DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Newport’s Ayres at the center of attention

Hayley Ayres is a fan of camaraderie.

Anywhere the Newport Harbor High field hockey team may be, Ayres is guaranteed to be in the middle, a part of everything.

On the field, the Sailors’ senior is a part of the offense and the defense. Newport Harbor Coach Devon Kelly even reworked her lineup, giving Ayres her own position smack in the middle.

Ayres, the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, led the Sailors (13-3-3) to a championship in the Orange County Invitational Sept. 30. Her play on both offense and defense earned her the Most Valuable Player honor for the two-day tournament.

“She’s able to dominate both offensively and defensively,” Kelly said. “She played brilliantly. She keeps the team fired up. She’s a great leader on the field and off the field.”

Ayres happily directs the offensive players in front of her, and yells out supportive comments or anything vocal to keep the team’s energy high.

“I’m quite the cheer master. I like it when the team is fired up,” she said. “I try to do a lot of talking. We work on talking with teammates. In the game, the second I get the ball I have three girls on me. I talk to my teammates so I don’t have to look for them to pass the ball quickly.”

On long bus rides to Los Angeles, where the Sailors regularly travel for games, Ayres helps create CDs with mixed songs.

“We have quite a variety of music,” Ayres said.

Sarai’s “Ladies” and the Spice Girls’ “Do it” are a couple recent favorites that get the team dancing.

Dance music is important because the team is organizing a dance routine for a school rally.

And, there is dancing to be done on road trips, with Ayres right in the middle of a game called, “Bungalow,” where each player does a dance then calls out another player’s name and they have to do a different dance.

“We do it to JV a lot,” Ayres said. “We like them.”

Ayres also deals with injuries. She has received as many as anybody on the team this year. There’s a giant bruise on her inner thigh and one on her ribs that knocked the wind out of her.

Both were from what injures most field hockey players: the ball.

“They didn’t know if I cracked a rib,” Ayres said. “I went back in 20 minutes later. It was fine. I just try to suck it up.”

As the player that starts the offense and is the first line of defense, Ayres is the focus of the opposition.

At 5-foot-2, most of that focus is exerted on her as a physical manner.

But just like everyone else on the team, Ayres is expected to take herself out of the game before the opponent’s physical play can lead to any sort of confrontation.

“Being shoved around by girls gets tiresome,” Ayres said. “Most of us take ourselves out. It works well so you won’t end up doing something you wish you didn’t.”

The reason Ayres chose field hockey was camaraderie. As a freshman she made both the tennis and the field hockey teams. The choice was simple, she would play field hockey because she would play with her teammates.

“I like the team aspect,” Ayres said. “It’s better when you enjoy your team.”

Ayres has a goal this season. It has to do with what the Sailors have not been able to accomplish the previous two years.

They want to win in the Tournament of Champions final.

“It was hard [losing to Marina in the Championship last year]. But we played our hearts out,” Ayres said.