Latin junior Caroline Gaines has spent countless hours over the last three years training for field hockey—attending late-night-practices, going on runs, and constantly making social sacrifices to get to the level she is at today. Now committed to the admissions process at Yale University, where she will play Division I field hockey, Caroline has a bright future, thanks to her tremendous drive and undeniable skill.

Caroline’s field hockey journey began in sixth grade after transferring to Latin from Chicago City Day School, when she joined the Middle School field hockey program to play with her new friends.

“It was completely new to her, and she would tell me, ‘Mom, it’s just like soccer with a stick!’” Colby Gaines, Caroline’s mother, said.

At the time, Caroline was an Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) soccer player. She continued to play field hockey on Latin’s Middle School team while keeping up her commitment to ECNL soccer.

In eighth grade, Caroline was encouraged by one of Latin’s high school coaches at the time, Sanjay Kodali, to try out for club field hockey. “He kept telling me to quit soccer, and I was like, I’m not quitting soccer,” Caroline said. “But eventually he told me to try out for indoor, and I did and made the team.”

During her indoor travel field hockey season with her club, Windy City, Caroline’s coaches invited her to practice with the rest of the girls her age once a week for winter outdoor training. She was then asked to travel with the club to Disney in Orlando, Florida, which is one of the major tournaments for Windy City.

“I made a big decision to [skip] a soccer event and instead go to Disney,” Caroline said. “I had so much fun. I think if I didn’t go, then I probably wouldn’t have pursued field hockey, because I would never have known what it was like to play at one of those tournaments.”

After the Disney tournament, Caroline was named to Windy City’s U14 A team. “Just playing with those girls, I realized that [field hockey] was something I wanted to do and stay competitive with,” Caroline said.

During her spring travel season on Windy City’s U14 A team, Caroline was playing soccer and field hockey simultaneously. “Ironically, they practiced on fields that were side by side,” Mrs. Gaines said. “She would have soccer practice for one-and-a-half hours and then switch pennies and cross the field for field hockey practice with Windy City for another one-and-a-half hours.”

After a season of juggling her commitments to both sports, Caroline decided to drop soccer and pursue field hockey at a higher level. However, her soccer experience was not forgotten throughout her transition to field hockey. In fact, Caroline’s soccer background played a crucial role in her rapid success with field hockey.

“Soccer at the ECNL level and on the specific team (ECLIPSE) on which she played taught her incredible discipline and instilled in her the work ethic required to become a D1 athlete,” Mrs. Gaines said.

Caroline’s soccer club was “such an intense environment and a really big commitment from such an early age, [so] I learned what it would take to be the best at something,” Caroline said. “Soccer is one of the biggest things that helped me.”

Not only did Caroline’s soccer background translate easily to field field hockey through the similar fierce and competitive environments of her clubs, but the technical similarities between soccer and field hockey contributed greatly to the smooth transition as well.

“Soccer gave her an invaluable lesson in positioning, which carried over seamlessly to field hockey,” Mrs. Gaines said. “Coaches often comment on her vision and field hockey IQ—in other words, awareness of the field. Years of soccer contributed a great deal to this.”

While her transition from soccer to field hockey was relatively seamless, it did not come without challenges.

“It was hard being new to the team and coming into field hockey so late when almost all the rest of my teammates had started playing when they were 4, 10, and at the earliest age you can join a club,” Caroline said. “I felt behind them sometimes, skillwise.”

Caroline embraced this challenge, however, and started practicing on her own. “I did everything I could to try to reach their level and keep up with them,” she said.

Additionally, Caroline had the support of her coaches encouraging her to push herself and rise to the level of skill that her teammates were playing at.

“My two club coaches, Molly and Katie, saw a lot of potential in me, especially since I was joining so late,” she said. “They saw where I could be, not where I was. They gave me a lot of opportunity and helped me grow as a player.”

Caroline has continued to play on both Windy City’s indoor and outdoor teams. Her indoor travel season is from November through February, her outdoor travel season is from March through July, and her high school season is from August through October, leaving her with no off-season. With this huge time commitment comes challenges in other parts of her life.

“For practice we have to travel an hour, we’re there playing for an hour and a half, then drive an hour home,” Caroline said. “It gets pretty late, so managing my time has definitely been really important, especially when taking hard classes.”

Not only has her commitment to field hockey challenged her academically but Caroline has also had to miss out on a lot of social opportunities.

“She is very social, and her friends are important to her,” Mrs. Gaines said. “In the younger years, it was hard to miss out on certain social events or wake up at 6 a.m. for games. However, as she matured, she could start to have a better understanding of what she was working toward and how the hard work might potentially pay off. The commitment to the sport became less difficult and more part of her life.”

After her first year of Windy City in eighth grade, Caroline continued to play for them during her freshman and sophomore years.

“Since she started field hockey later than most of the girls on her team, Caroline is modest and constantly doubted her level of talent,” Mrs. Gaines said. “It took a few years before she really believed she had what it took to play at a top Division I program. She started to really love the game, found it dynamic, and became obsessed with getting better at the ninth and tenth grade level.”

Subsequently, Caroline started the recruitment process.

“The recruiting process is something I don’t think anyone would fully understand unless they are in it or have been through it,” Caroline said. “It’s a lonely process. There’s so many ups and downs, like one day everything is going great, and the next it might not be. You just have to know that it is all going to work out, but it is hard to believe it until it really happens.”

At the beginning of her recruitment season, sophomore year, Caroline suffered an injury to her hamstring from overworking the muscle. Her head coach at Latin, Mackenzie Mick, recalls her commitment to the sport and to her team as she worked to recover. “Her whole season was resilience and perseverance,” she said. “She was completely out at the start of the season, and she worked so hard with physical therapy and with the team. Even though she could not be a team player on the field, she really made sure that she was there for her teammates and was there to help everyone get better.”

After recovering toward the end of her high school season, Caroline quickly jumped back into the recruitment process. During her sophomore year, she was away almost every weekend, attending as many college field hockey camps as she could before June 15, the day colleges are allowed to start reaching out to recruits.

“Honestly, I did not know what to expect leading up to June 15,” Mrs. Gaines said. “I woke up at 4 a.m. on June 15 and saw that she had received calls and emails from some of the top programs in the country. That definitely brought tears to my eyes. It was extremely exciting!”

After visiting the many schools she got offers from, and meeting with their respective coaches, Caroline ultimately decided to verbally commit to the admissions process at Yale.

“She was looking for a top academic institution with a strong field hockey program,” Mrs. Gaines said. “She wanted a positive environment with a great team culture, a coach that could be a mentor and someone she could look up to—a similar dynamic as her club coach now.”

Caroline had incredible support from her family throughout this difficult decision. “They were there to support me throughout, help guide me at times, and weigh in with their opinion,” she said. “However, I made it clear that at the end of the day, it was my decision, and we all respected that. I made [the decision] on my own after I visited and talked to all these coaches.”

Beyond the support from her family, Caroline’s drive got her to the point she is at today. “I would not be able to play in college if I did not have a switch in my head and realize that I needed to start practicing on my own and going on runs to become a competitive recruit,” she said. “All it takes is hard work. Hard work always beats talent.”

This story was originally published on The Forum on September 15, 2025.