By Christopher Tremblay

Norwood’s Shea Larkee had been a gymnast her entire life, but when she was introduced to field hockey, she suddenly found another sport she loved. In fact, she came to love the sport so much she was playing as much as she could and eventually joined the Wizards Field Hockey club team, an organization she still competes for.

As high school began to loom closer, Larkee, who knew a lot of girls on the Mustang’s field hockey team, was looking to try out for the team. She was not expecting anything from the tryout, she just wanted to go out and do her best while having fun; if she made the varsity team that would be a bonus. The incoming freshman made her way onto the Norwood varsity squad and became an integral part of their success.

“I played every game that season for the varsity team,” Larkee said. “And although it was my first time playing this often, I found myself getting better and stronger as the season went on.”

By the time her first season was over, the freshman found that she was the Mustang’s leading scorer, notching 23 points (11 goals and 12 assists).  As a first-year varsity athlete, Larkee was grateful that she was able to play the sport she loved while providing offense for her team at a very young age.

“She came in and made a big impact right away,” Norwood Coach Alison Doliner said. “She was wise beyond her years, a fierce competitor who sees everything, and was always two or three steps ahead of everyone else. She was second in goals, number one in assists, and was named our team MVP for the year. She was not only a scoring powerhouse, but she also had an ability to set up her teammates.”

When the season came to an end, there was no time to start training for the next season, however, it was time to get back to gymnastics.

“After the field hockey season ended, I jumped right into gymnastics as winter is the prime season for the sport, so my focus was primarily on that,” Larkee said. “I did play a little winter club field hockey whenever I was not involved with gymnastics; that was the only training I got during the off-season.”

However, on March 26 devastation hit with Larkee tearing her ACL. That eventually lead to surgery, not only ending her gymnastics season but leaving her on the sidelines for her sophomore field hockey season.

“When I tore my ACL, it was definitely a tough situation to process,” Larkee said. “I was not going to be able to be on the field in the fall as I was going to be involved in 10-12 months of rehab, but I was committed to the fast track and coming back stronger than I was.”

With the injury taking its toll, Larkee decided that she was going to walk away from gymnastics and solely focus on field hockey. According to the Norwood Coach, Larkee was missed greatly, especially for her scoring, and with the Mustangs involved in a lot of one-point contests, her presence on the field would have really made a difference.

Despite the fact that she was involved with rehabbing to get herself back into game-time shape, Larkee still attended every game and practice whenever she was not in therapy. If it wasn’t helping the team with drills or keeping the scorebook on the sidelines of games, the then sophomore was still part of the team in any way that she could be.

One of her biggest attributes was sharing her unique perspective with her teammates from off the field. 

“I was able to give the girls an insight to what I was seeing from my perspective on the sidelines,” Larkee said. “It’s much different than being on the field. It was really tough being on the sidelines as I would have much rather been on the field helping my team, but I guess it was for the better, learning wise that is.”

After numerous months of rehab, Larkee slowly began to ease back onto the field with her club team and eventually found her way back into game-time situations and come around the end of April. As soon as the beginning of May, Larkee felt that she was back to being herself. Although today she feels she is fully back, she is continuing to attend therapy for strength conditioning as she never wants to be in the situation of getting hurt again and losing another season.

As she entered her junior campaign, the Norwood center forward was named a captain for the first time; something that she is totally floored with.

“It means a lot to me,” Larkee said. “I am grateful to my teammates for voting me a captain, especially coming off a season like I had, or didn’t have. It tells me that they respect me enough to give me this position and I want to show them I am worthy by helping to lead them to a winning season with a spot in the tournament.”

According to Larkee, on and off the field, the game of field hockey is a fun environment, one in which she is excited about starting once again with her teammates. Together, they are hoping to get back into the Division 2 State Tournament, but with a different outcome than last year. Norwood went 9-9 on the regular season earning a 23 seed and fell 1-0 to Canton in the first round.

“I have played a lot during the spring to get stronger and cannot wait to get back to playing high school field hockey with my friends and teammates,” Larkee said. “Watching the game through a different lens, I certainly learned a lot, but really wish that I didn’t have to go through it.”

In order to get ready for the upcoming season, the junior captain certainly put in the hard hours to get ready to lead the Mustangs into Tri-Vally League play.

“She put in the extra work and is ready,” Coach Doliner said. “In our first scrimmage, she came out and scored right away. I’m excited to have her back on the field. The energy that she brings to the game is amazing and will definitely help bring the younger players’ games to the next level.”