It is the most insane feeling coaching again after a 15 year hiatus from Lacrosse and playing/coaching. Back in the day, I played goalkeeper for girls lacrosse. I played in HS and College, and after college spent some time coaching. I was never the most in shape, or the fastest kid. But I played with a lot of heart, had sharp reflexes, and was a pretty mobile goalie. In HS, I had alot of experience on defense, as my team was new to the sport and lets just say, awful. During the offseason, I played every weekend in Annapolis, MD to sharpen my skills. I traveled on teams that went all over the country and northeast. When I had the chance to play in college, I went to play Division 1 at Syracuse University. It was extremely challenging and competitive and I enjoyed every minute of it. I have fond memories of running drills and training with our badass trainer named Kenya. Kenya liked to make us run. I at this point of my life dreaded every training with Kenya. I tried to push myself, and for some reason I always had a convincing “trying” face on. My best friend, who I met while playing at Syracuse, would often be hanging in somewhere in the back with me on suicide drills. Kenya would infamously state, “good effort or good job Sarah, try harder next time Paige” Due to my scholarship not coming through I couldn’t stay at Syracuse longer, and I settled to play D3 at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. While my time playing for St. Marys was short lived, I did find a love for coaching by coaching my old HS team. As the assistant coach for two years of my high school I found that I was pretty good at it. My first job out of college was coaching a small squad of girls laxers for a D3 school in NC. I loved my job. Everything was going rather well, until it wasn’t. I progressively got sicker mentally. I think over the years I had an underlying fear of revisiting lacrosse. Maybe because of how my coaching exp ended up, or the memory of my illness nearly getting the best of me. What I cannot explain now, is the overwhelming joy I have coaching my daughter Ella’s 12U all girls lacrosse team. It is a feeling unlike any other, watching your daughter get excited about the same sport you fell in love with. Ella asked me today if she could step in goal as the alternate goalie. I cried my eyes out off and on the entire practice. Gearing up Ella and warming her up was such just freaking amazing. I legit felt like Field of Dreams or something. I come alive again stepping out on the field with these girls. I have a feeling that I will be in this role for awhile now. It is literally the best thing that has happened to me lately. I am so grateful to be teaching these girls the sport and feel extremely humbled to revisit this part of my life on good terms. Bc you know what? I deserve this happiness y’all. This feeling and these emotions are something that has been absent for so long. I cannot even readers. Cannot even…Here is my new coaching reality and Lax 2.0 watching Ella in real time fall in love with the sport the same way I did.

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