by Jordan Poirier

Field hockey is basically in her blood. Her mom played it, and now sophomore Gaelyn Donoghue is following in her footsteps.

“My mom used to play field hockey. She was good too. She’s my other coach. At dinnertime, after games, she tells me what I need to do to improve, and I like that because she knows. She did play after all.”

She has some experience under her belt because she’s been playing since fourth grade.

Along with her dedication to the sport, Donoghue plays because of her teammates.

“My team is like a family. We are all so close, and I love the coaches, all of them.
They act like a team, too. I am very tall, as you can tell, which is tough because in field hockey you have to get really low, so my coach always makes fun of me because I can never seem to get down low enough.”

Because of her dedication to the team, Donoghue strives to be the best player she can be. Even though she started at a position she wasn’t particularly great at at first, she worked hard at getting better.

“ I am a forward, a left wing, which is tricky because it is not stick side. I really enjoy my position. It’s a challenge, and I think that’s why I like it so much. At first I was really bad on the left side, but I think I have gotten better as time goes on from practice.”

“Practice is really important, everything at practice, although it isn’t much fun, definitely helps out in the long run.”

Donoghue works hard on the field, and sometimes that can lead to funny situations.

“A memorable experience was actually a week ago. I had the ball and was going in to score when I rammed into the goalie and took us both down, and we both fell over each other into the goal. My team got a kick out of that. There are not many times when the goalie and the player fall into the net.”

Gaelyn Donoghue has fun on the field, but she has plans for her future in field hockey.

“I would really really like to play this in college, and I think if I spend the next two years working for this then I can do it.”