Last year, the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University won the NCAA Men’s and Women’s National Championships, respectively, continuing to blaze a trail for lacrosse in the Midwest. As discrepancies and gaps in reffing and on-the-field culture become more streamlined, lacrosse in the Midwest has truly begun to take off.
As the sport continues to gain popularity, the effects of growing up in the Midwest aren’t going unnoticed. Many coaches have realized that great athletes make great lacrosse players, and kids who grow up playing multiple sports in the Midwest, as opposed to specializing in lacrosse on the East Coast, have started to see a more level playing field when it comes to recruitment and opportunities as an athlete.
Head girl’s Varsity Lacrosse coach Laura Sandbloom commented on the differences between lacrosse in the Midwest and the East Coast.
“I think at times Midwestern kids can feel that cultural shock of playing with folks from the East Coast. It’s a different way of living and being; I have that perspective now that I’ve lived away for about 11 years,” she said. “It helped me realize that we’re really nice in the Midwest. There’s an attitude toward lacrosse in the Midwest as being ‘less than’ from outside perspectives. What I love about our community is we’re like, ‘no’. We’re gonna work hard to be the best that we can be and play the toughest opponents.”
Upper Arlington has become a centralized place of production for talented and well-rounded lacrosse players in the Midwest and from coast to coast.
“UA has always been a strong lacrosse school in Central Ohio, but now, because of the rise of the internet, because we have this robust youth program, there’s lacrosse fever in our community and folks are really determined,” Sandloom said.
With 11 state titles and 26 All-American distinctions since 2000, as well as an extensive list of collegiate alumni, the girl’s Varsity Lacrosse team has cemented themselves as one of the top teams in the Midwest.
Despite powerhouse competitions against neighboring schools for state titles, Sandbloom said that she hopes that the drive can continue to increase and inspire midwestern lacrosse players.
“A goal of mine as a head coach is when our program does well, it kind of lifts up everybody in the Midwest. I don’t want to be the enemy of folks around town. I want it to feel like we’re lifting everybody around us, which is what high school sports are about,” she said.
As the head of a highly demanding program, Sandbloom makes an effort to reframe thoughts and not be overly critical of herself.
“I think any sort of pressure that I would ever feel, I’ve realized it’s put on me by myself,” she said. “It’s a very demanding program. People have high expectations. We have a community with high expectations, and parents with high expectations, and players with high expectations.”
Personal confidence is a large component of leading a strong and successful program.
“I try to be really clear with communication, even though I am collaborative, my decision’s final. I feel like I’ve gotten to a point in my life and my coaching career that I’m very confident in the decisions that I make. That wasn’t always the case, but I’ve worked really hard to be.”
Sandbloom does her best to balance external complaints and criticism while still tending to the needs of the entire program.
“A lot of the critiques are outside noise that are negative, it’s minimal. I tend to listen to the people that matter to me, anybody that’s outside noise or doesn’t know about our program or doesn’t know about me, that’s not what I’m listening to,” she said. “I’ve gotten to the point now where I’m really good about deciding what advice to take and what not to take, and knowing that I’m the best one to lead the program right now. I know that in my bones, and I know that I have kids’ best interests at heart. So, I let that be the guide, like what’s best for the kids in my program, what’s best for our team.”
Coaching alongside many of her former coaches, including former Ohio State Women’s Lacrosse Coach Sue Stimmel Sandbloom explained her priority to balance tradition and new techniques when it comes to leading a team.
“I’m constantly communicating with them, that’s intentional. I want the legacy that they built together and the legacy that Pinta started at UA and Stimmel started at Ohio State to be carried on in a very specific way and the vision that they initially had and then, I feel like I brought some flexibility to those visions too. While trying to maintain the best versions of our traditions that we’ve had,” Sandbloom said.
A strong staff and determined roster allows for fine-tuning and consistent learning as a program has proven to pay off in Carats. Sandbloom emphasized the efforts made by the girls’ coaching staff to better the team each season.
“We’re striving toward being better, but I don’t prioritize the idea of perfection in any way. We definitely value discipline, lacrosse is very much a sport about precision. You have to be a strong thinker, quick decision-maker to be a good lacrosse player… You can be a good lacrosse player and play on instinct, but the girls are constantly learning new defensive sets, new plays every single day. I think people would be shocked to see how actually learning-focused our program is,” Sandbloom said.
Apart from teaching plays, Sandbloom hopes to teach players what criticism is important to growth and what isn’t worth listening to, while also highlighting the positives in the same breath. She works to teach players how to handle feedback and apply it to their performance.
“I’m reminding kids constantly that my critique of your play or me correcting you in front of your peers is not because of any negative feeling I have about you. That comes from a place of, ‘I want you to be a better lacrosse player, I want you to be a better teammate, here’s the feedback that I’m giving you,’” Sandbloom said. “How do you read it and say, ‘Okay, this feedback is worthwhile. I really need to work on this.’ And having that neutral relationship with yourself of, ‘Yeah, I gotta work on that. Does it mean I’m not good enough? Does it mean I’m not worthy enough?’ The answer is no.”
Alongside healthy criticism and growth, mental toughness plays a large role in the success of an athlete.
“Resilience is a big thing for me. I know for my fellow coaches, we’re constantly trying to help kids handle challenges that high school athletics throw at them because it’s a practice for life,” Sandbloom said.
A sentiment to the culture and dedication of the Girls Lacrosse team, Sandbloom stated that the team’s ethos is ‘Team over Self’ and ‘One heart, one goal’.
“I’m constantly reminding them, if you try and do it alone, you’re more likely to lose, if you do it together, whatever you do together, you’re more likely to win. Win in the way that, 50 percent of our goals are assisted goals. If you look across the board, that’s just the way that we roll,” Sandbloom said.
Of course, it’s not just the girl’s lacrosse team that brings home gold for the Bears; the Men’s Lacrosse team has produced 40 Lacrosse All-Americans and nine High School Academic All-Americans since the year 2000, and has established an equally strong program and presence in the Midwest.
Head coach Kyle Olson grew up in Upper Arlington winning three state championships, and later collecting a national championship and conference championship during his time playing at both Syracuse University and the Ohio State University. Olson spent a handful of years coaching various lacrosse teams before taking over as head coach at Upper Arlington in 2017.
The number of high schools playing lacrosse nowadays is significantly higher than it was in the 2000s, however, the number of Division One schools has hardly changed. This makes recruitment and exposure of high school players much more difficult than ever before. Head Men’s Varsity Lacrosse coach Kyle Olson commented on the impact that Upper Arlington plays in player’s careers.
“One of the things that helps our guys is our reputation. If you’re going to get someone from Upper Arlington, they’re going to be a good person on and off the field. They’re going to be a great culture guy and they’re going to work incredibly hard,” Olson said.
Olson said that there is a trickle-down effect of alumni representing the program all over the country in a way that leads to other opportunities for future players.
“It’s really because of how we represent ourselves and not just on the field, but a lot of our alumni end up becoming captains, which are the leaders of the programs. I think of Brandon Jones, who was a three-time captain in the Air Force. To be a leader amongst some of the best leaders in our country, three years in a row is really remarkable. To me, that’s a pride I have, representing the community and the family that we’ve created,” Olson said.
Family is a large priority and point of pride for the men’s lacrosse team, and the word often goes hand-in-hand with the numbers 3132.
“We talk to our guys all the time and we wear it. We used to put family on a lot of our stuff, the word family. Now we put the numbers 3132,” Olson said. “It represents two former captains, Ned Smith and Kyle Vesper, who unfortunately passed away from glioblastoma, both captains for us, both great men.”
The numbers serve as a constant reminder of the forever family that comes with playing lacrosse in UA.
“You can always come home to your family and we’re going to be there for all of our guys. It’s so special to see countless alumni. It’s really special how this program is not just a team, it’s a family and that goes not just for the people that played it, but also their families,” Olson added. “It’s something you really can’t put into words, that’s why we just put 3132 down and it encompasses really everything that we’re about.”
Alongside family, tradition is far more meaningful than plaques and alumni to the lacrosse team– it’s a guide to success.
Olson mentioned Dave Shelby, a founder of the lacrosse team and former principal at Upper Arlington, who always credited the team’s accomplishments to tradition and culture.
“He said, ‘Everyone says Upper Arlington lacrosse is a winning tradition, it’s not. It’s a tradition of doing things the right way, listening to coaches, working together, teamwork, camaraderie, all these little things. That’s what creates our winning,’” Olson paraphrased.
There is plenty of responsibility that comes with such an impactful program; men’s lacrosse makes a point to continue to ensure that positive representation is curated by the players.
“The thing we tell ’em on the first day is our goal is to make them all better men, not necessarily to win every game. Obviously, we like to win games, but it’s the little things we do throughout the season, how we travel together and interact with our alumni” Olson said. “The players know that wearing Upper Arlington lacrosse isn’t a cool sweatshirt or shirt or whatever to wear, it represents them. It represents me, it represents our coaching staff, it represents our alumni. More importantly, it represents everyone in the community because our school is the name of our community.”
Prep schools are becoming more prevalent in the US, with rosters made up of mostly 19-year-olds who have been recruited from across the country and Canada who can be reclassed, the level of play is intense when matched up to a roster made up of 15-18-year-olds. This is what most of the top ten nationally ranked teams are.
This makes for a good competition when it comes to trying to be the best around. Men’s lacrosse often plays prep and private schools throughout their season, often traveling to college campuses such as UPenn, Michigan, OSU, Denver, Notre Dame, and more. This allows the team to expand their reach of competitors, often playing nationally ranked and high-caliber teams in front of college coaches.
“We compete every summer in a national high school lacrosse showcase, which is in the top 50 high schools in the country. It’s an invite-only thing, every year I always like getting the shirt because it lists all the schools on it. I go around and I count, and there’s only four or five public schools every year, it’s all private schools or it’s all prep schools. That’s why I have so much pride in our community. It is so special, this sport and how we come up from kindergarten to really forever,” Olson said.
A consistent and strong youth program is essential to the success of public school teams since it’s the only place for consistent teaching and development of athletes within the community. Once players are in high school, however, it’s the work players put in and the lessons coaches teach that can carry them the rest of the way.
Apart from family, fundamentals and intention are what takes the team from good to gold. A narrowed mindset during practice and training sessions is what allows the team to hone in on skills and specifics, carrying them through a strong, and humble season.
“We always talk about the little things; the expectations here are very high, but it’s not something that is talked about. We don’t say, ‘Hey, today we’re going to try to win a state championship’ or ‘Today, we’re going to try to be one of the best teams in the country’,” Olson said.
