Field Hockey
Favorite athlete: Katie O’Donnell
Favorite team: Philadelphia Flyers
Favorite memory competing in sports: When we won our game in the first round of the state tournament during overtime.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: The funniest thing that I can remember actually happened recently when my teammate was trying to drive the ball across the circle, and she completely whiffed and fell over.
Music on iPod: It’s a wide variety from Hoodie Allen to Ariana Grande, but currently my favorite song is “Like a Drum” by Guy Sebastian.
Future plans: To study nursing in college.
Words to live by: “Just do it.”
One goal before turning 30: To have a stable job at a good hospital.
One thing people don’t know about me: I have never broken a bone.
By Mary Jane Souder
Brianna Miles has been a mainstay in the defensive backfield of the Wissahickon field hockey team. As both a sophomore and junior, the now senior captain was the Trojans’ last line of defense at sweeper.
This year, it seemed as though it might be a natural progression for Miles, an undisputed leader, to step into the role of center back. Instead, her sister - junior Kara Miles - filled the spot.
“It was a little tough because it’s my senior year, and I was a captain and I really thought center back would be a good position where I could shine,” Miles said. “I could go up more on offense, I could make more plays happen.”
That initial disappointment didn’t last long.
“My sister is naturally a better runner than I am, she said of her younger sibling. “I’m more a communicator on the team.
“I can see more from the backfield. In the end, once I took a step back, I realized the best thing for the team was for us to play these positions.”
That mature response, according to coach Lucy Gil, is typical of Miles.
“She’s totally embraced the decision,” Gil said. “She supports her sister. She helps her with where she has to go.
“I don’t know what she said to herself, but she turned it around. She’s just a lovely person and an amazing defensive player.”
Miles has had a passion for field hockey since she picked up a stick in fourth grade playing with Wissahickon Recreation Association. It turns out hockey runs in the family, and she actually played ice hockey for several years as a youngster.
“My dad played ice hockey through his high school career, and my brother played,” she said. “We go to Flyers games all the time, so that was really fun.”
It was that connection to hockey that made the transition from soccer and softball to field hockey such a natural one for Miles.
“Basically, when I first started playing, it was something that came naturally to me,” she said. “It was different than other sports, and I think that really drew me in.
“It was something I could be good at and something I felt driven towards to always get better.”
Miles has been playing field hockey on the club circuit since she was in sixth grade, initially playing for the FSC Falcons but two years ago switching to X-calibur.
In eighth grade, she suffered a setback when she tore her ACL in a collision playing indoor hockey.
“It was the first game of the season,” she said. “A girl ran into me, and I was out for nine months.
“I didn’t miss the fall season, but I was coming into my freshman year at high school. At the time the preseason started, I had just gotten off my physical therapy routine, and I was just getting back into it. That was really stressful because I felt like I was out for the longest time, and I missed an opportunity that I could have had.”
Gil, who was out of the area and did not coach Miles’ freshman year, acknowledges that she would have pulled her up to the high school team. Looking back, Miles believes that playing for the freshman team may have been a blessing in disguise.
“I ended up being captain there,” she said. “It was still a good year, and I was able to develop more.
“It was a good transition year coming back from the injury and getting back to the intensity of school sports.”
The following year Gil – who knew Miles from her middle school days when she attended her camps - wasted little time before inserting Miles into a starting role in her defensive backfield. She’s been a fixture there ever since.
“She’s very vocal, and that’s one of the reasons I like to put her all the way in the back because she sees everything, so she pushes up the defensemen in front of her,” Gil said. “She’s always managing the defense and managing the people around her, which is great. But also, even during practices, it’s like, ‘Come on guys, we have to get serious now. We have to get this.’ She knows what she’s saying, and she always leads them in the right direction.”
Serving as a vocal leader comes naturally to Miles.
“My coach always says her ears only tune to me in the backfield because she can only hear me talking,” the senior captain said. “I’ll be screaming out random things to help people, or I’ll tell them to start talking because in the backfield I can see where everything is.
“I think I have a good game sense, and it comes in handy too. I feel like I’m more a part of the play when I’m talking, even if the ball is all the way up (on offense).”
Miles aspires to one day be a nurse, an interest that was sparked by her mother – a nurse at St. Christopher’s Children’s Hospital. Topping her college list is the University of Delaware.
Because of the rigorous schedule her major will require, Miles hopes to continue her hockey career at the club level, but academics will always come first for the straight A student, who admits she was upset when she received her first B last year in AP Calculus.
“Academics is a big thing for me,” she said. “It’s always something my parents pushed, but it’s not just them. It’s more like I feel I have to get an A, and I’m always striving for that.”
An excellent student, Miles - whose weighted GPA is 4.85 - took three AP classes last year and two more this year. She is a member of the National Honor Society, and for the past two years has been part of Wissahickon’s Future Business Leaders of America Club. She also is member of a club called Wiss Pals that works with special needs children.
“That’s really fun to get them out to activities and to interact with them,” she said.
Miles is looking forward to her final high school hockey season, and her response to the Trojans’ 6-0 loss to Council Rock North in their season opener undoubtedly played a role in their immediate comeback. They defeated Springfield 5-1 in their next game.
“Our big thing is to stay positive,” she said. “We’re a good team. We have to go into each game working as a team, not as individual players.
“We have to go into each with a clean slate, not worry about the other team but just play our game.”
It’s the kind of response Gil has come to expect from her senior captain.
“She’s just such a good kid, and she works so hard,” the Trojans’ coach said. “She’s a great student, and she’s just an all-around terrific kid.”
