Sarah Klearman
Reporter
When senior Alex Dobbin moved to the U.S. from Sweden as a sophomore, he had no idea what football was. He had never seen a game, much less played the sport. However, this season Alex is one of the top defensive players on the team and has become a magnet for college recruiters.
The concept of the game was completely foreign to Alex when he first moved to New Canaan. “There is no American football in Sweden or in most of Europe,” Alex said. “Before I moved here, I’d never actually watched a game of football.”
His inexperience didn’t stop him from trying out for the team. “My dad is American and he’s always talked about playing football in his high school years,” Alex said. “I’ve played basically every other sport; this was one I hadn’t tried, and I wanted to find a sport that I really liked. So that’s why I decided I was going to play football.”
Alex is not the only athlete that started a new sport later in his high school career. Senior Nathalie Deney decided to try out for the girls ice hockey team as a junior last year. She became a star player, leading the girls to win the state championships in a 2-0 shutout of the Hall/Conard girls hockey team as the starting goaltender.
Nathalie never thought she’d end up as the starting goalie. “Early last year, a defenseman on the team c
ame up to me and said they were looking for another goalie,” Nathalie said. “She told me I just had to play and that she remembered when I used to play house league in middle school. I was like, ‘Yeah sure, why not! That sounds fun.’ So I just went.”
Sophomore Catherine Granito also decided to pick up a new sport her freshman year after being persuaded by a then-current team member. “Bea Eppler (former captain) and I are good friends, and she had always joked about me playing field hockey,” Catherine said. “Colleges like to see three sport athletes, and going into high school I already played club hockey and lacrosse year round. It was the week before tryouts and I decided I was going to play.”
She was pulled up the varsity team after a matter of weeks into her first season. This season, Catherine is a starter and a leading scorer on the varsity team. “My motivation was definitely to just not give up,” Catherine said. “I was going to give 110% just to at least learn and build some skill playing the sport.”
Alex also found motivation in his desire to keep learning and bettering himself as a player. “I’ve never allowed myself to be a quitter,” he said. “Football was hard when I didn’t start and I had very little idea about the rules and the way that the sport worked, but instead of giving up I wanted to conquer football and get good at it.”
Lou Marinelli, head coach of the New Canaan football team, said he was impressed with Alex’s progression as a player. “When he first came out for football, there was definitely a learning curve, and I know that was frustrating,” he said. “But Alex really picked it up, learned the rules and has done a tremendous job.”
Coach Art Brown of the girls cross country team was similarly impressed with junior Emma Rosenstein, who made a name for herself as the team’s top runner in her first season this year, coming in 16th overall in FCIAC finals. “I think her improvement was due not only to the conditioning, but more understanding of the sport. Cross country is tactical and strategy-based,” he said. “As the season went on, she definitely gained confidence in her ability, and that was extremely important to her development.”
Nathalie was also determined to keep playing, and found motivation in the hockey team itself. “I realized the history and the reputation behind the team – how much every player was putting into it,” she said. “After that, I wanted to support the team. I wanted to be the player that helped them accomplish their goals.”
Richard Bulan, the coach of the girls hockey team, said Nathalie’s development as a player was incredible. “I think the team really accepted her and in turn she adapted far better than I could have imagined,” he said. “She figured out that she had a solid team behind her, that everybody was pulling for her – that even on her tough nights we were going to go out and score goals and play well and pick her up. It was amazing to watch.”
In turn, Nathalie said she was grateful for the confidence and mentality playing hockey has granted her. “I know now that I can do anything I put my mind to,” she said.
Emma was also inspired by her team – not only to keep running, but to better herself as an athlete. “You try to be better as a team, and you push yourselves as a team,” she said. The thing about running is that you never want to get worse – you want to keep getting better every time you run.”
Alex said that his life now is very ‘football-centric.’ “Playing football really teaches you how to adapt to new environments,” Alex said. “My life in America and my entire experience here would have been entirely different if I didn’t play.”
