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Childress: 3-sport star to play hockey at Appalachian State
A preseason trek through the woods had as much to do with Stephanie Childress earning the honor of Fauquier Times-Democrat Liberty Girls Athlete of the Year as her performance in the pool and on the field hockey and soccer fields.What transpired on that run, one taken prior to a soccer practice, epitomizes Childress' value as a team adhesive, an attribute less overt than the athleticism she showed while playing three sports as a senior.
"As a team captain, part of [Childress'] responsibilities are building team unity and making sure underclassmen are part of everything," LHS coach Bob Ruhland said. "She tries to pull the younger classmen in."
For example, Childress and fellow captains Christy Ritchie and Kaity Ruhland led the Eagles on that 30-minute run through the woods near Liberty and it did much more than loosen their legs. When the group stopped to stretch, Ritchie picked a stick off the ground and she, Childress and Ritchie decided to use it as an object for facilitating team bonding.
The small piece of wood transformed into The Talking Stick and the Eagles passed it from person to person as various questions were answered to help veterans and newcomers learn more about each other.
The players even developed their own language on that run. It was only composed of incoherent, random noises and grunts that nobody could truly comprehend, but they still understood each other better, emerging from the woods as a more tight-knit group.
"They left as a team and came back as a tribe," Ruhland said. "They did it all for team unity because we [had] a lot of younger players coming up."
That wasn't necessarily the captains' goal at the time — "We were all just feeling really goofy that day and it helped us get through the run," Childress said — but the effects are now apparent.
"It was a way to let everybody know we’re together, we’re a tribe, we’re looking out for each other," Childress said. "Now that I think about it, that probably did help the under classmen feel comfortable and part of the team."
Childress knows firsthand that joining varsity as a freshman can be difficult. She played on the Liberty field hockey team during her first year of high school and struggled to adapt.
Childress did adjust, eventually, and even excelled to such lengths that she was recruited by Appalachian State, where she'll play next season, but her freshman season made for a rough start down that road.
"I knew how it felt to be on varsity and be shunned a little," Childress said. "I know how hard that was to be thrown into this group of people that knew each other and were really good friends. It’s really discouraging.
"I didn’t want anybody to feel like that [this year] so I tried to make them feel comfortable..."See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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