CONCRETE — Liam Walsh’s summer has been busy.

As one of the top field hockey players in the country, the recent Concrete High School graduate has been traveling to international and national tournaments to represent the United States.

As busy as he is, Walsh still has time to look ahead — way ahead.

The 17-year-old, who spent many of his formative years in Ireland, is working toward making the 2016 U.S. Olympic team.

If the Olympics are awarded to Chicago, which is one of the finalists, the U.S. will have an automatic berth.

“That’s the end goal,” said Walsh.

Walsh was born in Seattle. When he was young, his family moved to his mother’s native Ireland.

In Wicklow, outside of Dublin, Walsh spent his time studying and playing sports, including field hockey, which is popular in Europe.

Similar to ice hockey but played on grass and with a ball, the sport is played at a breakneck pace, which quickly attracted Walsh’s interest.

“It’s a fast sport, one of the fastest field sports in the world, and it takes practice. You can’t just pick it up,” Walsh said.

After enough practice, however, he got the hang of it.

Walsh played for his school and for a club team. He represented his province, traveling to tournaments across Europe, including ones in Holland and Spain. He also played for the under-16 Irish national team.

Adjusting to that level of play, he said, was a challenge.

“It’s hard because you’re young, but everyone is in the same situation,” he said.

Soon, the family prepared to move back to the U.S. for Walsh’s senior year of high school.

Wishing to continue his field hockey career, he got in touch with USA Field Hockey, the national governing body of field hockey in the United States.

“When I typed it into Google, it was the first (listing) to come up,” he said. “I e-mailed the head coach.”

Walsh quickly became a fixture on several national-level teams, first playing in the national championships last year in California, then helping his U.S. squad take third in the Pan-American Games in Trinidad and Tobago.

That qualified the U.S. for the Junior World Cup on June 7-21. It was the first time the U.S. had qualified for that event based on its Pan American Games finish.

For the Junior World Cup, Walsh joined a team of players that included college students and members of the U.S Senior National Team.

The team’s head coach, Nick Conway, said despite his young age Walsh was a positive, mature force on the squad.

“He’s very quiet in how he goes about his business but is very diligent. He’s not a person or player who’s interested in being flashy, but he’s very, very talented. In many respects, he’s unheralded, but one of our most valuable players,” Conway said.

The tournament was co-hosted by Malaysia and Singapore. Walsh found the experience to be both grueling and fun.

“It was a hard experience. It was a very long trip, three weeks, and you’re either in your hotel or you’re practicing or playing a game,” he said. “But it was fun to play against the best teams.”

Walsh returned home to Rockport for about a week before leaving Wednesday for the national championships, which are being held in Chula Vista, Calif.

Soon he’ll be back and getting ready to start college at Western Washington. He hopes to play field hockey in Canada and eventually make more national-level men’s teams.

He works out at home and trains with a group once a week in Seattle.

He hopes the 2016 Olympics are a possibility, especially if they’re in the U.S.

Walsh said he even managed to get some classmates interested in the sport.

“They tried to get online and find some video of it,” he said.

Trevor Pyle can be reached at 360-416-2156 or by e-mail at .