Ary Branch carries far more than a lacrosse stick onto the field.
As she holds it, teammates and opponents may catch a glimpse of tattoos on her right wrist and arm. One is etched in her late grandfather’s handwriting from a note on a Christmas gift, saying, “To the granddaughter I love dearly, with the most loving grandpapa.”
They may also see a tattooed cross with a semicolon inside — honoring Branch’s two cousins who committed suicide at a young age.
When she goes home following the game’s conclusion, she drives an unpretentious 2003 Ford F-150, which is the truck she rode alongside her grandfather growing up.
She consistently upholds the memory of those she’s lost along the way, and represents them with high respect through her actions on the field, and in her personal life.
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Carrington King, Branch’s head coach at St. Anne’s-Belfield, defined her symbolism by saying, “She’s honoring those that brought her up and protected her, and taught her right from wrong.”
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Branch grew up in Charlottesville, and began her athletic journey enveloped in the world of basketball.
Several years prior to her ever playing the sport at STAB, she made an impression on girls basketball head coach Phil Stinnie while doing drills with her older sister.
“I just knew there was something special about her even then,” Stinnie said. “She was wise beyond her years.”
When Branch reached seventh grade, a new athletic option was presented to her. Henry Oakey, the father of Branch’s teammate Martha Oakey, guided her to the lacrosse field.
“I started playing lacrosse [in] the fall of seventh grade, and ever since, I fell in love,” Branch said.
She was on a team of which many of the girls had played the sport for years, so Branch needed to adapt quickly.
“Coming from a different background than all my teammates was definitely my hardest challenge,” she said. “Fitting in was fine and everything, but knowing I wasn’t on the same level as everyone else on my team was definitely challenging.”
“She was quiet, and a little bit nervous and shy, and I think, felt a little out of place,” King added.
However, Branch had a natural feel for her position, as it held similarities to how she played her first sport.
“I’m a defender for lacrosse, and so, defense from the basketball court to the lacrosse is pretty much the same,” Branch said.
Early in her time playing the new game, she made the crucial steps necessary to complete her skill set.
“Initially, [the opportunity] was to be a great high school player, and contribute to the team, and earn a starting spot, and that’s when you could tell she really started taking her stick skills more seriously,” King said.
As she continued developing at Cav Lax Elite, which is also coached by King, Branch was sat down by him and Oakey about her potential future in the sport.
“They were like, ‘If you really need an outlet to get your academics and everything, lacrosse is something there for you,’” Branch said. “I think just having those two mentors lead me through this really helped.”
Months after playing a large factor in the Saints’ run to the VISAA Division I state championship during her sophomore year, she committed to Old Dominion to play at the Division I college level.
The dedication Branch displayed to lacrosse propelled her to opportunities beyond the sport. Her future academic endeavors would not have been possible without her athletic abilities earning her a scholarship.
“She really took it upon herself to buy in and see these not only as an opportunity to grow personally, but also to create opportunity for her and her family,” King said.
• • •
Following the first basketball game of her freshman season at St. Anne’s-Belfield, Branch was delivered heart-wrenching news.
“I was brought to my mother’s car, and my mother [told me] my grandpa just passed — basically my father figure,” Branch said.
Only about a week later, her grandmother also passed away.
With two prominent people being abruptly taken from her, Branch used athletics as an avenue for relief.
“I really saw sports at that time as an escape,” she said. “Being able to go to practice with my friends, laugh around, but also do hard things together helped me recover from grief of loss.”
Branch has taken the unfortunate events as an opportunity to play for a larger purpose.
“Knowing what I’m doing is going to make my Papaw and Mamaw proud is just something that I really take pride in,” she said. “That’s basically who I do it for.”
About a year and a half later, tragedy struck again.
“I’m at a [lacrosse] tournament in Richmond, and I get a phone call from my aunt that my cousin just committed suicide,” Branch said.
Although the news inherently gutted Branch, she was grateful to be surrounded by some of the people she loves the most.
“I was with my teammates and my coaches, which is just like a family to me,” Branch said. “So, knowing they were there for me at that time is just amazing. Coach King has definitely been like a father to me, and knowing that he was there that day was just amazing.”
Through the many hardships she has encountered in high school, she has identified those at St. Anne’s-Belfield and Cav Lax Elite as the shining light of her life.
Branch said, “I told my teammates the other day that, ‘You guys have been an outlet for me since, literally, the beginning. And, it’s just so comforting to know that no matter what, at the end of the day, from 4-6, I’m going to be with you guys, and you guys are going to help me. You guys are going to lift me up on the days that I’m down, and I want to be the same for you.’”
• • •
Her grandfather’s truck is 21 years old, but Branch does not plan to drive a new vehicle anytime soon.
“I’ll do anything for this [truck]. I’ll put up however much money I need to,” she said. “Once my truck has a lot of miles on it, I’ll just buy a new engine. There’s no point in me buying a whole new truck, I’ll just buy a new engine, because I want to keep this truck forever.”
The Ford F-150 is a consistent, positive reminder of the moments she shared in the passenger seat.
“We spent days in this truck carrying junk loads to the junkyard to make a few extra bucks,” Branch said. “We drove this truck to all places around Charlottesville, and that’s just something that’s really big in memory of him.”
Both her grandparents, Steven and Lucy Bennett, are with her wherever she goes, in the figurative and literal sense. In what has become a more common practice in the tattoo community, a small amount of their ashes were mixed with the ink used for her right arm.
Her grandfather’s handwriting replicated in one of the tattoos also provides a large meaning for Branch. Steven consistently packed her lunch in a paper bag so he could write messages for his granddaughter to read.
The note specifically displayed on Branch’s arm is from an envelope gifted from Steven one Christmas.
“I think that’s a big thing for me — knowing that I’m loved dearly by him and my Mamaw, and others around me, or just knowing that I can’t ever forget him,” Branch said.
She carries that unmatched influence into competition.
“No matter if I’m on the court or on the field, I’m looking over on the bleachers, and I’m literally picturing my Papaw sitting there watching over me,” Branch said. “When I’m on the lacrosse field, we play during the day — I’m looking at the sky, and I’m being reminded that no matter what happens today, go hard, because your Papaw’s watching you.”
Away from athletics, she has been a mental health advocate in her school’s Morgan’s Message Club. She serves as an official ambassador for the group.
“With [the club’s] mission, that’s just something that I want to create here at STAB,” Branch said. “I want to be in a safe space for student-athletes to know that they aren’t alone in any situation.”
After losing two cousins to suicide, she aims to do all she can to prevent other people from having to be affected.
“I try and check in on everyone,” Branch said. “No matter what you’re going through, I’m trying to be there for you, because I don’t want another life to be taken because you thought you were alone.”
Much of the insight she provides stems from lessons through personal experience. She prides herself on using emotional expression as a tool to endure her challenges.
“I tell myself every day, ‘It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to feel what you feel,’” Branch said. “I think that’s something big that I’ve been trying to work on, especially having Morgan’s Message Club at St. Anne’s. I’ve tried to spread a message and tell myself that it’s okay not to be okay.”
While she works through difficult times on her own, she also feeds off the courage of her immediate family.
“I’ve got a strong mom, and her strength transfers to me. And, I’ve got a strong sister, and her strength transfers to me,” Branch said. “Somewhere else that I get my strength from is my brother.”
Through the maturity she’s developed, she has become an instant helping hand when a teammate faces their own hardship.
“Whenever there is a loss within the program, whenever someone is down, or not feeling confident, or beating themselves up about something going on in their life — whether it’s academically, athletically — Ary is the always the kid that I call to build them up or to pick them up,” Stinnie said. “She’s such a great supporter, and she does a great job meeting the kids where they are, letting them understand that they’re not by themselves.”
Along with Branch’s teammates, her coaches have also learned from the strength she displays on a day-to-day basis.
“Of all the girls I’ve coached over the last 12, 15 years, she’s taught me a lot about poise, and being able to stay composed for others and how to serve others, even when you’re feeling pretty torn up,” King said.
The guidance Branch provides to fellow teammates is a complete reciprocation after they have helped lift her up through her struggles.
“I think Ary has found a family — a second family — that I think at times, picked her up, and now as a senior and a leader, she is paying it forward,” King said.
The impact Branch and her athletic teams have had on each other have made for a full circle of support. King, who has been beside Branch for much of the enduring journey, recognizes that sentiment.
“She’s changed my life, and I think this team has changed her’s for the better as well.”
The Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital Athlete Spotlight is a weekly feature that profiles Central Virginia high school athletes and teams. Have an athlete that you think should be spotlighted? Email your nomination to Daily Progress high school sports reporter Chris Gionta at cgionta@dailyprogress.com.