She Shoots, She Scores

By Kelsey Ott - 03/08
NEIRAD enilno edition

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Coming out of an 8-12 season, Girls Varsity Basketball senior co-captain Carly Dudzik looks back on her team with a positive attitude. We are like a unit, Dudzik says in describing her team. As point guard, "I like to distribute the ball. I care more about making assists than actually scoring. I like giving my teammates the opportunity to score."

Carly's Top 5 TV Shows:

  1. "Seinfeld"
  2. "Friends"
  3. "Family Guy"
  4. "Hannah Montana"
  5. "Dancing with the Stars"
Dudzik's team-player attitude helped her succeed at the demanding game of varsity basketball at Darien High School. Head varsity coach, Gary Peterson, recognizes Dudzik's devotion to the sport. Her coach says this is a game that you have to put a lot of time in to be completely fluid yet also handle yourself with class as Carly has throughout her four years as at DHS. That top-shelf approach to sports earned Carly the Senior Excellence in Athletics Award.

As a captain, Dudzik not only had to work through the pressures of playing well, but also handle leading the team. She and co-captain Meg Biggart had to keep the team together through a tough season and getting them to excel in games. Carly always tries her hardest and is always pushing the other girls on the team to do their best says Jess Teatom. Peterson agrees, Everyone looked up to her and turn to her for leadership on and off the floor.

It's not surprising that sophomore Leanne Stone describes Dudzik as the definition of a captain, as she has also developed her leadership skills during the fall season for field hockey and will continue on to be a softball team captain this spring.

While some teams are buddies in-season but don't talk much outside of practice, Dudzik says she and her teammates are friends both on and off the court. Carly is not only a great teammate on the court, but an incredible friend off the court, says junior teammate Katie Meehan.

Playing a varsity sport at DHS is something many students hope to aspire to; the route to success is simply hard work and perseverance. Dudzik started playing basketball when she was six and was on a travel basketball team in middle school before playing for DHS. Now, she stays in shape during the off-season by doing Bluestreak training in the summer and going for runs, along with playing field hockey and softball.

Although the BWB season ended on February 25 after a loss in the first game of States, Dudzik assures that next season will be exciting. Its going to be a strong team next year there are a lot of juniors who have been on the team since freshman year, she explains.

Dudzik isn't playing college basketball at Amherst College, where she's going next year, because she doesn't want to be too busy: she's already going to play field hockey and softball. However, Dudzik plans on doing intramural basketball because as she says, I just love the sport.

Outside school and sports, Dudzik spends her free time hanging out with friends either going to the movies, bowling, or playing charades to take a break from the high demands of varsity basketball.