Vancouver Island was missing a place for talented past and present field hockey players to perform.
With that in mind, Ali Lee, Robin Richardson and Ian Batey put their heads together and formed Kirby's Island Wildcats.
The 20-member roster will play an abbreviated eight-game schedule in the Vancouver Women's Premier League. The Island Wildcats have committed to playing each team in the league once over the course of the season from September to March. The team will also play in several tournaments during the year. The University of Victoria Vikes will also be part of the Vancouver league.
"We didn't have anything on the Island to accommodate elite-level field hockey players,'' said Ali Lee, co-captain of the Island Wildcats. Lee is also a former national team member and played for the UVic Vikes.
"Our team will have ex-national team members, former university players and several high-performance younger athletes.
"The goal of the program is not only to provide fastpaced, high-performance hockey for the Island fans to see but to provide a program that encourages development of youth and a place for ex-national team and university-level players to still compete.''
Some of the other veterans on the team are co-captain Kira Graham from North Vancouver, Victoria's Katie Rushton and Natalie Wise from Surrey, both former national team members and Victoria-product Victoria Hughes, who played with the Alberta Pandas.
Under-17 Canadian national team members on the Wildcats are Gillian Kirkpatrick (Victoria), Kristina Walters-Shumka (Victoria), Stefanie Langkammer (Duncan), Claire Seeliger (Duncan) and Jenna Dhillon (Victoria). Some of the other talented younger players on the team are Ella Mosky (Victoria), Alexis de Armond (Victoria), Chelsey Cleemof (Duncan) and Casey Crowley (Shawnigan Lake).
The Island Wildcats' goalkeepers are Shinai Sorensen (Victoria) and Cowichan's Courtney Westwood.
The Wildcats will be coached by Andrew MacKinnon, who played for the UVic Vikes men's field hockey team.
During the year, the Island Wildcats will compete against the UVic Vikes women's team on Wednesdays (6: 30 p.m.) on the UVic Turf Field.
"When we play the Vikes, it will be some great battles and fast paced,'' said Lee.
"I'm expecting some good crowds to see those games.''
The first Island Wildcats-Vikes game is scheduled for Sept. 5.
The Island Wildcats play their first league game on Sept. 15 on the UVic Turf Field against the Surrey Sharks. Game time is 12: 30 p.m.
The team is sponsored by Kirby's Source for Sports.
