In Her Wake: Five Questions with Maeke Boreel Paul
3/5/2024 9:47:00 AM | Field Hockey
WINSTON SALEM, N.C. - When Maeke Boreel Paul was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame earlier this year, she became part of the first husband-wife duo to earn that distinction together, joining husband Todd Paul, former Demon Deacon tennis great.
Paul is third all-time in assists for the Wake Forest Field Hockey program, helping lead the Demon Deacons to a three-peat National Championship in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Paul recently chatted with Deacon Sports Xtra for this Five Questions feature.
Coming from the Netherlands, when did you first get a chance to even see the Wake Forest campus?
Paul: "Preseason. I got there a couple weeks before classes started for preseason, but I had never been to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I guess you can see online what it's about. But yeah, that was it. I figured it's a year and what's the worst thing that can happen? I was excited to just play field hockey and have a different experience."
What was the toughest adjustment for you coming to the United States?
Paul: "Everything. It's a completely different country. I learned English growing up in high school and then spoke quite a bit when I was in Spain, so I was definitely fluent. But especially in the beginning, you miss some of the things people are saying from a field hockey perspective. I didn't know what preseason was. I don't even know what that was. There was no weightlifting, there was no conditioning.
"I didn't have a summer running schedule because I committed so late. It was definitely scary to try to keep up and do what everyone else was doing and the intensity of it all and being thrown into it head on. It was the end of August, when the first games started. Culturally, I was able to adjust pretty quickly. You have instant friends because you're on the team, but the physical part of it was hard in the beginning. And the heat, I wasn't used to the heat and the humidity."
You originally committed to being at Wake Forest for just one season, with the option of making a longer-term investment here. When did you make the choice to stay for your full four years?
Paul: "[Wake Forest head coach] Jen (Averill) basically said that she needs to know during the fall season if you want it. She couldn't wait until spring or later for me to decide if I wanted to stay. And so I told her when my parents visited in October that I would make my decision then, and I think I already knew by then. I don't think there was really a doubt in my mind. In a way, I was really wanting to get my parents' approval and I don't think they would ever have told me to do this or do that, but for me, it was important that they saw it, that they experienced it, that we could talk about it while they were here. They only knew what I was telling them on the phone maybe once a week and some pictures that I would send them. It was important that they saw what I was doing in real life and that just made me feel a lot better that they had seen it and they loved it as much as I did."
How tough was it to lose that final game and not grab a fourth-straight national title?
Paul: "You win one national championship, you have a target on your back. You win two and three — we were the team to beat since that first ACC championship. It was disappointing, of course, but we still had a really good season. Our goal was always to play on Sunday, your ACC Championship and National Championships are on Sunday every season. That's what we wanted to do.
"I'm pretty sure some of us shed some tears a couple minutes before the game was over just realizing it was all coming to an end. My dad had flown over just for the weekend, and I was just so sad that we lost that one. We were the team to beat for basically four years straight, and the fact that we were able to keep that up, looking back, was pretty remarkable. So just really proud of what we were able to do consistently over those years."
What is your fondest memory of your time at Wake Forest?
Paul: "My favorite memory is just the hours and hours and hours we spend together as a team. Those really were all my best friends. We obviously had a few good friends outside of the team, but you spend a regular fall season, you spend half the time with them, road trips, and on our days off. We may have had one day a week when we did some kind of party, but just the time that we spent with them, the fun that we had.
"Everything was really intense, but the friendships that we got out of that are just amazing. We all came back in September and it's almost like no time has passed. We may not talk for a long time, but then it's like it's still the same, and then all of a sudden we have kids that are school age, and then we realize we do actually get older. Those are friendships for life, and just that time with them is something that will always stand out for me."
Paul is third all-time in assists for the Wake Forest Field Hockey program, helping lead the Demon Deacons to a three-peat National Championship in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Paul recently chatted with Deacon Sports Xtra for this Five Questions feature.
Coming from the Netherlands, when did you first get a chance to even see the Wake Forest campus?
Paul: "Preseason. I got there a couple weeks before classes started for preseason, but I had never been to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I guess you can see online what it's about. But yeah, that was it. I figured it's a year and what's the worst thing that can happen? I was excited to just play field hockey and have a different experience."
What was the toughest adjustment for you coming to the United States?
Paul: "Everything. It's a completely different country. I learned English growing up in high school and then spoke quite a bit when I was in Spain, so I was definitely fluent. But especially in the beginning, you miss some of the things people are saying from a field hockey perspective. I didn't know what preseason was. I don't even know what that was. There was no weightlifting, there was no conditioning.
"I didn't have a summer running schedule because I committed so late. It was definitely scary to try to keep up and do what everyone else was doing and the intensity of it all and being thrown into it head on. It was the end of August, when the first games started. Culturally, I was able to adjust pretty quickly. You have instant friends because you're on the team, but the physical part of it was hard in the beginning. And the heat, I wasn't used to the heat and the humidity."
You originally committed to being at Wake Forest for just one season, with the option of making a longer-term investment here. When did you make the choice to stay for your full four years?
Paul: "[Wake Forest head coach] Jen (Averill) basically said that she needs to know during the fall season if you want it. She couldn't wait until spring or later for me to decide if I wanted to stay. And so I told her when my parents visited in October that I would make my decision then, and I think I already knew by then. I don't think there was really a doubt in my mind. In a way, I was really wanting to get my parents' approval and I don't think they would ever have told me to do this or do that, but for me, it was important that they saw it, that they experienced it, that we could talk about it while they were here. They only knew what I was telling them on the phone maybe once a week and some pictures that I would send them. It was important that they saw what I was doing in real life and that just made me feel a lot better that they had seen it and they loved it as much as I did."
How tough was it to lose that final game and not grab a fourth-straight national title?
Paul: "You win one national championship, you have a target on your back. You win two and three — we were the team to beat since that first ACC championship. It was disappointing, of course, but we still had a really good season. Our goal was always to play on Sunday, your ACC Championship and National Championships are on Sunday every season. That's what we wanted to do.
"I'm pretty sure some of us shed some tears a couple minutes before the game was over just realizing it was all coming to an end. My dad had flown over just for the weekend, and I was just so sad that we lost that one. We were the team to beat for basically four years straight, and the fact that we were able to keep that up, looking back, was pretty remarkable. So just really proud of what we were able to do consistently over those years."
What is your fondest memory of your time at Wake Forest?
Paul: "My favorite memory is just the hours and hours and hours we spend together as a team. Those really were all my best friends. We obviously had a few good friends outside of the team, but you spend a regular fall season, you spend half the time with them, road trips, and on our days off. We may have had one day a week when we did some kind of party, but just the time that we spent with them, the fun that we had.
"Everything was really intense, but the friendships that we got out of that are just amazing. We all came back in September and it's almost like no time has passed. We may not talk for a long time, but then it's like it's still the same, and then all of a sudden we have kids that are school age, and then we realize we do actually get older. Those are friendships for life, and just that time with them is something that will always stand out for me."
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