Paige Selenski is going through an important time in her field hockey career.
Off the field, the Dallas graduate is in just as vital a stretch if she is going to maximize the opportunities that come from being an Olympic athlete.
As Selenski tries to land a repeat shot at the Olympic Games with the improving United States Women’s National Team in field hockey, she is also positioning herself to potentially be among the more recognizable faces at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
That’s why Brant Feldman, Selenski’s agent, was pleased with the timing of Selenski being one of 24 athletes featured in ESPN The Magazine’s 2015 Body Issue.
“On my side, the marketing side, there’s a better benefit for her to be in it this year than next year,” Feldman said after ESPN’s announcement this week of the athletes who will be part of the issue, which is released online July 6 and on newsstands July 10.
An athlete benefits more from being known prior to the buildup for the games, according to Feldman, who represents several Olympic athletes through his company, American Group Management.
“If Paige is going to have any success on a marketing side, going into Rio 2016, you have to be able to capitalize on the marketing opportunities a year out,” Feldman said. “It’s not really up to us. If ESPN had come to us next year, we would have said ‘yes,’ next year also, but the value of it this year gives you a better opportunity to be able to capitalize on it.
“Next year, we’ll be three weeks away from the Olympics. The NBC marketing machine is already going at that point and we have 23 other sports that are going at that point.
“The super high-profile, noticeable athletes will already be in the swing of things. In a sport like field hockey, which hasn’t had tremendous success the last 20 years, this is good for her, but it’s also good for the sport.”
Selenski, who did the top-secret photo shoot in March in Lancaster County, was on her way back from Spain and the latest step in the 2016 Olympic-qualifying process when the announcement was made.
Immediately after her return from a fifth-place finish by the United States in the FIH Hockey Women’s World League Semifinals, she headed to Florida to visit family and vacation.
In a telephone interview from there, Selenski discussed her response to being asked to pose nude for the magazine’s annual issue, which publishes semi-nude photos of athletes.
“It was kind of an automatic,” Selenski said. “I kind of wanted to showcase our sport, not just me as individual, but my entire team and how much work we put in on a daily basis, which is a testament to how your body looks.”
Selenski will be the only field hockey player in an issue that also includes Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, currently second in Major League Baseball in home runs, National Basketball Association all-star Kevin Love from the Cleveland Cavaliers, French Open tennis champion Stan Wawrinka and Aly Raisman, captain of the gold-medal winning 2012 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team.
“We put in so much work on a daily basis, which is why our bodies look the way we do,” said Selenski , who will be 25 Tuesday. “We put so much work into that every day in the gym, on the field, doing yoga. We’re doing so much for our bodies.”
Selenski said it was a different experience to be by herself with a crew of unfamiliar faces that included a photographer, videographer, photo editor, make-up artist and hair artist. She was shown some of the photos on a computer screen during the shoot, but does not know which shot was selected.
The magazine photo spread is not the only publicity Selenski will be receiving in the days ahead.
When United States Olympic Committee kicks off its nine-city Road to Rio Tour July 4 in Philadelphia, Selenski will be there as the lone representative of the field hockey team, meeting with fans to try to help stir up interest in the games.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” she said. “I’ve heard a lot about some of the past ‘Road to …’ events.
“It’s meant to be a fan experience and I’m there to interact with them and tell them about my experience as an athlete. It’s important for us to get out there and get our team out there because we’re in Lancaster and so close.”
The United States still has to qualify for the Olympic Games and Selenski would then still need to secure a spot on the final roster. She played in all seven games of the World League Semifinals, scoring a goal in a 6-1 win over Ireland and starting in the final game to help the team go 4-2-1.
Poor timing on the two losses, however, resulted in a fifth-place finish out of 10 where the top three secured spots in Rio de Janeiro. Winning the last two games to recover and finish fifth, however, greatly helped the team’s hopes of being one of 12 in the Olympic field even if it does not gain the next available automatic berth by winning the Pan American Games in Canada in July.
