July 18, 2007 - Villa Jo Teacher in World Cup(Rider Hall of Famer Terry Gillespie-Dossick)/By Stuart London The Advance of Bucks County

> Related Story -  World Class Right Here in Bucks County

Villa Jo Teacher in World Cup
By Stuart London The Advance of Bucks County

You can say that Terry Dossick is returning to her roots. As a kid growing up on Convent Ave. in the Far Northeast, she would spend all her time after school playing hockey in the street.

Flash forward about 25 years, and that is exactly what she is doing now.

"The kids knock on my door and ask if I can play," says Dossick, a Villa Joseph Marie Academy teacher. "I'd say the average age of the boys I play against is like 15."

While played for fun back then, she now plays for an important purpose-representing her country.

For the past year, Dos-sick has been a member of the USA Ball Hockey team. Ball hockey is basically ice hockey without the ice or the skates, the game many Philadelphia youngsters play in the streets.

"We play on (roller) rinks. Now, at least when the ball gets away, I don't have to go chasing it or put my hand down the sewer to get it out," says Dos-sick, who, two years ago, coached the girls softball team at Villa Jo.

The USA team went to Dusseldorf, Germany for the World Cup from June 3 to 10. The competition is held every two years but this was the first time a true American national team was entered.

"I love every minute of it," said Dossick. "When I go into a game, I'm like a kid in a candy store."

In between her street hockey playing, Dossick was not exactly idle. She was a standout field hockey and softball player at Archbishop Ryan and then Rider University. In 1995, she was inducted into the Rider Hall of Fame.

For the 16 seasons, until 2006, Terry was the softball coach at Villa Joseph Marie High School in Holland. From 1994 to 1999, she was the field hockey coach at St. Basil's Academy in Jenkintown. She is currently coaching the Pennsbury Cobras 18-and-under travel softball team.

Most of the women on the team list themselves as having between 14 to 20 years of experience in ball hockey, except for Dossick who has been playing for just one year. She did not plan to become an international ball hockey player.

"A neighbor of mine, Joel Schreiber, told me this team (the New York City Bruisers) was looking for players for a tournament and asked if I was interested and I said, 'definitely,'" said Dossick, a 1987 Ryan graduate.

The 'tournament' Terry was referring to wasn't just any old weekender. It was the North American Ball Hockey Championships. It took place March 2006 at Sportsplex in Feasterville. A twist of fate put Terry on her path to the US national team. She explains.

"The ball was bouncing off my stick, so I asked for some tape to put on the blade.

"I put pink tape on it, but I didn't know that pink meant you were interested in playing for the national team and I got invited to tryouts.

Of 95 women trying out for the team at tryouts held a few months later in Frederick, Maryland, 25 made it. Dossick-Dossick was one of them.

"I was just in the right place at the right time," she says.

Terry speaks of the different backgrounds from which the players hail.

"We have girls from all over the country, two from California and some from Florida. We tried to get together once a month, twice a month when we got closer to crunch time."

Dossick is the only player from the Philadelphia area on the national team but she lucked out in 2006 when the North American championships were held right here in Bucks County. There, Team USA took on a squad from Calgary, Alberta and won, 3-2.

The ball hockey teams play under Olympic ice hockey rules, which mean players who engage in fighting are ejected. That's OK, says Dossick.

"I'd rather score than fight," said Dossick, who plays right wing. "But, I did see a game where a couple of women got into a fight."

Dossick is hoping to promote the sport of ball hockey. She was doing it even before she was a national player. For the past six years, she has organized a "Chix with Stix" tournament at VJM, where she teaches health & physical education.

"It's very popular," Terry said. "We had 80 girls play and those who didn't, were there to cheer their friends on."

Although new to the sport, Dossick might be starting a family tradition. Her 7-year-old daughter, Emily Dossick, a second-grader at St. Martha's, has taken to the sport as much as her mother.

"She plays street hockey at the 'Y'," said Dossick. "She's so fast, she's going to be a little Gretzky."