High school can be seen as a place to branch out, meet new people, create new experiences and that is exactly what Maddie Schneider has done. Throughout her last four years at Lakes, Schneider has played three different sports in the fall season.

Schneider began with volleyball her freshman year, participating in the shortened covid season. As fall came around for her sophomore year, Schneider decided to switch to field hockey. “Ever since I did iceless hockey in elementary school, I wanted to continue doing hockey, so I did field hockey,” Schneider said.

For the next two seasons, Schneider had found field hockey to be her home. “I liked it because of the workout it gave me. There was a lot of conditioning that kept me in good shape. It was also fun traveling to schools in the city,” said Schneider. Field hockey is primarily played out of conference for the eagles, resulting in long hours with the travel time it takes.

“Playing with Maddie was a lot of fun. She was a very talkative person and she liked to keep the energy up on the team. She was really fast when playing, so she was a really good forward. It was kind of a bummer to lose her,” said former field hockey teammate, Abby Gedville.

Schneider led with her presence on the field with her energy and the role she had to fill for her team. “My favorite part was definitely traveling to play games against good teams and getting better from playing them. As a whole it was a really good experience and I learned a lot and met a lot of amazing people,” said Schneider.

For her senior year Schneider decided to transition to tennis, leaving field hockey. As a result, a challenge was created for the field hockey team’s future. “We had to figure out our lineups because she was a really solid forward that we had. With her leaving, we had to try and figure out who was gonna replace her and now Mr. Plinske has her,” said Gedville jokingly.

“I did have a really good experience and have no regrets with playing [field hockey],” said Schneider.

Schneiders reasoning for switching to tennis was more personal than competitive. “[I] just to be with my friends, try something different for my senior year. Just have fun,” Schneider said. It takes a lot of commitment to learn a new sport with no competitive experience before. Nevertheless, Schneider accepted the challenge along with many others joining tennis for the first time. With her rising skill and commitment, Schneider was awarded the fourth spot on doubles varsity with another first year tennis teammate, Marissa McClure.

“We’re last but it’s fun regardless, less pressure. I thought I would do tennis as something just for fun, but as it’s gone on, I actually want to win. Now me and Marissa are 3 and 0, we are doing good. I want to possibly win conference now,” said Schneider. The eagles next match will be on 10/2 and will round out the regular season with their final match on 10/3.