It's enough of an accomplishment just to be the starting center forward on the Harvard field hockey team. But freshman phenom Judy Collins will do you one better.

Actually, one better than any other freshman field hockey player in the Ivy League--Collins was just named Ancient Eight's Rookie of the Week.

Collins has always excelled at sports. In addition to her field hockey prowess, she was also a track star in the mile and a point guard for a two-time state champion team for her high school in Walpole, Massachusetts.

But those feats shouldn't come as a surprise. Her family introduced her to sports at a very young age.

"My family is very athletic," Collins says. "Everyone in my family has played sports since they could walk."

Sports were a large part of family life when Collins was growing up. They would often go together to play softball or to run. They even entered competitive races together. Collins ran her first 10-kilometer race at the age of six.

"I loved it," Collins says of her early introduction to athletics. "It definitely got me interested in sports."

Collins started field hockey in the fourth grade as part of a summer youth league.

"My older sisters played, so it was in the family," Collins says.

Over the past 10 years, field hockey has grown into an important and welcome part of her life.

"Basically, it's one of my strong points in life," Collins says. "It's like a hobby. I love doing it. I play all year round so it's not like a one-season thing for me."

Collins enjoys the opportunity to play for Harvard. She was also recruited by nationally-ranked Old Dominion, but she ultimately decided on Harvard because of its extra-athletic opportunities.

"At Old Dominion I would have been playing hockey all the time," she says. "Here I have time to do other things."

Harvard is lucky to have her.

Collins was instrumental in helping the squad break out of a two-week-long scoring slump, as she registered her first collegiate goal last week in a 3-1 win over New Hampshire. She followed that up with a goal and an assist in the next game, a 3-0 blanking of California.