Bednarski

Bednarski

One of Wyoming Area’s most accomplished athletes has returned to launch a coaching career at the school.

Bree Bednarski was recently appointed as the new field hockey coach at Wyoming Area where she has spent this spring as an assistant junior high track coach.

Bednarski, a 2021 Penn State graduate, completed her college athletic career in the fall as a graduate student on the Lady Lions field hockey team.

“I thought it would be nice to come back and teach some of the skills and lessons I’ve learned throughout the years in field hockey,” Bednarski said.

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Bednarski was a major part of Wyoming Area’s first surge up through the Wyoming Valley Conference standings, setting a state record for goals in a season before heading off to the University of Michigan where she played one season before transferring to Penn State.

Since she left, Wyoming Area has continued its climb, making a pair of PIAA state semifinal appearances under coach Erin McGinley, including in 2021.

“I followed it a lot,” Bednarski said. “You see a lot of girls now, more than when I was in school, going on to play in college.

“The program’s obviously improving a lot and I have been following that while in school. I can see the talent that they have. That made me want to get involved with them.”

Bednarski’s speed helped make her a multiple-event district champion in track and field at the same time she was an all-star outfielder in softball during the spring while in high school.

She said she has enjoyed her first coaching experience this spring and is looking forward to expanding that as a varsity head coach in the fall.

“I’m going to take a lot of the knowledge I’ve learned in college and try to implement it into the high school,” Bednarski said. “Coaching has always been in the back of my mind that I would like to do it and then seeing that this job opened, at Wyoming Area, I figured I had to do it.”

Wyoming Area has established itself as the number-two team in the Wyoming Valley Conference behind Wyoming Seminary, which is the state’s first team to ever win four straight state titles. The Lady Warriors reached that status despite a small roster.

“I hope I can bring a fun environment and hopefully more girls would be interested in coming out,” Bednarski said.