Bio

Alexandra "Alix" Wandesforde-Smith earned the Outstanding Wellesley Athlete award as a First, Sophomore and Senior athlete for her talents in basketball and field hockey. As a First Year, Alix earned both the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Field Hockey and Basketball Rookie of the Year honors. She was a four-time NEWMAC All-Conference selection and a three-time National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-Region First Team selection. Alix was a also three-time National Field Hockey All-America Second Team selection and bookended her career as the NEWMAC Field Hockey Player of the year, representing Wellesley as a North-South Senior All-Star. Alix was also selected to represent Wellesley in the New England Women’s Basketball Senior Classic. In addition to her successes as a two-sport athlete, Alix served as a Student-Athlete Advisory Board member from 1993-94.

A person I work with recently gave me a magnet imprinted with a picture of four women in old-fashioned outfits. They are lined up, front to back, heads turned to the camera, grinning. The caption says, “Behind every successful woman are a lot of other women.” I chuckled and thought to myself “That’s a perfect description of my time at Wellesley as a student-athlete.“

My connection to Wellesley Athletics began well before I applied for early admission. In ninth grade I found out that the assistant women’s basketball coach at UC Davis was taking the head-coaching job at Wellesley. After several years watching UCD basketball and attending their summer camps, I really wanted to be an Aggie. But UCD had no varsity field hockey and I was determined to be a two-sport student-athlete. 

Over the next three years I was recruited by Division I and Division III schools for field hockey and basketball. Some offered scholarships, while others offered the ability to play both sports. I made many school visits, but none of them measured up to Wellesley. What I found there was a rich and stimulating environment on a beautiful campus, and a deeply supportive environment provided by an all-women institution. This made it feasible not only for me to play two sports with dedication and distinction but also to pursue a degree in Biology, where the example of outstanding female role models was equally important. 

My years as a Wellesley student athlete were four of the most special years of my life. I was where I wanted to be, doing what I loved, surrounded by an amazing new family. The entire athletic department—coaches, trainers and staff—went way beyond developing my athletic skills and were influential in my personal growth from teen to adult. Outside of athletics, every professor opened new ways of thinking and parts of the world I had never thought about before. One memory in particular epitomizes the value of my Wellesley student-athlete experience. I had Marine Biology fieldwork at sea scheduled for the same day the field hockey team flew to the first round of the NCAA championship. My Marine Biology professor wouldn’t let me skip the fieldwork (nor did I want to) but then I had to fly to New York that day as well. The solution the College came up with was to have a town car waiting for me at the dock when the boat pulled in. I jumped off the boat and into the car and was taken to the airport to catch a later flight. I made it to the hotel to meet up with my teammates for dinner.

The lessons I learned both as an athlete and a scholar have become an integral part of my life, at work, at home, and in the community, and the relationships with teammates, classmates, and coaches continue to this day. I am truly thrilled to be selected into the inaugural class of the Wellesley Athletics Hall of Fame and I am deeply honored to have been chosen from among the many amazing Wellesley women who, across the decades, competed for the Blue.