Addie Frechette, Berkshire’s tri-varsity athlete, has been surrounded by sports her entire life as she grew up playing ice hockey and soccer on the East Coast. The radiant smile she shows off around campus shields her competitive spirit when on the field. Addie has played on the Girls’ Varsity Soccer, Girls’ Varsity Hockey, and Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse teams since the beginning of her Berkshire experience. Off the field, Addie is a strong community member of the Spurr Dormitory where she possesses the nickname “Ads” given by one of her best friends, and roommate, Augusta Gulden 24’. Addie’s outgoing, kind nature and her commitment to both academics and athletics are qualities that make her stand out on Berkshire’s campus.
When not living on campus, Addie calls both Vermont and Connecticut home. She now lives in Vermont on a farm with her 3 siblings and 3 dogs, raising both sheep and llama, but spent most of her childhood in Greenwich, Connecticut where she played sports competitively for 9 years. When her family moved to Vermont, her new athletic schedule was quite the adjustment. In Vermont, waking up early for morning skates and making quick transitions from soccer practice to hockey practice wasn’t an option anymore. Addie’s newfound lack of competitive year-round athletics sparked the idea to transfer to IMS where she could put in the same amount of time into sports as she had back in Greenwich.
Sports have always been a strong aspect of Addie’s life as she has been ice skating since she could walk. At the end of Addie’s junior year, she was awarded the Jeanette Shaw trophy for representing proficiency and sportsmanship in interscholastic athletics. When awarded by Mr. Driscoll during the spring athletic awards ceremony, Addie unfortunately wasn’t there to receive it due to a lacrosse injury where she tore her ACL mid-game. Addie is still in recovery and hopes to be cleared half way through hockey season. She now attends physical therapy daily and tries to support her team by showing up to every game she can.
“Chetski”, as Rory and Georgia Perkins call her, loves to listen to all kinds of music. “Chetski’s” favorite pregame song is Umbrella by Rihanna (shoutout to Abby Eselunas) which she loves to blast in the locker room. Addie says, that if she could have dinner with 3 people, dead or alive, they would be Mathew Perry, Jack Hughes, and her Dad’s father whom she calls Titi.
Addie’s Grandpa, Titi, is why she began playing hockey. He was a big hockey player and influenced the entire family to play. Addie commemorates her childhood with the symbol of hockey as she says her whole family was brought up together playing this family sport. Aside from her Grandpa, Addie’s Dad is one of her greatest inspirations. “He’s always been my biggest supporter,” Addie says. “He’s been to every game of mine and it didn’t matter to him what he might have been missing to watch me play”.
Out of all the incredible coaches with whom Addie had the pleasure to play with, one whom Addie felt most strongly connected was her former hockey coach, Chris Rurak. Addie was fortunate to have the opportunity to play for Coach Rurak for 2 years before his passing. She says he was always patient with her especially when she grew ill for a few months out of the season. He ultimately helped her get back on the ice, playing for the team again. Addie, along with her previous teammates, will always remember him as one of their greatest coaches.
As we wrapped up our conversation, Addie touched on her experience as a new bear her freshman year. For incoming bears, Addie wants them to understand that if your goal is to make a varsity team one day, hard work and dedication are prevalent factors in showing your aspirations towards achieving this goal. She also adds that “even if you aren’t the top scorer on your team, you still contribute to your team in innumerable ways. I was lucky to make varsity my freshman year but I continue to show my dedication”.
We wish Addie the best of luck with her recovery and anticipate seeing her on the ice and on the lacrosse field in the upcoming seasons. Go Bears!
