockey coach, Janet Conover (Klecha). The Klecha sisters – Tina, Janet, Mary, and Patti – were among the early players for Greene’s burgeoning field hockey team, and helped establish a program that has done nothing but win for 40 years.
“I had all of the Klecha sisters,” Bromley said in a recent interview. “Tina was an outstanding athlete at Greene.”
The lessons from Bromley’s teaching were well learned. Conover guided Afton to state titles in field hockey and softball, and Tina went on to play collegiate field hockey at Ithaca College for four years. Tina, clearly, also had a large role in developing two Olympic athletes.
After her college graduation, Tina did some field hockey officiating, and was also an assistant lacrosse coach at Yale, while also participating in Olympic development team camps. “There were A, B, and C (Olympic development) camps, but the farthest I ever got was the B camp,” Tina said.
She moved to New Haven, Conn., then eventually settled in Philadelphia with her husband Jim, and ultimately started a family while building her own career. It wasn’t until her oldest daughter, Sarah, was in the second grade that Tina heard about a youth field hockey program. “That’s when I got back into coaching,” Tina said.
Tina soon learned that little was available for prospective field hockey players once they moved past the youth recreation level. Sports such as soccer, baseball, softball, and basketball had well developed travel teams. “I thought it would be nice to have a travel program for field hockey, too, and I took it upon myself to coach the club,” she said.
Many years later, Tina has grown the field hockey travel program into a powerhouse that now regularly develops division one field hockey players. From the personal standpoint, two pearls of that travel program – daughters Katie and Julia – are representing the United States with the hope of winning a gold medal.
“I said to my husband (Jim), is this really happening?” Tina said. “Just saying it gets me all choked up, and it’s not something you imagine. I had my own national team aspirations that didn’t work out. Both Jim and I have been good about not living vicariously through our children. They did everything, it just ended up being field hockey – maybe because they got a little extra from mom.”
Katie and Julia each played for the U.S. on its gold-medal winning club at the 2011 Pan American Games, and both have taken the past year off from Princeton in order to prepare for the Olympic Games. Tina said that each player brings her own brand of play to the field: Katie had the natural field awareness from the time she was seven years old. Julia, meanwhile, is a highly skilled player, fundamental player who got her opportunity to shine with the current coaching staff. “For a while in our country, being skillful wasn’t enough, you had to be flashy,” Tina said. “Jules and my oldest had to fight through that, and eventually the cream rises to the top.”
The cream indeed rose to the top, and it has hint of the Greene Trojan within it.
“Oh boy, do we still have that connection to Greene field hockey,” Tina said. “I know where the roots are. I was just fortunate to have the opportunity to be coached by Nancy. She was fabulous.”