For Marblehead field hockey coach Ali Carey, competition has always been part of her life. A three-sport athlete in high school, she went on to swim Division 1 at Boston College before deciding to step away from the sport. Looking for a new outlet, Carey took a friend’s advice and joined the school’s club field hockey team — a sport she had never played before.
“I joined the team and it was so much fun,” Carey said.
Now, Carey is bringing that same energy into her new role as head coach of the Marblehead High School field hockey program. A clinical social worker at the school who oversees the BRYT Program (Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition), Carey has been connected to Marblehead athletics for years, both as a parent and through her work with student-athletes.
“Sports and competition has always been a big part of my life,” Carey said. “My kids came up through the Marblehead school system. Sports were a huge part of their life and it’s still a part of mine. I’ve worked with the athletic program over the years and when Kent Wheeler came on as our athletic director, he and I were talking about leadership in sports and we started to collaborate more, which allowed me to kind of assist with the mental health programming of our athletic program. Then, when the job came up, I thought about it because it’s a big deal to oversee a whole program – it’s a big job.”
Carey said she has already benefited from the foundation set by the program’s middle school coach.
“I cannot say enough about Tawny Callaghan, who coaches our middle school program. She is just a force and we are very lucky to have a middle school program, first of all,” Carey said. “To have a strong coach like Tawny allows us to really retain players when they come up to the high school level. We have, at the high school level, three full teams. Not a lot of schools in the NEC (Northeastern Conference) are able to field three full teams, and that’s a credit to the legacy of the program and to Tawny’s hard work.”
Tryouts this week gave Carey her first extended look at the team she’ll be guiding this fall, and she came away impressed with the talent on the field.
“We have a pretty robust group of kids trying out. It looks like we have a very strong group of players out there,” Carey said. “They’re done with the technical pieces and now we’re going to look at what the field play looks like, what the gameplay looks like, and their general gameplay knowledge. I’m excited to see that because what I see so far in terms of athleticism, it looks really strong.”
She credited the program’s captains — Keliane Salem, Chloe Rowland, Kate Andriano, Paige Waldman, and Avery Wysor — with setting the tone during the first week.
“I have five phenomenal captains,” Carey said. “Each one of them has a different style of leadership and each brings something different to the table. There was a Female Leadership in Sports conference in the spring and that was the first time I got to meet them as captains. We got to spend the day doing workshops and working together. It was an amazing opportunity to start our season together back in the spring. They’ve been working since the spring with me to plan for this fall season.”
Carey said she wants to emphasize culture.
“We’re focusing on our team values. We’re focusing on the idea that we play for each other. Supporting each other is huge and being accountable to each other,” Carey said. “Building that team chemistry and focusing on the team cohesion and helping the team form identities.”
With the fall season fast approaching, Carey said her first impressions of the group have only fueled her enthusiasm.
“I’m so excited. What I’m seeing from these players is making me so excited for this season because I can tell that they’re ready,” she said. “I can tell that they’re excited. They’re showing up every day, just willing to do whatever we’re asking of them and then taking it a step further.”