Photography by Steve Buchanan
Skylar Gilman lives and breathes field hockey. When Gilman wakes in the morning, she looks forward to practicing even before her feet hit the floor.
Gilman admits she’s obsessed with the sport. All the hard work over the years has paid off. The Archbishop Spalding junior is one of the best field hockey players in Maryland and has received regional and national accolades.
“I love field hockey,” explains Gilman, who carries a 4.0 grade-point average. “I want to practice 24/7. With everything going on in the world, I can just focus on field hockey.”
The 5-foot-3 Gilman goes above and beyond to sharpen her skills. At every opportunity, she practices inside and outside of her Edgewater home. No matter what the weather, she will be outside practicing on an artificial turf mat.
“If it is pouring outside, I will just put on a rain jacket and play with my stick,” said Gilman, who will play field hockey on an athletic scholarship at the University of Maryland after high school.
“What gets me through the school day is that I know I will have field hockey practice later in the day. It helps get your mind off everything.”
It’s tough to match Gilman’s field hockey resume. The three-year starter for the Cavaliers made the USA Field Hockey’s U-16 Junior Women’s National Team last year. Gilman also earned The Baltimore Sun All-Metro First-Team honors. On top of that, the Field Hockey Coaches Association of Maryland named her First-All State.
This year, the National Field Hockey Coaches Association put the 17-year-old Gilman on its watch. It’s sort of a preseason All-American team.
“She is very dedicated to field hockey,” Archbishop Spalding Field Hockey Coach Leslee Brady says of Gilman, who competes year-round for Freedom field hockey club.
Making the U-16 Junior Women’s National Team meant the most to Gilman. She enjoyed competing with the team in California and North Carolina.
“I thought it made me a better player because I played with different people I really didn’t know,” Gilman says. “It gave me a big boost in confidence because these players were really good.”
Gilman had a fantastic season for Spalding this past fall. She helped the Cavaliers get off to a perfect 8-0 record by leading the team in scoring with 11 goals and five assists. One play from Spalding’s 6-2 victory over Garrison Forest on September 28th jumps off the page to Brady.
Gilman quickly weaved through a pair of defenders inside the 16-yard circle and as she got closer to the goal, the keeper tripped her up when trying to knock the ball away. Gilman got up right away and scored.
“She makes plays that are just jaw-dropping,” Brady explains. “There are very few athletes with her athletic ability and instincts. She is relentless, lightning-quick, aggressive, and highly skilled. When you put all of that together on a field, it’s hard to defend her.”
Gilman also led the Cavaliers in scoring last year with 12 goals and 10 assists in 2022.
College is never from Gilman’s mind. Gilman verbally committed in August to Maryland—a program that has won eight National Championships—over Princeton University. She also had an interest in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University. She plans to major in kinesiology.
“I have about two years before college,” Gilman says. “That’s enough time to keep getting better. I will work on my shot and a lot of other things.”
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