I've always been a lacrosse player. When I was four, and could hold a stick in my hand, I became a player. I was in love with the sport. My brothers played varsity lacrosse, and received multiple letters to play club and D3 in college. I've always looked up to them, watching and asking for help or cool tricks.
High school came along and the first thing I was excited for was playing on the Arrowhead lacrosse team. By then I knew everyone on the team. It was amazing having all these friends that have the same interests as me. But for coaches, I’ve never been able to have a good friendship with them, and throughout my years of playing lacrosse I've never been able to connect with a coach.
The season came around and it was tryouts. The head coach of the Arrowhead lacrosse team was Jake Sweitzer. Coach Sweitzer was engaged and focused on every player during the tryouts, and I don't think he wasted one second of time assessing us. It was a tryout that pushed us to our limits, which I love.
Throughout the tryouts, Coach Sweitzer kept building us up, saying, “Believe in yourself, and do the best you can” whenever we felt like we were going to give up. Coach kept inspiring us, lifting our heads, and telling us that it's not over, this is just the beginning of your talent, this is only to build your character. By the end, he knew exactly how talented all of us were, and exactly what we needed to improve on. I knew from the beginning that he cared about us, and that he wanted us to become great. He made me feel like a valuable part of the team.
After junior year, I thought if I played lacrosse next year, I’d never play on the Varsity team. Coach Sweitzer talked to me about doing personal training. He saw that I wanted to play well in this sport, that I wanted to be on varsity. He was inspired to teach me, and that's when I saw him as a true coach.