Spring break 2000. Any parent's worst nightmare had become Ramona and Greg Thompson's reality.

Their 8-year-old daughter, Kelsey, suffering from an acute swelling of the brain known as encephalitis, kept slipping in and out of a coma. It was unclear whether Kelsey would survive.

The Thompsons had only lived in Ann Arbor for a little more than a year, but as Kelsey's condition improved, it was clear their new home - and the sport she was introduced to here - had already made an impression on the sick little girl.

"When she came out and started to recover, the first thing she wanted to know was when she could play field hockey again," recalls Ramona.

Neither Ramona nor Greg were enthusiasts of the sport by any stretch of the imagination. But living a stone's throw from two future Division 1 players in Jennifer and Courtney Elliott (Princeton and Duke, respectively) whose father, Bruce, was a coach, the sport had quickly become Kelsey's preferred past time. She wasn't going to let a little brain swelling and temporary paralysis get in the way of that.

All she cared about was field hockey.

Thompson was back on the pitch the next fall, and not much has changed since. Now a senior at Pioneer High School, she became one of just three players in the field hockey program's storied history to play varsity all four years. The two-time All-State midfielder and four-time state champion is the 2009 AnnArbor.com Washtenaw County Player of the Year.

"A four-year varsity player and a great leader and a great athlete," said Pioneer coach Jane Nixon of Thompson after the Pioneers beat Huron, 2-0, in the state finals on Oct. 31.

Thompson was the centerpiece of the Pioneers on both ends of the field this season. As a staunch defensive midfielder, she controlled the game from circle to circle, and often acted as a catalyst in the offensive third, as well, with four goals and nine assists. In the state semifinals against Birmingham Marian, which beat Pioneer during the regular season (the only loss of Kelsey's career), she scored the game-tying goal in a come-from-behind 2-1 victory.

"Kels would say it was a team goal, but seeing that one was special," Greg Thompson recalls. "One of the proudest moments was seeing her celebrate with her teammates after that goal."

Ironically, Thompson watched the end of the championship game from the sidelines after being yellow carded in the last five minutes.

Nearly 10 years after the coma, Thompson again was kept from the field by something outside of her control and wanted nothing more than to return. Thompson nervously watched and her feelings of frustration quickly shifted to those of pride as her high school career came to a close away from the action.

"When I realized there was less than five minutes left I was upset, but you know sometimes things just work that way ... my team was a man down; it was an overwhelming feeling of pride to see the way they all stepped up." she says.

Thompson then laughs at the memory of one of Nixon's more common state championship preparation speeches (which could fill a book by now), in which she reminds players to always expect the unexpected in the finals. Nixon's favorite hypothetical to use in the speech: A senior captain being sent off in the final minutes.

"Never in a million years I thought that would be me, but it was." Nixon's influence has been a strong one in Thompson's life. One of her father's favorite stories is when he was considering taking a promotion that would have forced another family move. Kelsey, by then in seventh grade, voted nay.

"I said, ‘Kelsey, why do you want to stay?' And her answer was, ‘I want to stay and play field hockey for Jane Nixon at Pioneer,'" Greg Thompson says. "I said ‘Who the heck, I think I said heck, is Jane Nixon?'

"I was telling some people at work and they said ‘Greg, she's a Michigan icon. Pioneer is not just a good program, it's a great program.'"

Years later, and Greg realizes what they meant.

"For all the success and championships, Jane, and her staff, Tristan Driver, they instill all the values any parent hopes that all coaches could do."

"Jane always emphasizes hard work, and emphasizes it'll get you far and reminds us of the opportunity we have," says Kelsey. "I'm grateful to have been coached by her. There's a lot I've learned, most aren't field hockey related."

Though Thompson hasn't decided on a college, she plans on playing field hockey at the Division I level. Her 4.0 grade point average gives her a few decent options: She's deciding between Northwestern, Michigan, and some Ivy League schools.

So she's got that going for her.

"My interests are varied. My favorite subjects are English and math, but I'm also thinking about pre-med, too," says Thompson, who is playing ice hockey for the first time this winter for the Pioneers, and is on the lacrosse team as well.

If you didn't know any better, you might think she cares about more than just field hockey.

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by e-mail at petercunningham@annarbor.com, or by phone at 734-623-2561.