Paul Lewis remembers the lean times for his Palmer Ridge field hockey team, inevitable when a fledgling program tries to hit the ground running against established squads.

“The first couple of years were tough,” said Lewis, who leads a perennial state power as the Bears, seemingly suddenly, prepare for their 10th season. “You’ve got girls coming in who have never seen the sport. From the first days, you have to start out with a foundation to make it fun and build it through the youth ranks.”

Lewis, no longer the new kid on the block, was referring to the inaugural Academy School District 20 squad headquartered at Liberty, which will take its first faceoff in just over two months.

And coach Michelle Amon, born and bred in field hockey-rich Louisville, knows the short-term future probably won’t smile on the Lancers.

It didn’t at Palmer Ridge, either.

“It’s going to be a building year, and I want to get the kids excited about this sport,” said Amon who, along with former Louisville teammate Haley Jurich (daughter of Louisville and former Colorado State athletic director Tom Jurich), will coach the startup program. “If they’re excited, that’s a win. We might not win a game this season. But we’re going to work toward building a program that will.”

Previously, area field hockey was offered only at Cheyenne Mountain and Palmer Ridge, a Lewis-Palmer School District 38 squad. Only 15 high school programs offer field hockey in Colorado, an increase of two from last season. Arapahoe is also adding a team.

Girls from District 20 high schools – Air Academy, The Classical Academy, Discovery Canyon, Liberty, Pine Creek and Rampart – all are eligible to try out and compete on the team that will play its home games at Liberty-based District 20 Stadium.

The season, which officially begins Aug. 25 with a home game against Denver East, completes a long journey to get a sport that is immensely popular on both coasts but trying to find traction elsewhere, to student-athletes who attend high schools in northern Colorado Springs.

“For the last two to three years, we’ve been getting feedback from parents about getting field hockey in our district,” said Mark Hatchell, superintendent of District 20. “We’ve said all along that if we had enough interest, we’d start a team. We thought Liberty was a good, central location to start it off. Plus, we’re always looking to expand opportunities for our students. The more opportunities we can give our students to be connected with schools, the more it’ll help them through the high school experience.”

The key to a program’s success, Lewis said, is introducing players to field hockey long before their high school experiences begin.

“There are a lot of fundamental skills involved in field hockey,” Lewis said, “probably more than any other sport you can think of. It takes a good two years, at a minimum, for kids to get and develop those basic, fundamental skills. Teams that have those two years coming into high school have a big advantage. We’ve been able to build the youth program through our club, and we’ve been able to be successful at the high school level because of that.”

Since the spring announcement of the district team, several athletes are playing field hockey for the first time, using camps and open practices to start building their skills. These greenhorns don’t seem terribly overwhelmed by the prospects of soon taking part in their first competitive action.

“I have never played field hockey before, and it is definitely different than other sports,” Air Academy incoming junior Christina Jensen said. “However, I think it will be a lot of fun, and I am very excited for what the fall season holds in store. I am looking forward to playing with athletes from other schools and representing District 20 in field hockey for the first time.”