Chester County Man To Represent USA at Field Hockey World Cup in Australia

PHOENIXVILLE, PA -- A Phoenixville man is part of the national team being sent to the Field Hockey Masters World Cup in Australia in March and April.

Jeremy Gajkowski will be competing on the men’s over-40 team.

The FIH World Cup will take place at the National Hockey Centre, Canberra, Australia from March 29 to April 6, 2016.

“This will be the first time that I have represented Team USA in international play,” Gajkowski, who plays locally with Philly Hockey Club, told Patch. “Our goal as a team at the Masters World Cup is to improve on previous finishes. I play forward, left wing, so my personal goal in tournament play is to use my speed to disrupt the opposing team’s defense and tally a few goals and assists.”

Over-50 Masters National Teams, aged from 40 to over 60 from 14 different countries, are taking part in this biennial international event: a tournament that bills itself as larger than either the Olympic Games or the Champions Trophy hockey competitions.

Team USA is sending four Masters National Teams: Women’s Over-40 and Over-45; and Men’s Over-40 and Over-50.

Gajkowski, who is the Vice President of Portfolio Management at Hirtle, Callaghan & Co. in Conshohocken, has been playing field hockey since his college days at Penn State, when he played on a club team.

During an interview with the Penn State Collegian in 1997, Gajkowski said that when he told people he played field hockey, they looked at him strangely and said, “What do you mean you play field hockey?”

He added that it then became a goal of his to make people realize that men do play field hockey. In Europe and Asia, it’s a common men’s sport. Only in the United States is it so strictly relegated to women.

Teams will initially play in either a group or league format, depending on the number of entries in each age category. Cross-over and classification games will then complete the tournament and determine the placings.

The U.S. Women’s Over-40s will play in a single league against Australia, England, New Zealand and Wales, while the Over-45s will play against South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The U.S. Men’s Over-40s will also play in a league format against Australia, England, New Zealand, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The Over-50s, hoping to improve on their 5th place finish at the previous Masters World Cup in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, are in the largest age group and will initially play in Group A against Germany, Malaysia, and New Zealand.

“Overall, I am really looking forward to playing against the best in the world at the Masters level,” Gajkowski added. “The US team, as well as the international teams we will face in Australia, have a ton of talent. Many are former Olympians.”

He added that much of the team will be competing at USA Field Hockey’s National Indoor Tournament in Richmond this Saturday, and at the Big Apple International Indoor Tournament on March 5 and 6.

The match schedule for the World Cup is currently being finalized.

Congratulations, Jeremy!