Clay teen shines on camera, on ice

Alyssa Batch of Clay High School watches the video of the MTV show 'Made' at her home in Curtice, Ohio. The show chronicles young people experimenting with a new hobby or sport they wouldn't normally try. For Alyssa, that sport was hockey. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

The television story line was a teenage girl, devastated by getting cut from the volleyball team, who tries out for the hockey team with the boys and goes on a journey of self-discovery.

But in real life, that meant camera crews following Alyssa Batch, 17, around Clay High School and hockey practices every day for about six weeks.

Her friends, who were camera shy, got quiet. Her not-so-friends became chatty.

The MTV crew was there for the practices and interviews, whether it was 4 a.m. or nearly midnight.

"I was not allowed to look at the camera. I just had to go around my day without even noticing it there, which was really difficult at first," said Alyssa, a Clay senior who lives in Curtice.

But after a while, the filming became more natural as Alyssa found herself a reality television star for the MTV series Made, which chronicles young people experimenting with a new hobby or sport they wouldn't normally try. MTV also featured the entire Clay girls basketball team on the program this month.

For Alyssa, who played volleyball for eight years, the new sport was hockey.

"When I was little, that's all I talked about was volleyball," she said on the show. "That's all I did. That was my world."

The volleyball coach cut Alyssa from the team during her junior year, and the theme of the reality show is the teen reinventing herself -- and overcoming obstacles -- as a hockey goalie on the Clay Eagles hockey team.

The last girl to play on the Clay hockey team was Ashley Ciesielczyk in 2006-2007.

Alyssa struggled during the first practice as the pucks piled up in the net and she wiped ice from her face, which looked like tears, after a puck hit her. But over the weeks, Alyssa fit in better -- falling on a puck to stop a goal, dressing up in a shirt and tie like her male teammates before a game, and bonding during team dinners.

Alyssa Batch is a goaltender for the Clay Eagles hockey team. An MTV camera crew followed Alyssa around as she learned the position. One of the final scenes showed Alyssa stopping 28 of 30 shots during a game against Perrysburg High School. THE BLADE/LORI KING Enlarge | Photo Reprints

"They made me feel like a part of their family," Alyssa said. "They're like the brothers I never had, and there are 16 of them."

One of the final scenes showed Alyssa stopping 28 of 30 shots during a Dec. 18 game against Perrysburg High School.

Alyssa's friends, teammates, family -- her parents, April and Gerald, and sisters Allison, a Clay freshman, and Abby, an Eisenhower Middle School seventh-grader -- gathered to watch the show.

"This was about me, but it was all about all of us put together," she said of her team.

But the TV show brought out stronger emotions.

She saw the occasional MTV clips of No. 23 skating on the ice and a brief interview where Cody Van Hersett said how proud he is of his female teammate. Cody, 16, of Oregon died in a car crash Jan. 12, before the show aired.

His hockey equipment is still in his locker as a memorial to the feisty hockey forward. The end of the show also paid tribute to Cody as a "teammate, brother, and son."

"It just made me miss him," Alyssa said. "I [hadn't] heard his voice since he died."

Alyssa has stayed on the team, and says she now loves hockey more than volleyball. It's a sport where Alyssa, a rookie goalie, competes with players who have practically been on the rink since they were old enough to walk.

"I told her the other day she's going to have to work twice as hard to get half as better," said Clay hockey coach and teacher Bob Bundy, who dealt with the headache of MTV crews interviewing his players at games and practices.

For Alyssa, becoming a hockey player made her tougher, a lesson that will help when she goes to Bowling Green State University to study art.

"I feel this whole experience made me grow up as a person. I'm such a stronger person than I was," Alyssa said. "I am now ready for college."