Madie Leidt ‘12

Madie Leidt’s hockey career has brought her to the world stage. Playing professionally for Kanadai Magyar Hokiklub in Budapest, she is also a key member of the Hungarian Women’s National Team. It has been a whirlwind of a year, as Madie and the national team made it to the Olympic Qualifiers in February, coming up just one goal short of qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Madie remains positive, however, highlighting that she will play for Hungary at the World Championships outside of Prague this April. The future is certainly looking bright.

 

Even before her recent success on the ice, Madie’s hockey career reached great heights, including captaining Middlebury’s National Championship team in 2022 (and scoring a key goal in the Championship Game). 

 

There were certainly key experiences at the Country School that set Madie up for this success. She writes, “I often reminisce about the outdoor education opportunities and various sports I was able to try because of TCS.” Highlights for Madie were the trips to Moab and the Delaware River, believing that “ten days camping in Utah, four in Delaware, and many other trips afforded me opportunities to learn, lead, and work with my classmates in ways that not many 5th-8th graders can say they have.” These special moments brought out the best in Madie and gave her a lot of skills she uses today. 

 

Of course, her athletic experience at TCS influenced her hockey career, and she credits Chris Wallack and Brian Osterhout with instilling important skills in P.E. class and on our teams. According to Madie, “Mr. Wallack and Mr. O., were both gym teachers while I was at TCS, and they always encouraged me to go as far as I possibly could with sport. They gave me countless opportunities on various TCS sports teams like lacrosse, soccer, softball, etc.”

 

She writes that her early years playing Country School sports “set me up to captain three varsity sports as a junior at Taft, captain my college team to a National Championship, and now play at the professional level.”

 

Now playing at the highest competitive level for her sport, Madie knows that her Country School days were key to her accomplishments. She sums it up nicely, writing, “All in all, TCS played a huge role in building the foundation of the student, athlete, and human that I am today.”