By RICH FISHER
Contributing Editor
Kenley Bottles knows how to give a good performance, be it on stage or in the field hockey arena.
And coming soon, on the big screen.
A junior at Donovan Catholic, Toms River, Bottles was the Griffins leading scorer with 10 goals and eight assists this season. She has been in musical theatre all her life and performs in community theatre and with Donovan’s school plays.
Transferring her talents to movies, Bottles’ charismatic personality earned her a speaking line after she was only slated to be an extra in an upcoming film called “The Next Play,” which combines her two loves – acting and field hockey.
Kenley Bottles belts out a tune while playing Flounder in Shore Talent Productions Little Mermaid at Barnegat High School last summer. Courtesy photo
“She’s such a bubbly kid, she’s so sweet,” Griffins hockey coach Elizabeth Herlihy said.
But put a stick in her hand, and that sweetness recedes within the mission of scoring goals. While playing midfield her first two seasons, Bottles had a modest five goals and an assist as her job was to also go back on defense.
This year, Herlihy wanted to take advantage of “her spectacular shooting,” by moving her to forward. Bottles had a goal or assist in 10 of 16 games this season while helping Donovan to second place in the Shore Conference C South Division.
“When she’s at forward she nails it,” Herlihy said. “When we are missing girls and have to bring her back to midfield, she doesn’t get a chance to score, but she’ll get the assists. You can tell where she’s playing in a game because she’ll have a ton of goals or a ton of assists.”
Being used to roaming all over the field, Bottles had to adjust to her new limited space of remaining up front.
“Sometimes I find myself back where the defense is supposed to be and I’m like ‘Wait, I should be up there!’” she said. “Playing forward definitely clicked with me. I feel like I’m more of an offensive person. It was a big change but I think it helped me and the team a lot. But I’ll play wherever they want me.”
Herlihy noted that whenever Bottles gets the ball, she is thinking of what angles she can hit it. The repertoire includes reverse shots, air dribbling into shots and long aerial passes to an intended teammate.
“She knows where to run on to the ball,” the coach said. “She’s always communicating well with her teammates. She does a great job of being a link in the whole chain of movement up the field and she commands it as well.”
Bottles said she learned how to shoot from her club coaches with the Phoenix Elite Field Hockey Club in Stafford Twp. She tried field hockey in eighth grade with Barnegat Middle School. Seeing she loved the sport, her dad discovered Phoenix, and Kenley has played there and with Donovan since ninth grade.
But her lethal shot comes from more than just coaching. After practice she places a large sheet of wood against a tree in her backyard and spends time honing her form.
Donovan Catholic’s Kenley Bottles celebrates after scoring one her team-high 10 goals this season. Courtesy photo
“I’ll go out there some days and just hit the ball at the wood until I find my perfect swing and my body positioning is right,” Bottles said. “Then I just keep practicing over and over again.
“This year I started taking time on my own to do that. I can’t just depend on school practice to get me better. I have to practice on my own so I can focus on the skills I need to work on individually.”
A member of St. Mary Parish in Barnegat, Kenley leans on her faith when in uniform.
“As a team we all do, which is really nice,” she said. “It just keeps me grounded. Before games I take a moment and thank God for the chance to play and for my strength and keeping me focused. It definitely reminds me to stay humble, play with heart and care for everyone.”
When Bottles is not playing or praying, she is a thespian.
Her musical theatre career began at age 5, and she begin performing in musical dance competitions for Starlight Performing Arts Center in Manahawkin. Her first show was The Music Man, which was ironically Donovan’s show in her freshman year under the same director.
“That was my full circle moment,” Bottles said.
Kenley was ensemble in Music Man and a tap dancer in Singing in the Rain as a sophomore. Last summer, with the newly formed Shore Talent Productions, she played Ariel’s best friend Flounder in The Little Mermaid at Barnegat High School.
Adding to the resume is her new bit part in “The Next Play,” which is still in production. Bottles met the director who had a tent set up at a field hockey tournament. Her movie was based on mental health and field hockey.
“When I saw that I was like ‘Oh, that’s literally the two things I love’” Bottles said. “She had me send her an audition tape.”
Bottles did not get a role and looked into being an extra; but girls had to be 18 or over and she was just 16. Nonetheless, she was asked to come to the filming at Moravian College in Pennsylvania and they placed her on the team that featured the movie’s two main characters.
“She went to do background cameo stuff and they saw she had such a personality, she just shines,” Herlihy said. “When they saw that they asked her mom if she could do some lines.”
The line she was given was “Well, there goes my college career.”
Hopefully art does not imitate life as Bottles hopes to play field hockey in college while majoring in occupational therapy. She also wants to continue in local theatre and whatever shows her college puts on.
For now, she just focuses on budgeting her time.
“My schedule is so insane,” she said. “But I love musical theatre and I love field hockey so I try to fit everything into my schedule.”
And the world of theatre along with Griffins field hockey are the better for it.