Field Hockey, Basketball, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Brian Dawkins
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning first round of states for lacrosse
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: I accidentally went to the opposing team’s huddle during a timeout in middle school basketball. Their coach gave me a funny look and then told me to go away!
Music on iPod: Rap (Meek Millz, Jay Z, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar) & Red Hot Chili Peppers
Future plans: Either attending the University of Pittsburgh or West Chester University studying communications and digital media
Words to live by: ‘Impossible is nothing.’
One goal before turning 30: Have a high paying job!
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m terrified of change! (coins)
By Mary Jane Souder
Sarah Daley might not stand out in a crowd, but the Springfield senior is the type of player coaches can’t live without if they hope to be successful.
“From a coach’s point of view, she’s the type of student-athlete I’d probably want to clone,” Springfield lacrosse coach Ken Rodoff said. “She comes to practice every day ready to work her hardest, she doesn’t take a drill off or a play off and she’s able to recover from adversity really well.
“Whether it’s getting a body from an opposing player or falling down or making a mistake, she has a great ability to shake off the previous play and move on to the next one.”
Daley’s basketball coach echoed similar sentiments.
“She does whatever you ask her to do,” coach Bill Krewson said. “Even when she gets banged around, she hangs in.
“She’s a tough kid that hangs in and always looks to finish or complete what she started. She never deviates, never does her own thing. She’s a total team girl.”
Daley has been a positive influence on a Spartan basketball squad that has won just once in 13 games in its first year back in the SOL.
“We try and tell the girls that we’re going up against a lot of bigger schools with bigger girls, taller girls, so keep your head up,” Daley said. “Don’t get down on each other.
“It can get tough sometimes, and it gets intimidating. Sometimes just looking at them we’re like, ‘Wow, they’re big.’ We just try and remind everyone that we can compete against these schools. We just have to keep our heads up and keep our heads in the game.”
Daley is a captain and leader of her basketball squad.
“She’s more of a quiet leader,” Krewson said. “She’s not a big talker. She leads by example, and she has a strong work ethic.
“She will do whatever you ask of her, and when push comes to shove, she will tell people what they need to do if she needs to. She’s one of my level-headed kids. Even though we’ve been struggling all year, every game she’s up again. She doesn’t stay down. She’s up and ready to win every time we play.”
Daley and her fellow captains have taken intentional steps to create a positive environment.
“The other day we decided to surprise the girls, and we decorated the entire locker room,” she said. “We had quotes all over and balloons and stuff, just to try and throw in a surprise and get everyone (pumped) up.
“We also do spirit sisters. We have a big sister/little sister, and you motivate your little sister – keep your head up. We do inspirational quotes sometimes before games.”
Sports have been part of Daley’s life for as long as she can remember. She got her start in competitive sports playing basketball and peewee soccer.
“I liked sports right away,” she said. “I had a lot of energy, so I had to get that out somehow.”
Lacrosse entered the picture in fourth grade when Daley began playing for the township travel team. Her mother, who had played lacrosse in college, was her coach. She fell in love with the sport immediately.
“It’s such a team sport,” Daley said. “You can’t really win by yourself.”
Field hockey was a late entry in ninth grade with soccer falling by the wayside when she reached high school.
Ask Daley which sport is her favorite, and she can’t give a definitive answer.
“Usually it’s whatever sport is in season because the one I’m focused on at the time is my favorite,” she said.
It is on the lacrosse field that Daley has experienced her greatest success. A four-year varsity player, Daley plays low attack.
“From the minute she arrived as a player even now going into her senior year, Sarah really is from that lacrosse point of view our quarterback,” Rodoff said. “She’s the player we always look to get the ball, to calm the offense down, to allow people to set up.
“She doesn’t make mistakes. She makes great decisions with the ball, and she makes good decisions off the ball. She helps her teammates.”
According to Rodoff, Daley’s biggest improvement has been her off ball ability to create space for herself as well as her teammates.
“She’s not the player who’s going to light up the stat sheet, but what she does is invaluable, which is the ability to know that once she gets the ball, we are okay. There won’t be a mistake once Sarah gets the ball in her lacrosse stick.”
It’s a similar story on the basketball court where Daley, a two-year varsity starter, doesn’t put up big numbers but quietly contributes.
“It’s funny how people locate the star players as the scorers and all that stuff,” Krewson said. “Sarah’s a star player because she’s always on the boards.
“Offensively and defensively, she’s always rebounding, and she’s setting up the other girls.”
Daley, a rare three-sport athlete, admits she can’t imagine giving up one of her sports.
“I couldn’t really pick, and I like to be busy,” she said. “If I have too much time on my hands, I don’t know what to do with myself. I like to be doing something.
“Most of my friends are from my teams. If I don’t have a lot of classes with my friends, I see them every day at practice. It’s definitely added a lot of fun.”
An excellent student, Daley boasts a 3.967 grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society. She also is a member of the Spartan Media Club and is on the Morning News Team, helping to produce the school’s morning news television show and occasionally starring in it.
Next fall Daley plans to major in communications and digital media at either the University of Pittsburgh or West Chester.
Daley is a member of the French Club and helped run the Diversity Day booth. She spends her summers working at the township-sponsored Kidz Klubhouse where she is a counselor for the four- and five-year-olds. She also teaches Sunday School to third graders at St. Thomas Church.
Needless to say, Daley doesn’t have a whole lot of sparetime.
“Sports has taught me a lot about time management,” she said. “I don’t have as much free time as some people, so I have to really be focused when I get home from practice and get down to business.”
It’s safe to say the Springfield senior wouldn’t want it any other way.
