Madeline McClain '13 Recruiting Profile

My name is Madeline McClain and I am a rising senior at Mercy Highschool in Farmington Hills Michigan. I have played ice hockey since I was able to walk and fell in love with field hockey in 6th grade. I have three brothers who all played hockey and before field hockey my goal was to play college field hockey. My dad had a lot of success playing hockey through high school, juniors, and then stopping in college to pursue Engineering at the U of M. I'm passionate about sports and being on a team was always the most important thing for me. I still can't even describe the feeling scoring a goal or making that beautiful pass feels. Still unreal. My speed is my biggest strength out on the field and I thank god every day for it. I've been the fastest girl on every team I've been on and eventually that might not be the case but for now I plan to use it to my advantage. Besides my speed and love for the sport, I can offer any team a positive attitude no matter what the situation, hard work, and a drive to do my best and to do whatever is best for the team every time I'm out on the field. Growing up, you don't always get placed onto the best team and past experiences with, in short, terrible teams, has taught me winning isn't everything. Being given the privilege of ice hockey captain my sophomore year has taught me that it's more about wearing the C on your jersey. It's never been about the name on the back but always the team I am representing on the front. Being a captain has taught me how to deal with any kind of player and how to take criticism respectably and use it to become a better player. I treat every player on my team with respect and my drive to help anyone improve is another good quality I could bring to a team. Realistically, my goals are to play for a division one or two school and hopefully start as a sophomore. I know that I can work so hard to accomplish this. It's much easier said than done to say things like "I want to start every game" but that's how sure I am of my drive. When I want something, I don't stop til I get it. I want to really contribute to whatever team I play for and get to experience the wonderful feeling of belonging and security everyone feels with a team. A team has always been a family and the one thing I really want to experience from any college is getting really close with my teammates and treating field hockey as more than a game. We will step onto that field as a team and leave no matter what strong and united as one.