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09/23/2021 12:00 AMElla Clarke simply does it all for the Guilford field hockey squad. Ella, a junior, plays the center forward position for the Grizzlies, and she’s been an instrumental part of their success the past few seasons.
Ella started playing field hockey as a 7th-grader at Adams Middle School. Ella’s sister Olivia had played for Guilford and fostered her passion for field hockey. When she started high school, Ella knew that she wanted to follow in her sister’s footsteps by competing for Head Coach Kitty Palmer’s team.
“My older sister is the one who got me to fall in love with the sport. She played all through high school and continued with it through college,” Ella says. “After being by her side through every game, she convinced me that playing this sport in high school with Kitty as the coach will make your experience in high school so much better. And she was completely right.”
Ella likes contributing on offense in her role as a center forward for the Grizzlies. As she begins her junior season, Ella is also enjoying the experience of learning how to be a leader on a tight-knit Guilford club.
“Working within a team and how what you do impacts your teammates and yourself is so important to recognize. It’s always refreshing knowing the people around you will always have your back no matter what,” says Ella. “We go through all our highs and lows together, and I think we can all agree on how blessed we are to be a part of such a strong-bonded team.”
Coach Palmer credits Ella for playing one of the most challenging positions on the field hockey turf. Oftentimes, Ella’s role is to serve as a screener in front of opposing goalies and then try to slip the rebound past them.
“Ella does a lot of the little things that are needed to be done to make a successful team. She screens the opposing goalie, which is a physically tough job. She also is fearless while tipping teammates’ shots to goal,” Palmer says. “Ella makes countless runs up the wing from the center position to generate offense. She is extremely coachable, wants to learn, and play better for the good of the team.”
Ella will always cherish her relationship with Coach Palmer. Ella says that Palmer serves as mentor to her both on and off the field.
“Not everyone gets the chance to experience her coaching, but I’m beyond thankful that I can. She has and will always be one of the best coaches I could ever get the privilege of playing for,” says Ella of Palmer. “Kitty is someone I can always count on, and I’m extremely blessed to have her in my life, most importantly as a coach.”
One of Ella’s best memories of her field hockey career came during the abbreviated 2020 season. After the Grizzlies lost their regular-season contest against Cheshire, they came back to defeat the Rams in the SCC Division A championship game and finish the year with an overall record of 13-1-0-1.
“My favorite moment as a player had to be beating Cheshire on their field to win SCCs last year. Just seeing how genuinely happy everyone was and everyone appreciating each other made it that much more valuable,” Ella says. “It really did bring us closer together, and I couldn’t have asked for a better finish to our season during such a hard year of COVID.”
Ella feels that she’s her own biggest critic when it comes to improving her performance as a field hockey player. Ella focuses on correcting any mistakes that she makes during both practices and games in order to better herself going forward.
“I always want to pay attention and ask questions. It goes a long way in improving your game,” says Ella.” By telling myself to leave it all out on the field before every game, it really gives me the determination to do so.”
On the heels of a banner season, Ella has some major expectations for the Grizzlies in the 2021 campaign. Ella wants to help Guilford defend both its SCC and Class M state titles this fall.
“My expectations for this season are to grow as a team and strive for better execution that will lead us to be able to earn another SCC and state title,” Ella says. “With the help of Kitty’s coaching, I believe that we are capable of achieving anything we want to as long as we put in the work and dedicate ourselves to the team.”