Field Hockey, Basketball
Favorite athlete: Nnamdi Asomugha
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating William Tennent on their home field 6-0 in field hockey
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: During preseason for field hockey my sophomore year, a girl on our team peed her pants while we were running.
Music on iPod: Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Adele
Future plans: Go to college to major in Health Care Administration
Words to live by: ‘Never give up, never surrender.’
One goal before turning 30: To have a good job
One thing people don’t know about me: I am a big fan of Harry Potter.
Melissa Rowland has been the pleasantest of surprises this year – not just in one sport but in two.
The Council Rock North senior was a reserve forward on last year’s field hockey team. This year she was moved to defense where she excelled for an Indian squad that captured the Suburban One National Conference title and had 14 shutouts to its credit.
“Melissa was one of our solid defenders this year,” coach Heather Whalin said. “She really could come through and push up a lot with the middies because she’s so fast and has great stickwork. She saved our butts because we were worried about another back because we didn’t have one. Obviously, she was a huge part of what we were able to accomplish this year. She was a pleasant surprise”
Rowland’s success on the basketball court was perhaps even more unexpected. Last year, she was the starting point guard for the junior varsity. This year she is the starting two guard for the Indians and is the team’s undisputed defensive stopper. Rowland averages the most minutes on the court of anyone on the squad.
Making that especially impressive is the fact that Rowland was not penciled in to contribute when the season began. As a matter of fact, coach Liz Potash didn’t have even a passing acquaintance with her.
“She was the only kid that when I walked in the first day of tryouts that I didn’t know,” the first-year coach said. “I didn’t know anything about her. I just knew we had a fifth senior that played field hockey in the fall. That was really all I knew.
“I didn’t even know what she looked like. She was really the only one out of 25 kids that I knew nothing about.”
It didn’t take long for Rowland to make an impression.
“She’s so smart,” Potash said. “We put her on the other team’s best offensive player, and we can’t take her off the floor. The only games she did not play the entire game were the games we were up pretty big in the fourth quarter, and we wanted to get other people into the game.”
In Tuesday’s game against an Ursuline Academy squad that is the top-ranked program in Delaware, Rowland was assigned the ask of defending point guard Adrianna Hahn, who was averaging 20 points a game. She limited the freshman star to just 11 points.
“She’s just a very smart defender,” Potash said. “I told her – I don’t care what you do on offense. We need you to play their freshman point guard and shut her down. Anything you ask her to do she will do.
“She’s also very smart offensively and can hit a little mid-range shot. I don’t know what we would have done if she hadn’t come out this season. She’s just a great kid. I can’t think of a better all-around kid.”
That’s high praise for an athlete who admits she gave serious consideration to not playing basketball after a long hockey season.
“I did think of not playing, but I love basketball,” Rowland said. “I really wanted to play because I knew I would have a lot of fun, and I would regret not playing.”
Sports have been part of Rowland’s life for as long as she can remember. Soccer was the first sport to enter the picture, but she also tried swimming, tennis and softball. Rowland has been playing basketball since fourth grade and got her first taste of field hockey in seventh grade when she went out for the middle school team.
“My sister (Sarah) had played field hockey, and my mom also grew up playing hockey,” she said. “I liked the team and the fast paced game. It was fun.”
As a junior, she was the first player off the bench for the Indians. Rowland was penciled in to play forward this year until an early-season practice.
“One day we were doing defense, and we were watching her, and (Pat Toner) said, ‘I think she could be a defender,’” Whalin recalled. “Some of the people we thought could step up for us just didn’t have the defensive skills. She just caught on, and she just understood very quickly. She’s a very smart player, and she would do anything. If you would ask her to stand in goal, she would do that. She’s just that quiet nice kid that would do anything you asked.”
Rowland acknowledges that it was a challenge to move to the defensive end of the field.
“The biggest difference is the running – there’s a lot more running on offense,” she said. “I feel like there’s a lot more pressure on defense because you have to keep the ball from going in the goal or even getting into the circle.
“I didn’t have a problem with it because the team needed me on defense.”
Rowland was a key component of a defensive unit that – after allowing six goals in the team’s first two games – gave up just three in the next 14.
“She’s one of those kids that you’re not going to realize you’re going to miss until next year,” Whalin said. “She has a quiet confidence about herself, and everyone on the team loves her.
“When you talk to her, she’s very quiet and humble, but she’s a funny kid. She’s a sweetheart. The family is just a really nice, supportive family, and she was a huge pleasant surprise for us this year.”
When basketball season rolled around this year, Rowland admits she didn’t have high expectations.
“I was playing for fun and to be with the team and to play basketball because I love playing,” she said. “I would have never thought this would happen. It’s an awesome experience.”
Rowland will not be playing a sport at the collegiate level. Although undecided on a college, she is considering Penn State, Temple and Pitt. She plans to major in health care administration with an interest in pursuing a career in management in either a hospital or health care facility.
“I’m interested in that because it’s a mix between business and the health fields – the two fields I was torn between when I was picking a major,” Rowland said.
An excellent student, Rowland is a member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish Honor Society and the Environmental Action Club. She takes honors classes and is enrolled in AP Biology and AP Calculus.
These days Rowland is enjoying every minute of her final high school season, a season that has exceeded everyone’s expectations.
“If we wouldn’t have had her, we would have obviously found someone to fill her spot, but looking back on the last month and a half, I can’t imagine Melissa not playing for us,” Potash said. “I can’t praise her enough.”
