Train, eat, sleep, repeat. Two field hockey players have worked around the clock for years with one goal in mind: to play in college. Ananya Leahy ‘25 and Meera Pandey ‘25 have played field hockey since elementary school and both recently committed to playing in college to continue their athletic and academic career.

“I started playing field hockey in third or fourth grade,” said Pandey. “I had no idea what it was until I was introduced to it by a friend. I started playing in Rec & Ed and then I started to really enjoy it and I played for a club team. I just continued to play after that.”

The Greenhills field hockey team has set them up for success thanks to the experience of Head Field Hockey Coach Jill Dixon.

“I grew up in Ann Arbor and I played field hockey at Ann Arbor Pioneer in high school,” said Dixon. “I went on to play at the division three level in a small liberal arts school in Virginia. From there, I played abroad in Ireland before I came back and coached at the college level for thirteen years before I made the decision to move back to Ann Arbor. That’s kind of how I found my way to Greenhills.”

Dixon immediately noticed Pandey and Leahy as two standout players since joining the team as their coach. 

“I’ve never coached somebody that has the type of smarts and hand speed that Meera does,” said Dixon. “And the way she manipulates the ball, creating opportunities for us in the midfield. Those are huge shoes to fill in the future. She just leads with this confidence and poise and calmness that I respect so much.”

Both athletes were captains for the field hockey season this past fall because of their confidence, leadership, and skill.

“I think Ananya is one of the greatest field hockey players to ever play here at Greenhills,” said Dixon. “It’s a combination of who she is on the field and who she is off the field, and so I’m excited for her and sad that we won’t have that energy next year. But I think that it’s been a really special experience for her to be a part of this program and make that lasting legacy impact. I’m looking forward to seeing her do that next year.”

Outside of the Greenhills team, Leahy is part of the club team Pinnacle, and Pandey is part of Live Oak. Pandey’s mother, Sheela Pandey, notices some differences between the Greenhills team and the club teams. 

“The Greenhills team was challenging and competitive,” said Sheela Pandey. “She really loved to collaborate with them and play with them and they had more fun compared to the more intense club teams.”

Pandey says that the team dynamic at Greenhills is incredibly supportive and helped foster many friendships across grades. Leahy agreed about the team’s positivity.

“If I had to choose between playing with the Greenhills team and with my club team I would choose the Greenhills team any day,” said Leahy. “It’s so much more fun and it focuses on the teammate aspect and it’s not as serious and anyone can do it.”

Leahy and Pandey started attending a gym in Ann Arbor called Blue Lion during their freshmen year to improve their field hockey skills. Pandey’s mother signed her kids up for Blue Lion after hearing about it through word of mouth.

“I think it helped improve my skills a lot,” said Pandey. “There’s a lot to skill in field hockey, but strength is just as important. I think Blue Lion helped with my growing strength, and I saw improvement in my playing and endurance.”

Leahy has since moved to another gym but considers Blue Lion to be a large part of her improvement as an athlete.

“Instead of just focusing on the general things like the strength aspect like most gyms, they also do speed and agility stuff,” said Leahy. “That really helps with the power like starting and going fast and we did a lot of stuff with my reflexes and hand-eye coordination. That was also really helpful in making me faster and stronger.”

The college recruitment process is long and tedious for all athletes. For Leahy, her club team started the process early, providing ample time for recruiters to watch her play throughout her high school career.

“At Pinnacle, they start you on the recruiting process when you become a U16 player,” said Leahy. “So since I’m old for my grade, I started the recruiting process in eighth grade. I started emailing college coaches to get them to come watch me play. So I would do that whenever we would go to those big tournaments in other states like Florida.”

Both players committed to a Division III school. Leahy plans to attend Swarthmore and Pandey will be reunited with an old teammate at Wellesley College.

“[Meera] gets to play with a former Greenhills teammate, too,” said Dixon. “Maddie Miller is playing there. I think having that connection already is really going to set her up for an explosive freshman year. But then like there’s that glass ceiling that she’s going to shatter.”

Dixon is excited for their futures in field hockey, as well as outside of the sport.

“I feel confident they’re going to make the best of every experience they have, said Dixon. “My hope is that they can look back on their four years in college and their time here at Greenhills when it’s like their ten-year college reunion or their twenty-year high school reunion and see the ways that those experiences have positively shaped them. But I also hope that they can find time to continue to give back to the sport, to continue to play, or be involved in some way.”