” “Coming back and playing field hockey again is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Getting back into it just feels really good.”
– Justine Dorr”
The SUV pulls up to the house and a small red-headed woman jumps out, “Sarah, I am so sorry!” she shouts toward the stairs, where I’ve been sitting for half an hour. The man in the driver’s seat turns off the headlights, steps out, and starts up the dark driveway.
“I just completely forgot, and-Rob, can you grab my field hockey bag? I’ve got.” she trails off as she lifts a bundle of blankets from the back seat.
Both look exhausted, Rob dragging his feet up the pavement, hauling his schoolbag on one shoulder and a USM field hockey bag on the other, while she carries the heavy bundle up the stairs. She hasn’t yet showered after the game today, and her hair is pulled back in a loose, unkempt ponytail.
Justene Dorr, one of the of key defensive forces on this year’s conference-leading field hockey team, is finally home after a long day of classes, nannying, and helping the Huskies to a hard-earned 1-0 win versus conference rival Salem State. Beside her on the porch, fumbling for the key to their town house, is fellow student-athlete Rob Dorr, her husband of just over a year. In her arms, sound asleep in a white fleece blanket, is their ten-month-old daughter.
A fourth-year student at USM, Justene is hoping to graduate in 2009. As an athlete, she is required to pass at least 12 credits per semester, as well as attending practices and games five or six days a week. As a mother above all, with Rob’s help, she needs to support the family, make sure the meals are cooked, the housekeeping done, the daycare paid for, and little Isabella is wearing a jacket when it’s cold outside.
“By far the most difficult thing is functioning all day as a person, then coming home and functioning as a parent (and homemaker), and still having time for your kids,” she says. As the pace of her first full-time semester since having Isabella last December starts picking up, things are getting harder.
Stepping into the apartment, Justene takes Isabella upstairs as Rob quietly moves into the kitchen and pulls out his notebooks and laptop-he has a paper due the next day.
Coming back downstairs, Justene joins her husband in the kitchen.
“Sometimes things will happen at field hockey,” she says, “and the girls are like, ‘oh, you’re such a mom!’ It’s a running joke. And we always wonder, ‘does the other team know we have a mom on our team?'”
She turns to me, “Do you want anything to drink? Seltzer water? Want some pizza?” Having made sure that her guest is happy and fed, her field hockey gear is where it won’t be rained on, and Rob is all set to work on his paper, she goes into the living room and turns on the TV.
“Juggling it all is hard, but I’ve always been one who tried to stay really busy,” she says, shrugging, “It’s not impossible, obviously.”
She and Rob have made their schedules fit each other’s for every minute of the day, despite her field hockey schedule and his 18-credit class load.
Before their lives took the surprising turn toward pregnancy and marriage, although Rob insists that his proposal was planned out anyway, Justene was a three-sport athlete for USM with field hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse on her resume. During her pregnancy last fall, she helped coach field hockey in lieu of playing. Isabella was born the week before finals in December, and after catching up with all of her schoolwork, took the spring semester off from school and sports for motherhood.
“Coming back and playing field hockey again is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Getting back into it just feels really good,” she said. She commends her teammates and coaches for helping make it easy; her coaches don’t mind when the ten-month old shows up to practice, and her teammates often beg to babysit.
As for her other sports, Justene said she’d like to play ice hockey and lacrosse, but can’t due to scheduling conflicts.
“So we’re taking turns-I’m playing field hockey, he gets to play lacrosse,” she says. Rob looks up from typing his paper. “I know how much he loves lacrosse,” she says, grinning at him.
While Isabella sleeps upstairs, Rob and Justene go on being a normal college couple, arguing about silly details, talking about tomorrow’s schedule, working on their schoolwork, and watching TV.
As the show ends and starts running credits, Justene gets up to finish some housework and Rob stays focused on his laptop screen.
On the floor near the doorway is the only clue that they lead a life unlike that of other student-athletes at USM. Leaning up against the bottom stair is “My Very First Book of Shapes.”