Field-Hockey
Favorite athlete: Tom Brady
Favorite team: New England Patriots
Favorite memory competing in sports: I would have to say our playoff win last year at Avon Grove. After coming off of a losing season the previous year, we rebuilt our team thanks to the help of our new coaching staff and hardworking players. Beating Avon Grove and advancing in the playoffs showed that our hard work had paid off.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Trying to head a ball in a middle school soccer game. That was the end of my soccer career.
Music on my mobile device: John Mayer, Alabama Shakes and Fergie
Future plans: I plan to attend college in New England for business. I also hope to travel abroad and experience different cultures.
Words to live by: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
One goal before turning 30: My goal is to go on a service trip to a developing country.
One thing people don’t know about me: I got a temporary scuba diving license when I was in fourth grade.
By Mary Jane Souder
Ally Fitts worked hard preparing for her final high school field hockey season. Nothing was going to keep the Central Buck South senior – elected a tri-captain by her teammates - off the field.
Not even a broken nose, two black eyes and the ensuing surgery. All the result of an unfortunate accident the first day of tryouts in August.
“We were just doing a few demos in the auxiliary gym, and I got hit in the face with my friend’s backswing,” Fitts recalled. “In the moment, I was so scared just because I didn’t know what would happen.
“I’d been training all summer – we all had, and I didn’t want this to affect my senior year, so I was really nervous. I didn’t think it was broken, but it was.”
South coach Pat Toner was expecting the worst.
“Ally is one of the hardest working, toughest kids,” the Titans’ coach said. “I just couldn’t believe she broke her nose.
“I thought – ‘This is one of our captains, and we’re probably not going to have her.’ She came back with two black eyes and a protective piece on her nose and said, ‘I can play in Hockeyrama this weekend,’ which was three days later.
“I said, ‘No, you can’t.’ She said, ‘Yes, I am. My parents are going to take me, and I’m going to get cleared,’ and she did. She played and she played great. I was scared to death to have her play, but she wanted to play. To me, that was crazy. I would be scared to death after getting hit in the face with a stick.”
Fitz, meanwhile, considered herself fortunate that her injuries were facial.
“Luckily, it wasn’t my leg or anything that would slow me down,” she said. “I played, and then I got surgery the week after that.
“That recovery was a lot shorter because the swelling was not nearly as bad as before.
“I still get a little nervous – I can’t help it – when someone’s backswing is right in your face, but I’m glad I moved on from it, and it wasn’t too serious. I wasn’t going to let a nose injury slow me down the first day of tryouts.”
Fitts has been a consistent contributor for the Titans in the midfield.
“Ally is a very hard-working and dedicated player,” Toner said. “She can always be counted on to do whatever is asked of her.
“Ally spent all summer working on the ball machine to perfect her stops, and it clearly shows in her ability to receive and control the ball on the field and on many of our corner plays.”
Beyond the skills Fitts brings to the hockey field, she’s also – according to her coach – a high character student-athlete.
“She’s a really good kid that cares about what she does,” Toner said. “She cares about her family.
“They travel a lot, and she’s very thankful she gets to do that. She’ll talk about her grandmother and how much she means to her. I just like kids that really recognize their family instead of putting their family down. I can truly say they care about each other, and that impressed me. She’s just the kind of kid that wants to please and wants to do whatever she can, and she’s as hardworking as anyone I’ve ever had.”
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Fitts, like many youngsters, got her first taste of competitive sports in kindergarten playing intramural soccer at the YMCA. In fourth grade, she began playing lacrosse with the Bulldogs in Doylestown. Field hockey entered the picture in seventh grade at Unami. She also swam competitively, but by the time she had completed her freshman year, Fitts had narrowed her sports down to just one - field hockey.
“It was new, all my friends were playing, and it was so much fun to be with all my friends,” Fitts said of her decision to stick with hockey. “Just how much fun it was with all my friends – it made it so much more enjoyable than anything I’ve done.”
While friends have been a big part of Fitts’ field hockey career, so have the coaches she’s had along the way. Last year’s seniors had four different coaches in four years.
As a freshman, Fitts played jayvee but was brought up to the varsity for the postseason when the Titans advanced to the state semifinals. With the graduation of a large senior class from that squad, the Titans won just three games the following year, but Fitts doesn’t remember the wins and losses.
“We might not have been the best team, but the relationships were strong,” she said. “I know we’re all still great friends. I don’t look at that year as no fun.
“It was still so much fun, and I enjoyed every minute of it even though losing was hard. It was a rough transition, and things didn’t click the way we thought they would, but I loved my coaches. They all meant well.”
Last year, Toner – with a long history of success – took over the program and gave it immediate stability.
“When PT came along, it was the right fit,” Fitts said. “She’s done so much, and I’m so thankful that our athletic director found her. She’s done amazing things for our program and will continue to.”
A captain along with Kasey Dietzel and Megan Gillard, Fitts, according to Toner, leads by example.
“It’s a great opportunity, and I’m so thankful for the girls,” she said. “Voting me as captain is really an honor.
“I’m captain with Kasey and Megan, but everyone is really equal. Everybody shares their thoughts. I think that’s what makes us a strong team and why we’ve been successful.”
Outside of school, Fitts does community service and each year helps package food for Feed My Starving Children. She is active in school life at South and is a proud member of Titan Terror.
“We go to all the football games,” she said. “Our school community is so much fun. We’re all supportive of everyone.”
Fitts, who was born in Richmond, Va., moved to this area when her family relocated in Pennsylvania in time for her to enroll in kindergarten. She spent her fifth grade year in Minnesota, a move the family made for her father’s job.
“I loved Minnesota, but my family is on the East Coast so we decided to move back,” she said. “It’s nice to have friends and family all over the place. I get to see everything. I love it.”
Fitts – an avid snowboarder - is looking to continue her education in New England. She is considering a business major.
“I’m so fortunate to have the opportunities I do,” she said. “My family is my top priority. We do so much together.
“They’ve allowed me to experience so many new things like travelling. We have family all over, so visiting them opens even more opportunities. It’s really taught me to be open to everything, never turn anything down because you never know – just like field hockey – if you’ll fall in love with it. I would have never done it if I didn’t have people supporting me through everything. My parents, PT – they’re all so supportive, and I’m so lucky to have them.”
Fitts is hoping to continue her hockey career at the club level.
