Athlete Spotlight: Dana Ramsden - Field Hockey Leader for Kingsway High School Tuesday, October 5, 2004 By Gregg Williams SJSports Special Correspondent Dana Ramsden, of Kingsway High School, will be one of the top players in the biggest game this year in field hockey. It will be played October 9 at 2pm (changed from 12 because of SAT Testing) at Eastern High School. In most polls in the State of New Jersey, Eastern is ranked #1, while Kingsway is #3. When you pick up a paper, turn to the sports section, and read an article with Kingsway field hockey in it, you will probably read quotes from Dana Ramsden or it will talk about how she played a big part in their win. She is one of the top field hockey players in South Jersey and she is only a Junior. Field hockey is not the only sport she plays, in the spring it is softball. She is an Honor Roll student with a 3.4 GPA, with interests in Biology, Student Council, School Band (Piano), and the Homecoming Committee. She squeezes in time to be a Trainer’s Assistant. Emma Painter, Head Field Hockey Coach at Kingsway Regional High School, says Dana had been a varsity starter as a freshman at left mid and played it last year. “With the graduation of Jessica Roos, we moved Dana over to center-mid to cover the middle and control the game. Dana is very capable of taking control of her team as well as the game against other teams. She has excellent stick work, has a hard fast drive and is very deceptive on her moves. Dana is a premier player who will be a great college player in two years. She is one of the top players this year and will be one of the best next year as a senior. We will be looking for her to contribute more to scoring in the next two years”. In her first 25 varsity games the past two seasons, Dana scored 11 goals, assisted 28, and has 50 shots on goal. As of October 4 of this season, Dana has more than doubled her previous two years of scoring, with 12 goals and 9 assists to lead Kingsway to a 9-0 record. Dana was a member of the winning squad this past summer in the Garden State Games held at Rutgers Camden. The Garden State Games had four teams divided up geographically and play a round robin tournament. She also played for the U19 NJ national team that played in Virginia Beach. This team finished in third place out of 24 teams. Dana played for Kingsway in the championship game of the NJ Summer League held at Cherry Hill East. Kingsway and Eastern tied 0-0. This was one of the only games that Eastern has not won and sets up a great matchup on October 9. Rob Briles, Kingsway High School Softball coach, says Dana is the kind of kid that any coach in their right mind would want on their team. “She is a total team first kind of kid. She played left and short for us for the last 2 years. Always the first at practice and one of the last to leave. Always the first to pick up equipment and in the two years she has been on the team, there hasn't been a day that has gone by that she hasn't come up to my assistant Jay McFadden and me and said, ‘Goodbye, Mr. Briles, Goodbye, Mr. McFadden, see you tomorrow.’ Doesn't matter if we won or lost by 10 runs. Just a tremendous kid”. Photos by Scott Ramsden & Boog Williams