HANOVER — One might reasonably assume that Sydney McLaughlin feels pressure to succeed on the basketball court.
The Hanover High sophomore guard is the daughter of Dartmouth College men’s basketball coach David McLaughlin, and she said she’s been playing the game as long as she can remember — ever since she was shooting at a Nerf hoop as a toddler. But her coach at Hanover, Dan O’Rourke, said McLaughlin seems to play the game without a care in the world.
“One thing I’ve always admired about Sydney is she’s the happiest-go-lucky kid I’ve ever coached,” O’Rourke said. “She always has a smile on her face, and even when she makes a mistake, she shakes it off with a grin. That’s a special trait for her.”
McLaughlin was the only freshman on the Hanover varsity roster last year, when HHS ran through the regular season without a loss before suffering a last-shot defeat in the NHIAA Division II semifinals to Kennett. Her season-high of nine points came in her very first game, a blowout win over Mascoma.
This year, McLaughlin has moved into a starting role alongside three seniors and a junior. She recorded her first double-digit scoring game in a win over Laconia on Dec. 20.
“She has a good overall feel for the game,” David McLaughlin said. “She has a good court presence. By having a good court presence, you can impact the game at both ends of the floor.
“She’s always trying to find the balance of sharing the basketball yet being aggressive at the same time, and that’s going to be a big growth area for her as she continues to get older.”
Sydney also plays soccer for Hanover, tallying two goals and two assists this past fall. Because the high school basketball season overlaps almost entirely with Dartmouth’s, David McLaughlin has more time to watch his daughter in soccer than basketball. But a silver lining of the Ivy League canceling sports last year over the COVID-19 pandemic was that the Dartmouth coach could attend more of his daughter’s games.
David has been informally coaching Sydney and her two younger brothers, Ryan and Colin, for most of their lives, but Sydney said her father has made sure not to overwork them.
“He just knows me so well,” Sydney said. “He knows how to push me, and he understands how I play. He sees the game how I do, through my eyes. He’s the best mentor because he pushes me, but not to the point where I get overwhelmed.”
The canceled Ivy League season also gave David a chance to help out more with his daughter’s team, but, for the most part, he stays out of the high school coaches’ territory. O’Rourke said there’s only so much David would be able to do in any case — Division I college basketball is a different beast from rural New Hampshire high school ball, and that’s not even considering the differences between the men’s and women’s games.
David still leads Sydney and her brothers through gym workouts, from shooting around to ball handling to playing one-on-one. Sydney’s goal is to play in college, and with a Hanover team that has its eye on a state championship, she could well be playing in front of college coaches before the season is through, even if they’re not there to see her specifically.
“The important thing is making sure it’s their choice to work on the game on their own,” David said. “Make sure it’s their choice to sacrifice what they might have to do with time with friends to travel to play basketball or make commitments to certain teams. My wife and I agreed it’s very important to — no pun intended — leave the ball in their court in those decisions.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.