Cheering on his daughter, Natane, a goalkeeper and one of the nation’s top prospects at The Hill School in Pottstown, Billy King has aspirations to make women’s field hockey a much bigger deal in the United States, writes Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

For over a year, King has sat on USA Field Hockey’s Board of Governors with the goal of broadening the influence of the sport. His years of experience as an executive in the NBA is invaluable to field hockey.

“He is the most experienced sports executive on the board,” said Simon Hoskins, the CEO of USA Field Hockey.

Beyond the NBA, King now serves as the managing director at TurnkeyZRG, a sports and entertainment recruiting firm based in Haddonfield, New Jersey. The firm puts King in close proximity to important people in the world of professional sports. This influence could serve to increase the brand of the sport, which is in much need of support.

Currently, field hockey receives no government funding. Of the 24 tournaments in Olympic history, the US field hockey team has taken home one medal – the bronze in ‘84.

King didn’t know much about field hockey before Natane started playing for Episcopal Academy. But now it’s his goal to spread its reach beyond the East Coast, where its talent is heavily concentrated.

Of the 16 members of this year’s Olympic team, nine are from Pennsylvania.

Read more about Billy King and his aspirations to make women’s field hockey a much bigger deal in the United States in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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