For Izzy Bianco, field hockey has never simply been a sport.
It has taken the Berlin native from South Jersey to Kentucky, across the international stage and now to the Netherlands, where the 22-year-old is continuing to chase a dream that began when she first picked up a stick as a child.
Bianco started playing at about 5 years old, growing up in a town with a rich field hockey tradition. Her father had played street and dek hockey, and she quickly found her own version of the sport.
She tried plenty of others along the way, but nothing stuck quite like field hockey.
“I could be at the field every day, all day,” Bianco said.
Her parents recognized that passion early. An only child, Izzy remembers them taking her wherever she needed to go for games, clinics and opportunities to see college programs.
By seventh and eighth grade, colleges were already beginning to show interest.
She eventually arrived at Eastern Regional High School, a program she had watched since childhood. She helped the Vikings win a state championship during her freshman season in 2018 and played her first two seasons under legendary coach Danyle Heilig.
Bianco said the demanding environment taught her discipline that still influences her today.
“The discipline on the field and then also how you carried yourself as being an Eastern field player,” Bianco said, “I think really helped at that young age.”
Her college decision came unusually early.
After visiting the University of Louisville and falling in love with the school, she committed on April 30, 2019, shortly after turning 15 and just before an NCAA recruiting rule change took effect.
Louisville ultimately proved to be the right fit. Bianco said the program helped develop her both as a player and a leader, while providing another step toward goals that stretched beyond college.
Those goals also included USA Field Hockey.
Bianco entered the junior national-team system as a teenager and progressed through the under-16, under-18 and under-21 levels. With the U.S. under-21 team, she traveled to Vancouver for the Junior Pan American Championships, where the Americans earned silver and qualified for the Junior World Cup.
Last summer brought another international experience when she traveled to Paraguay for the Junior Pan American Games. The multisport event included an opening ceremony and competitions ranging from basketball to skateboarding and taekwondo.
Bianco and her teammates again brought home silver.
After finishing her final Louisville season last fall and graduating a semester early, Bianco faced another question: What next?
She wasn’t ready to put away her stick.
Bianco received a late invitation to train with the U.S. senior national team following her college season. Afterward, she was told she would have another opportunity to try out in December 2026 as USA Field Hockey looks toward the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic cycle.
That made her next move even more important.
Bianco had long dreamed of playing abroad, particularly in the Netherlands, where field hockey is woven deeply into the sports culture. She spent five weeks there in the spring, tried out with her current club and decided she was ready to move overseas.
Now she is playing in the country’s second tier for Huizen Dames 1, training three times a week and competing on Sundays.
The experience has been everything the self-described “hockey head” hoped it would be.
“You don’t understand until you get here and you see young girls and boys biking to training in their shinguards holding their hockey stick,” Bianco said. “That is so cool to me.”
The game itself has also challenged her. Bianco describes the Dutch style as faster and more direct than the more patient build-up she experienced in college.
That’s exactly what she wants.
International hockey is played at a high pace, and Bianco believes her season in the Netherlands can better prepare her for December’s national-team opportunity.
Her ambitions don’t stop there.
Bianco also earned a spot on the U.S. senior indoor national team and expects to play in Austria in January. Her ultimate goal is to earn a place with the outdoor national team, relocate to its Charlotte training base and compete for an opportunity to represent the United States at the 2028 Olympics.
Even while building a life thousands of miles from Berlin, South Jersey remains a significant part of Bianco’s story.
She credits her parents for supporting her without forcing the sport on her and longtime strength and conditioning coach Garnell Peters as an important mentor. When she’s home, she also enjoys coaching young players, from children just beginning the sport to college athletes.
It’s part of what she misses most while overseas, along with her family, pets and childhood friends.
And it’s why Bianco hopes her journey can show younger South Jersey players that their opportunities don’t necessarily end after college.
Her advice is to enjoy whatever stage they’re in — something her Louisville coach described as “be where your feet are” — while continuing to pursue the goals that matter to them.
“Don’t stop chasing a dream that you have,” Bianco said. “There are still opportunities to go play around the world.”
It’s a lesson Bianco wishes she could give the 5-year-old version of herself picking up a field hockey stick back in Berlin.
“Your path is completely different from the person’s next to you,” she said. “My path to get somewhere might look a little bit different, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not going to get there eventually.”
