Newsday Athlete of the Week is Ward Melville's Jaedyn Scarlatos
Jaedyn Scarlatos, then of Miller Place, passes the ball during the Class B Field Hockey Finals at Patchogue-Medford on Oct 30, 2018. Credit: Daniel De Mato
For Jaedyn Scarlatos, the road to field hockey success is paved. It is also literally a long road.
When she’s not playing on her high school team, the Ward Melville sophomore spends much of her time in the car, being driven back and forth to Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where she plays almost year-round for one of the top club teams in the country, the WC Eagles.
Multiple times a week, Scarlatos and her parents make the three-and-a-half to four hour drive so that she can practice and play with and against the very best competition the sport had to offer.
It’s a whale of a commitment, no doubt. Scarlatos said that on club days she leaves right after school, practices for 2-3 hours in Pottstown, and doesn’t get home until after midnight. Not to mention tournaments on weekends
"It’s just stronger competition there and it really helps me elevate my game," said Scarlatos, whose mother is Kim Hannigan, a long-time Long Island field hockey coach, currently an assistant at Pierson.
The hours are long, but the dividends bleed into her high school season. If goal scoring is measured in elevation, Scarlatos is making her way towards Mount Everest right now. Entering play Thursday, Scarlatos had 10 goals, tied for the most on Long Island, based on scores reported to Newsday.
Her scoring has come in bunches. Scarlatos netted four goals and notched an assist against Newfield on March 16 and had another three goals and two assists against Sachem East on March 22. For her efforts, she was named Newsday’s Athlete of the Week.
Despite her hard work, long hours on the road, and endless commitment to the sport she has grown up on, Scarlatos has a very ‘right-place, right-time’ attitude about her recent scoring streak. Sometimes, it’s just been her day to reap the benefits of the offense, and when that time comes she usually doesn’t miss.
"I feel like sometimes everyone has to capitalize on their opportunities and I think there were many times that I had opportunities and I want that ball in the goal," Scarlatos said. "We worked hard and I just finished, but it wasn’t all just me."
So, with 10 goals, and presumably more on the way — would it be safe to say that Scarlatos is at the top of her game? Not if you believe, as she does, that the ‘top of her game’ doesn’t exist.
"I don’t want to think I’m at the top of my game until I’m truly at the peak of my career, and I don’t think I’ll ever hit that stage," she said.
Until then, she’ll keep striving for it. On the open road.
