School: Central Bucks West
Trish Kilgannon
Field Hockey, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Rafael Nadal or Asante Samuel
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Freshman year our field hockey team had lost only one game going into our last game against our rival, who was undefeated. The game was under the lights and very close. Our team won the game and moved into a three-way tie for first place in the league.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: “At our team camp over the summer, our team just lost possession of the ball on a bad play. The other team was dribbling down the field with the ball, and I was channeling the other girl while screaming at our team when I tripped and fell on my face.”
Music on iPod: “A little bit of everything with a lot of Taylor Swift.”
Future plans: “I plan on going to college and becoming a sportscaster.”
Words to live by: “In our weaknesses, we find our strengths.”
One goal before turning 30: “Travel somewhere tropical where I can swim with dolphins.”
One thing people don’t know about me: “I’ve been to 12 countries.”
When Kit Sinnamon took over the helm of the Central Bucks West field hockey program this fall, her first order of business was to identify the team’s leaders.
She didn’t have to look far.
Trish Kilgannon – who had played jayvee for Sinnamon – was a no-brainer choice.
“It’s just like a gift to me,” Sinnamon said of having a player like Kilgannon on her squad. “A lot of times, even as a coach, you want someone who’s almost an ambassador, a liaison between the coach and the team, and Trish is that person.
“There are a lot of different personalities on our team, but Trish is that leader by example. She does a really good job of bringing in all the different types of personalities, and everyone respects her so much and listens to her.”
The Bucks’ first-year coach recognized those leadership qualities in Kilgannon early on in her high school career.
“Even when she was with me her sophomore year on the jayvee team, she was a liaison, and she makes my job easier,” Sinnamon said.
Kilgannon was named a captain of this year’s squad, and moving the steady senior to a position of leadership on the field was the next logical step.
“Last year she played sweeper for us, and she does a great job back there because she’s a natural defender,” Sinnamon said. “But I immediately wanted to put her in the middle because she’s such a natural leader.”
As center midfielder for the Bucks, Kilgannon is a key to both the defense and the offense, and it didn’t take long for the senior captain to prove her worth.
“When we were down at ODU for camp this summer, communication was our biggest issue,” Sinnamon said. “Everyone started barking at each other as opposed to communicating with each other.
“Trish does a wonderful job of instructing the younger players and (working) with the older players. She’s perfect.”
So it only follows that Kilgannon would be a natural choice to one day become a coach. In fact, she already has her hand in coaching, volunteering her time on Saturday mornings to coach Doylestown Athletic Association (DAA) hockey and lacrosse.
“I really like when the girls come in the first day, and they’re shy, and they don’t really know what they’re doing, but at the end of the season, they’re having fun working together and knowing what’s going on,” Kilgannon said. “I think it would be fun to coach and stay involved.”
Kilgannon also serves as a lacrosse ref for Central Bucks Athletic Association and the Bulldogs from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg for a student-athlete who excels in the classroom as well.
She is a member of the National Honors Society and Spanish National Honors Society, and she is also involved with the school’s Key Club.
Kilgannon admits it can get difficult during the fall and spring seasons to make time for everything.
“In the offseason, I work really hard to keep my grades up and stay involved in the school,” she said.
For as long as she can remember, Kilgannon has been involved in sports. She played t-ball and soccer, but it didn’t take long for hockey and lacrosse to become her sports of choice as soccer and softball disappeared from the spring scene.
“I went out because a lot of my friends did, and we all did it together,” she said. “We were all on the same team, so we just stuck with it, and now a lot of us play together at West.”
Kilgannon is not only captain of this fall’s hockey team but also her lacrosse team in the upcoming spring.
“This year it’s more keeping everyone focused and positive because sometimes you do get a little negative, but you just have to bring everyone back to being positive,” she said of her role of captain. “On the field, I’m really vocal and try to help everyone. Off the field, it’s more of a friend relationship.
“There’s no power or authority thing.”
Which is yet another reason why Kilgannon is a perfect choice for captain of a West squad that is off to a 3-1 start and has already equaled its win output of the entire 2009 season.
“This year we have a much more positive attitude,” Kilgannon said. “Everyone is friends on and off the field. We hang out on the weekend and watch Jersey Shore together during the preseason.
“No one really gets mad at each other, and we all work together and support each other.”
Coming as no surprise, Kilgannon is in the middle of the Bucks’ early season success.
“She’s one of our distributors,” Sinnamon said. “I always think the best players are not necessarily the ones that score the goals but make the plays happen.
“That’s why Trish is so good in the middle of the field because she naturally switches the field. She just knows where the ball should be and where she should be in order to make those plays happen.”
Kilgannon’s college plans are still up in the air, but she plans to major in broadcast journalism with her sights set on one day becoming a sportscaster. She also plans to remain involved in sports.
For now, however, she is focused on her final high school hockey season.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “I’m looking forward to playing our rivals for the final time.
“It’s really exciting to be part of because we’re (3-1), and things are really looking up.”
