Field hockey has taught Carlisle High School’s Madison Lang-Gerber life lessons, confidence, belief
Mo Lang-Gerber (Carlisle High School) plays defense for Team Harrisburg in the 2025 PA Field Hockey Senior Cup held in March 2025. Photo: Bob Benscoter
The following essay was written by Carlisle High School field hockey athlete Mo Lang-Gerber.
Gerber participated in the 2025 Dr. Judith Benscoter Female Athlete Scholarship competition. The competition included an online and social media vote held in March.
Gerber tied for third with Anyia Woods, who attends Nansemond River High School.
Below is Gerber’s essay page.
Name: Madison Lang-Gerber
State: Pennsylvania
High School: Carlisle
College: Converse College
Athletics have had a huge impact on my life because it has taught me a lot of life lessons.
I’ve been doing sports since I was 3 years old. The first time I picked up a stick I immediately fell in love with the game. I would look forward to my practices each week.
The training just excited me because I wanted to be better than everyone around. I’m a very competitive person, which comes from wanting to be the best.
So, sports have taught me to do well in the academic side as well. I love to push myself to be one of the best in each classroom I step into. I love challenging myself to push harder than anyone around in any type of situation.
Field hockey has given me so many opportunities. Field Hockey has got me through my worst time in life. When I was struggling to get out of my bed, field hockey practice was the only thing I wanted to do.
Sports in general have taught me that there is a light at the end of every tunnel. My Training has got me to be a Division II athlete. I will be playing field hockey at Converse University.
When I was in the recruiting process, I had no idea what I wanted in a school. I would spend my summers going to clinics all over the east coast.
Being able to live in a hotspot for field hockey was a true blessing because I could go watch some high-quality field hockey. I went to watch Converse play Shippensburg, which at the time was pretty high ranked.
I saw Converse work hard and fought until the last whistle. I knew at this point I wanted to go check the school out. The following summer I went to a clinic for Converse and absolutely fell in love with campus, the coach, and the family like culture.
I was driving home to Pennsylvania from the clinic making a pros and cons list because I just felt like that was going to be my next chapter. My thoughts were it’s a small campus, so I’ll be able to know the professors, the coaching staff was amazing, the players seemed to really love it, and many more.
The only con I had was it was eight hours away. I ended up committing a couple months later. I never thought I was going to be a collegiate athlete because I have trouble believing in myself.
When I finally committed, I had all the confidence because someone that wasn’t close to me also believed in me. I went to play my junior year of high school with so much confidence.
When I look back to my freshman year, I just wonder who that was because its not the same Madsion as I’m now. Field hockey has impacted my life in so many ways and luckily for me I have at least four more years playing the sport I love.
This post is an unedited piece written by Madison Lang-Gerber. She participated in the 2025 Dr. Judith Benscoter Female Athlete Scholarship contest.