Photo by Sabrina Wang/The Choate News
Tri-varsity athlete, four-year senior, and Montréaler, Morgann Skoda ’22 is a force to be reckoned with on the rink, the court, and the field. She is a Co-Captain for Girls’ Varsity Ice Hockey and Girls’ Varsity Volleyball. Her notable launch into the Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse as a freshman without ever having played the sport before, awarded her the third and fourth-form Female Athlete of the Year as well as the award for being the most improved player on the lacrosse team. She also managed Varsity Softball in her junior spring.
On a cold Thursday evening, she spoke with me from her quad in Bungalow over Zoom, where her roommate taped a clipping of The Choate News that Skoda was featured in on the wall, while waiting for her Chipotle order.
Skoda began playing ice hockey when she was three years old, and it is now her main sport. Her entire family, whom she considers her biggest supporters, also plays hockey. She joined the hockey team during her freshman year at Choate and plays forward. “You’ve got all these leaders that are there, and they’re your pillars. Each year, they all graduate and they leave Choate, and I myself have become a pillar for others,” she said. Following in her predecessors’ footsteps, Skoda helps her teammates “be one percent better every day,” which is their team’s motto. Before every game, she likes to put her earbuds in and tape her stick by the rink to get into the zone.
One of Skoda’s memorable moments from her Choate hockey career is the Senior Day game against Cushing Academy in her sophomore year. “We were scoring, they were scoring — it was a super intense game, and I remember having so much fun playing it,” she said. Little did she know that following the playoffs the week after, the entire school would be sent home for the remainder of the school year, and she would not see most of those seniors again.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, when she wasn’t on campus, Skoda stayed in shape by practicing on the ice with her coaches at home and going to the gym. The hardest part for her was not being able to play any games last year. “Not being able to compete was a little heartbreaking, but I’m just glad that we get to do it now,” Skoda said.
As an athlete, Skoda has learned to not be too hard on herself, and to “be a goldfish,” which is one of her favorite sayings. “I try to forget, really quickly, the things that happen on the ice or on the court and move on to the next day. Be in the present and keep your focus. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you,” she said.
Beyond hockey, Skoda also plays volleyball. Last year, she was selected for the 2021 New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) All-League team for the sport. On Deerfield Day 2018, Skoda played as a freshman on the varsity volleyball team. Every time she swung at the ball, the cheering Boars would chant, “She’s-a-Freshman!”After their winning set, the crowd rushed onto the court and began belting the school song. “It was the most exciting, most terrifying, moment of my life, because we were getting trampled in the middle,” she said.
After graduating from Choate, Skoda plans to attend a post-secondary, pre-collegiate program in Québec where she will continue playing hockey. “I think it’s gonna be a very cool experience. And then obviously, the dream is to play Division I hockey, so we’ll see where that leads me,” she mused. For Skoda, the college recruiting process was quite stressful, especially with rule changes and the pandemic. However, she offers these words of wisdom and inspiration: “For anybody else struggling, I would encourage them to power through and keep going. If it’s something you truly want, don’t stop believing.”
