When trying to list a player’s faults leaves you speechless, you
know you’ve got something special.
Sitting atop the back of a wood bench on campus, with his shades
drawn low, Gilroy High field hockey coach Adam Gemar is staring
into the sun. He’s just been asked if he’s ever worked with a
better player than senior Laura Spellman.
He thinks a couple seconds, wags his head back and forth, sighs,
and let’s out a hushed,
”
No,
”
repeating it several times.
GILROY – When trying to list a player’s faults leaves you speechless, you know you’ve got something special.
Sitting atop the back of a wood bench on campus, with his shades drawn low, Gilroy High field hockey coach Adam Gemar is staring into the sun. He’s just been asked if he’s ever worked with a better player than senior Laura Spellman.
He thinks a couple seconds, wags his head back and forth, sighs, and let’s out a hushed, “No,” repeating it several times.
He then turns to look past the reporter and at the star player of his team, sitting two seats over.
“Now don’t get a big head.”
He knows she won’t. Spellman is too busy working for her team’s success to focus on the big picture right now.
“I just don’t want us to peak too early,” she says.
For a field hockey squad that has yet to lose after twelve games, the only thing piquing is interest from local college coaches.
The best player on possibly the best team in the Central Coast Section, Spellman is Gretzky on turf.
She weaves in between defenders with ease before sliding a pass to the side for a give-and-go. She pops the ball off the turf and over an opponent’s stick before blasting it across the field to a teammate streaking up the sideline. She lulls two defenders to sleep with crossover after crossover, bringing them ever closer until they have no idea how she just got behind them.
“She’s just a flat-out stud,” Gemar says.
She’s also one of the best students in school with a 4.2 grade-point average.
“My parents always taught us, as soon as school’s over, do your homework,” Spellman says.
Such a simple lesson could pay major dividends in less than a year, as Spellman, who was selected to play on the prestigious Futures Elite Under-19 national team, is hoping to attend and play field hockey for Stanford University next year.
More vocal as a captain this season, Spellman is filling a completely different role than she did a year ago. A central defender in 2007, she finished the season with 14 goals and four assists. Leading the Mustangs to an 11-0-1 record to date, Spellman currently has five goals and 14 assists.
“She’s not a ballhog at all,” says sophomore teammate Dani Hemeon, a college prospect in her own right. “She can see the field really well.”
Adds junior Elise Ogle, another GHS player who has hopes of attending Stanford to play field hockey, “She’s not negative at any time. She has the experience and she tries to help other players.”
As quick as she is to assist on a shot, Spellman is equally adept at assessing how talented those around her are.
“I think we have 10 or 11 players who could play in college,” she says.
One player from last year’s team who accomplished that goal is Spellman’s sister, Amanda, a freshman at the University of Pacific. Sometimes having a shadow cast over her, Laura was nicknamed “Lil’ Spell” for the first three years of her high school career. Her jersey has dropped the nickname and now simply holds her surname.
The spotlight is firmly on the kid sister, whose game is more finesse than the hard-charging style of Amanda.
“I wouldn’t say it was a rivalry, but we pushed each other,” Laura says with a smile.
The only thing pushing her now are coaches, who want her to be more aggressive. Gemar, along with his wife Erin, who is taking time off this season after turning the program into a local powerhouse over the last 12 years, has stressed that she can get to any spot on the field she wants.
Part of that is due to natural athletic ability, another is a never-ending work ethic, and the last has to be attributed to a coaching staff that knows what it’s doing.
The Gemars have helped 11 girls go on to play at the collegiate level, four in Division I (Amanda Spellman, Kelly Perkins, Erin Magill and Karlie Sandoval), and this year’s senior class could come close to equaling that D-I number in one year, as Jennifer Rose, Jenna Vivian and several others are on the cusp.
For someone as talented and smart as Spellman, though, playing on the next level is a no-brainer.
