Ashley Sessa, an Episcopal Academy graduate and Schwenksville native, is training hard with the U.S. Women’s National Field Hockey Team.

If the team qualifies for the 2024 Paris Olympics, she will make her dream of being an Olympian a reality, writes Isabella DiAmore for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Last year, Sessa was a freshman and star field hockey player at the University of North Carolina, but this year she is living in Charlotte training with the national field hockey team as they prepare for Olympic qualifiers.

The national team offers a limited number of waivers to student athletes to leave school for a year to train with them. When head coach David Passmore offered one of those waivers to Sessa, she knew this was her chance.

“I could have not taken the waiver and done school,” Sessa said, “then watch the team either qualify or not and try out for the Olympic team. But I don’t want to just come for the good parts. I want to be there if we qualify or not. I want to put in the effort every day in practice.”

She added, “I want to be with the team, train with them, and be with them through the good and bad. That’s what makes me feel accomplished.”

The national team is training in Charlotte until October, but then from October 20 to November, they will be competing in the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. If they win at the games, they could secure a spot in Paris.

Read more about Ashley’s Sessa’s journey to a spot on the U.S. Women’s National Field Hockey Team in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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