Kayla Bashore-Smedley (born February 20, 1983 in

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Meet the USA Olympic team: Baseball, Softball and Field Hockey
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American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

defender and midfielder. Now living in Bloomington, Indiana , she was a student of the

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, where she played for the Hoosiers, and was the first player from that university to make the US National Field Hockey team. She represented the USA at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Background

Bashore-Smedley grew up in a small town in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and found her sporting love initially while playing soccer, rather than field hockey. After picking up her first field hockey stick as a high school student, she was recruited by that school's field hockey coach, and soon excelled at her new sport. A graduate of Hamburg Area High School, she went on to study at Indiana University, and played for that institution's team for four years. Still a senior there when she was asked to join the United States National Field Hockey Team, she went through rigorous training with her teammates at their training facility in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. When her team qualified for the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, Bashore-Smedley participated, and was supported by her family, who also made the trip overseas. Although her team did not win any medals that year, they did beat their biggest rival (Argentina) during the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London, United Kingdom London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Following more than 100 international appearances, Bashore-Smedley then retired in 2013.U.S. National Team Midfielder Kayla Bashore Smedley retires from field hockey.
Colorado Springs, Colorado: USA Field Hockey, March 22, 2013.

International senior competitions

* 2006 –

World Cup Qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

, Rome (4th) * 2006 – World Cup, Madrid (6th) * 2007 –

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

, Rio de Janeiro (2nd) * 2008 –

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

(8th)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bashore Smedley, Kayla 1983 births American female field hockey players Field hockey players at the 2007 Pan American Games Field hockey players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Indiana Hoosiers field hockey players Living people Olympic field hockey players of the United States People from Berks County, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Daegu Field hockey players at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games