To be a senior in high school, especially for an athlete, is exceptional. It is a year that many athletes prepare and look forward to. Seniors finally have the chance to be at the ‘top of the totem pole,’ can take on responsibility, and can have much more freedom. Senior athletes have an even bigger obligation; now, they are the leaders of their teams. One of those many senior athletes is senior Maggie Volkmar. Volkmar is one of this year’s senior varsity field hockey captains. Volkmar has been playing field hockey since she was a freshman in high school and is very excited for what this year will bring for her and her team.
“I feel like we are going to finish better than we started,” Volkmar said. “Because in each game we learn how to play better as a team and individually.”
While Volkmar is one of the biggest leaders on the team, senior Faith LaCerba is one of the other leading seniors on this team. She believes that they have a great season ahead of them and that Volkmar can lead this team to a great season.
“Maggie is always working her hardest at practice, and during games to make sure she plays the best she can,” LaCerba said. “In past years, she has always shown sportsmanship and leadership skills on and off the field to earn the captain spot.”
Volkmar has been showing her leadership on the field during both practice and games. She has demonstrated to her teammates that she can lead them to a great season. She cannot do it alone; however, she is with her fellow captain and teammate, senior Katie Quirke. Quirke is in her fourth year of varsity field hockey, and this is her second year of being captain. She is both a leader on and off the field. They share the same goal for the season is to be both successful and have a connected team. Quirke and Volkmar share this same passion.
“Mine and Maggie’s goal is to make sure everyone feels included,” Quirke said. “We also go out of our way to build relationships both on and off the field.”
Volkmar has prepared for this season in many ways but when it comes to being a senior athlete being both a senior leader and an athlete on the team comes from having experience. Seniors on teams are leaders for many reasons, the biggest reason being having a lot of knowledge of the sport and knowing how the games are going to go during the season. Even the younger players on the team have started to take notice. Junior Mollie Tubbs is one of the new and upcoming players this year and has noticed Volkmars up and coming leadership skills.
“In the past years she has worked really hard during practice,” Tubbs said. “She also works really hard in games to earn the captain spot.”
Volkmar shows throughout every game that, with the help of Quirke, they can lead this team to a great season and a fantastic rest of the year. The Sequoits are about halfway through their season and are looking for another great half. With the rest of the year ahead, the team is looking to finish off the season hot and head into the playoffs with a great end to the year and a great deep run into the playoffs.
“I think if we keep working hard during practice and keep working hard to finish off the season strong, we will have a great rest of this year and try and make a deep run into the playoffs,” Tubbs said.
For the future of this field hockey team, they have quite a bit to look forward to with their captains Quirke and Volkmar. They also can look forward to more big plays this year from both Tubbs and LaCerba. As the season’s final games start to roll around, the Sequoits are looking forward to a good rest of the season and a deep playoff run to cap off the year and send the seniors away in good spirits.
