Kelley Brady, a senior goalie on Holy Cross’ girls lacrosse team, adjusted her mask and hunkered down. The Tartans were in a heated contest against Stone Ridge on Thursday, and while they would eventually roll to a 19-8 victory, for a period of time in the first half, Stone Ridge showed fight, peppering Brady with one shot after another. Rather than get frustrated at the ones that got through, Brady shook off the goals quickly.
The adversity she faced on the field paled in comparison to what she had overcome to get on it in the first place.
Flashback seven years, when Brady was in the fifth grade, and she went to her doctor’s office for a routine checkup. Up to that point, Brady had been considered overweight for most of her life, but on this day, her doctor delivered some shocking news. When she stepped off the scale, he called her mother into his office.
‘‘My doctor looked at me and said ‘whoa,’ when I stepped on the scale,” Brady said. ‘‘He brought my mom in and told her that I was obese. We had to make some changes.”
So, Brady spent the next seven months working with the EATS program at Georgetown University Hospital. While her classmates chewed on Gummy Bears and other calorie-laden treats, Brady learned how to eat healthier, to eschew empty calories for vegetables and fruits. Soon she was 35 pounds lighter.
‘‘I changed the way that I lived,” Brady said. ‘‘That was tough for an 11-year-old kid, but it was something that I had to do.”
It also opened the door for other opportunities. Brady, who lives in Olney and started playing lacrosse as a first-grader, played for St. Peter’s middle school girls lacrosse team in sixth grade. The high-powered middle school team, which serves as a feeder program to the county’s Washington Catholic Athletic Conference rivals Good Counsel and Holy Cross, was coached by her father, Mark, and he was looking for a goalie. Though she enjoyed playing in the field, Brady looked at as a new challenge to take on. When no one else volunteered, Brady raised her hand.
‘‘He looked at me and said, ‘Kelley, you don’t want to do this, there are balls coming at you’, and I told them I’d try,” she said. ‘‘I thought, what the heck. I didn’t like it, so I only played it half the time. It wasn’t until freshman year that I started just playing goalie.”
That sixth-grade season, her team went 13-1, and won a league championship, and as an eighth-grader, Brady led her team to another title. Brady continued to play at Holy Cross to where she had earned a merit scholarship. She’s maintained a 3.81-grade-point average as a high-schooler.
One of the other pursuits she began as a first-grader was in the Girl Scouts, and her dedication to the group carried over to her time at Holy Cross. Brady spoke at the Girl Scouts annual meeting from 2004-07, and chaired a conference on self-esteem and proper eating habits for middle school girls. That effort earned her the Gold Award from the Girl Scouts, equivalent to the Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts. She’s completed over 1,000 hours of community service while at Holy Cross and has even participated in the state of Maryland’s American Coed Pageant, a pageant competition for girls and young women based on poise, self-confidence and communication skills. While other students might have balked at days packed with so many activities, Brady embraced it.
‘‘I love being busy,” she said. ‘‘When I’m not busy, I don’t like it. I love being involved with a variety of things, from Girl Scouts to volunteering, to being the head of the Tartan Club [the spirit club at Holy Cross]. I love being involved and active in my community and my school.”
That involvement had made an impression on her teammates and coaches. Brady has earned eight letters at Holy Cross in three different sports — lacrosse, cross country and field hockey — and has earned her the right to be a vocal member of her sports teams. Despite the fact Holy Cross has 11 seniors on the varsity lacrosse squad, Brady is one of the voices that is listened to, despite the fact she splits time in goal with Julia Nagle.
‘‘Kelley is a good team player,” Holy Cross coach Susan Decker said. ‘‘Being a goalie, you have to do a lot outside of what everybody else does, and she does a good job of keeping herself ready. She is one of our voices that everyone looks up to. She is part of some really great leadership that we have on our team.”
Lacrosse also opened doors for Brady. As a junior, she began the college recruitment process, but soon realized that if she wanted to attract the attention of coaches, she would have to sell herself. Luckily, a lifetime of building up her resiliency paid off.
‘‘It was hectic having to have send hundreds of emails to coaches and constantly follow up with them, telling them the results of my games,” she said. ‘‘I realized that I had to sell myself to them.”
As a result, she got the attention of Fairfield University, an NCAA Division I program playing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. With a senior in the net next year, Fairfield saw that Brady could fulfill an imminent need, and made it known to her. Though she looked at Richmond and Salisbury, she signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Fairfield last month.
‘‘I have a chance to be playing in my sophomore year,” Brady said. ‘‘I can’t wait to be on the team. They have great girls and a great coach.”
Brady plans on taking her positive attitude to her new challenge. If she has learned anything, it is that setbacks, small or large, cannot force someone to deviate from their overall goals.
‘‘These challenges are what make you better,” Brady said. ‘‘You sometimes have to fall flat on your face, you have to let in a couple balls in the net to say ‘you know what? I’m going to be the best that I can be.’”
