Even though I have never seen a game in person, I always knew that men played field hockey. Every once in a while, you could catch a men’s game on the old Wide World of Sports or on Olympics coverage in the middle of the night.

It is a hugely popular sport for men in many parts of the world, but not here. So when boys periodically showed up wanting to play on girls high school field hockey teams, I always wondered why. As I imagine most people would wonder: Why would a high school boy want to play a "girls" sport?

That’s how I found out about John Kovach’s coed field hockey program at the Mater Amoris Montessori School in Ashton covered in today’s story: Coexist in harmony.

I spent the morning at the school a couple weeks ago, talking with Kovach and his young players. What I found may be the purest form of school sports I have ever seen.

Kovach, a former national team player who has a Master’s degree in physical education and coaching, uses field hockey as the school’s phys ed program. They play all year around. Although there is no league, there is competition. Each year, the older children, in grades four through six, vie for spots on the Ocelots team that goes to the California Cup.

They’re pretty good too. Over the years, the coed Ocelots have brought back two gold medals from the Cal Cup.

That morning a couple weeks ago, I saw one play that ranks right up there with anything I’ve seen in high school hockey this season. Two opponents converged on the ball just as Louis Eppel was getting there, so he jumped over their clashing sticks and, at the same time, as the ball bounced, he hit a reverse-stick deflection that sent the ball away from his opponents. Louis is 10 years old.

These boys and girls just like to play. The sport is prestigious at their school and it’s something everyone wants to do. Making the Cal Cup team is just about every child’s goal from the time he or she picks up a stick in first grade.

These kids aren’t worried about gender. They don’t understand why they can’t keep playing together at their next schools. They don’t know about Title IX, which will play a big part in separating them if they keep playing as they grow up.

They support and encourage each other, building something they all share, something they all value. They even get out there and shovel the snow off their turf field so they can keep playing through the winter.

What they learn, they take with them far from the hockey field.

Marcia Perez, the classroom teacher for the older children and a sort of assistant coach to Kovach, said the lessons last a lifetime.

"These kids are learning something at a really high level, so no matter what sport they play when they leave here, they carry that with them," said Perez. "There’s a sense of determination that they’re going to play as a good athlete, play fair, play as a team and all the things that to me are about leadership and being a good citizen. If they can’t play field hockey, they can go play soccer or lacrosse, but they will always be recognized as good athletes and also leaders on their teams."

Isn’t that what school sports are all about?

- Katherine Dunn