Written by Dario Barthley '16
BEREA, Ohio -- Ellen Fedick is one of the most down to earth people and student-athletes at Baldwin Wallace University. She also embodies the term student-athlete while playing women's lacrosse at an NCAA Division III school that embodies the philosophy of the student-athlete.
Fedick, who graduates on May 10, already has a graduate school picked out. It is just one of a number of things that the scholar-athlete has worked hard to plan, prepare and organize. But lacrosse, that was just another great learning experience for her.
Fedick's path to becoming a college level lacrosse player wasn't an easy or traditional one at all. She hails from Rochester, New York, a city known as the "World's Image Centre" due to it being the world corporate headquarters of the Kodak Company and made famous by its annual hosting of the Lilac Festival.
Fedick had been heavily recruited by veteran BW women's head basketball coach Cheri Harrer to play for the Yellow Jackets after she earned three letters in the sport at the high school level. She wasn't sure she still wanted to play basketball after high school, but still visited BW with her dad as a high school junior. Fedick and her parents fell in love with the school as whole and decided she would attend regardless of sporting participation.
Being a great academic student, Fedick is a pre-physical therapy major who carries an outstanding 3.986 grade point average and has the highest grade average of any student-athlete at the university. She is a Dean's List student and a member of a number of academic honoraries. But before she decided to attend BW, Fedick and her family had some specific requirements that the college she was going to attend needed to meet.
"BW met my long checklist while picking colleges and I had the right feeling," said Fedick, who will lead the Yellow Jackets into their final regular season game this Saturday at Capital University in Columbus at 4 p.m. "It is a strong academic university with excellent professors. It was just the right fit for me and it had just the right feeling for me and my family."
While at Our Lady of Mercy High School in Rochester, Fedick was a member of its basketball team which won the Section V championship. Prior to the title, the school was mostly known for producing two-time Olympic Gold medalist soccer player Abby Wambach.
Her exposure to sports at Our Lady of Mercy was very diverse. In addition to her three letters in basketball, Fedick earned a varsity letter in cross country, two in crew and two in track and field. She also dabbled in a bit of soccer as a kid. This background in sport, along with her desire and ability to try new things and eventually master them, led to her grasping the opportunity to be on the newly formed BW women's lacrosse team a year ago.
Despite standing five-foot four-inches, Fedick, who only played lacrosse as a youth, has embraced the opportunity to play lacrosse and has utilized the same work-ethic to find success.
At first, the rules were very hard for her to learn. Fedick couldn't quite grasp the concepts, and coupled with her inability to effectively catch and throw in the beginning, it served as a source of mental exhaustion in her first "Fall Ball" season.
Fedick also couldn't get her body to do what the mind was telling it, so it was hard for her to develop any type of muscle memory. She wasn't sure if this new challenge was one she would ever conquer and admits that she almost called it quits.
"I am not going to lie," said Fedick. "I had considered quitting every day, from the time fall ball ended to when the first season started. I was struggling with the fundamentals so much I didn't know if it was worth my time and I was very worried about keeping up my campus involvement and grades while playing a sport."
Fedick credits her parents, Larry and Kathy Fedick, who travel the four and one-half hours to Berea every weekend to watch her play, for being her primary source of support in that rough time period.
"My parents have always been very supportive of any goals I set for myself, and lacrosse was no different," remembers Fedick with a smile. "My dad especially, being involved with competitive cycling and mountain bike racing, he loved to see his daughter back in full competitive mode."
"Seeing Ellen with that competitive fire in her eyes again warmed my heart more than she could ever imagine," said Larry Fedick."
In her first season of lacrosse, she played in all 10 games, including nine starts, and finished third in goals scored with eight and led the team with three assists for 11 total points. She also led BW with 38 ground balls and an .839 shots on-goal percentage and was third with 11 caused turnovers.
This season, Fedick is playing defense and having another fine season and will earn Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference accolades. She has played in 12 of 14 games for the 12-3 Yellow Jackets who have already set school-records for wins in a season (12) and consecutive wins (10). She has three goals and an assist for four points and has contributed 23 ground balls, three draw controls and forced 11 turnovers.
The Yellow Jacket caoching staff also helped Fedick through the early stages of her development in lacrosse. Head Coach Kim Russell and assistant Candi Parry taught Fedick to enjoy the sport, make it fun. The also taught her the ability to laugh at herself.
"I remember having an awful first spring season of training," recalls Fedick. "The coaches noticed my frustration on my face. They worked with me to fix the problems I was experiencing. It made it even more fun ane enjoyable.
In fact, Fedick could of graduated at the end of the 2013 fall semester, but decided to stay an extra semester to participate in her second season of lacrosse. Along with Fedick and the other returning veterans from the inaugural 4-6 overall season, Russell and Parry recruited a number of very talented freshmen who have been playing the sport all their life.
"We are having a good season," said Fedick. "That makes it even more fun."
In addition to being involved in her major and the BW Pre-Physical Therapy Club, Fedick has been a College 101 Course Assistant for the past three years and enjoys working along with the professors to help new students make that vital transition from high school to college.
"It's a breath of fresh air," said Fedick. "I enjoy working with the first-year students and transfers. It's fun helping them go from being a high school student to becoming a college student."
Fedick will end her lacrosse experience after graduating from BW this spring. Her academic achievements will be the most important aspect of her life going forward. She is already registered for Physician Assistant Graduate School at the Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee.
"I learned a great deal about communicating with people and my teammates by playing lacrosse and organized athletivcs," said Fedick. "It has helped me develop skills that will aid me the rest of my life, and I've made some lifelong friends too."
Depending upon how Fedick and her Yellow Jacket teammates do at Capital on Saturday will determine whether they will continue play next week in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament. With a win at Capital, BW will advance to the semifinals on Wednesday night against an opponent and at a site that is yet to be determined.
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bwyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
