Piper Flaherty and Kiana Yantz coach youth lacrosse teams while balencing commitments in school and on the varsity team

by Luca Artiga

Two hour classes during the school day, two hour practices for fve days a week, along with subsequent homework and games. This became the routine that varsity lacrosse players Piper Flaherty and team captain Kiana Yantz commit to during the season, in additon to dedicating their time to coach youth girls lacrosse teams. Through the lacrosse programs Leverage Lacrosse and Redondo Lacrosse, girls in ffth through eighth grade are able to learn and play la crosse, as well as compete against other teams.

“It's a diferent dynamic because we're also being coached at the same time [on varsity] and still learning new things while coaching other people, so it gives perspective on what works and what doesn't,” Flaherty said.

An opportunity to start coaching presented itself frst to Yantz last year, through a recommendation by fellow junior co-captain Kyile Thompson to their coach Tomas Borgia, who also is the head coach and adviser for the youth teams. Flaherty soon started to fll in for Thompson or Borgia’s absences, which soon led to her regularly starting to coach.

“Lacrosse is relatively new compared to soccer. I mean, every parent thinks they can coach soccer, when they really can't, because lacrosse is really a technical sport,” Borgia said. “I like to empower my captains and high school girls through coaching and through the years, [the younger girls] start to look up to them.”

The seasons include fall, winter and spring for Leverage Lacrosse, and exclusively spring for Redondo Lacrosse. Yantz and Flaherty both coach during the spring season, but until then, Flaherty still holds private lessons for anyone interested. Box (indoor) la- crosse is held in the fall, while feld lacrosse is held in winter and spring, both types of lacrosse in which Flaherty and Yantz have coaching experi-

¨As far as trying to fnd that balance, I think it's going to be better this year than last. With coaching on Tuesdays, I know when I should be doing my homework and I can plan it ahead of time on the weekend. But I do think spring is going to be the hardest,” Yantz said.

Yantz and Falherty have had to learn to balance coaching the youth lacrosse team and handling workloads from classes as lacrosse season comes nearer. They both coach during their Varsity Lacrosse’s on-season, committed to teaching their girls, which has proven to be a challenging task.

“When we have after school practices until 5:00 pm during the season, that's when things get hard because we have coaching right after, and I only have a few hours before it's time for me to go to sleep,” Flaherty said.

Having played lacrosse since sixth grade and participated in their fair share of club teams, both girls pull from their experience from previous practicing club lacrosse drills and apply them at practices with the middle school girls they coach.

“When you frst start playing lacrosse it is so hard. It is like learning how to walk. It's so frustrating at the start but then it just gets easier,” Yantz said. “Don’t get down on yourself and just enjoy it because middle school is so fun.”

Flaherty and Yantz started their lacrosse journey through Redondo Lacrosse, and it all came full circle when they found themselves as juniors, coaching the future wave of Redondo Beach’s lacrosse players.

“Kiana and I have been really close for a while, so I feel that makes it easier for us to have an open dialogue about what we can do for practice drills and stuf. We don't need to be scared about hurting the other person's feelings or stepping on each other's toes when it comes to drills,” Flaherty said. “We've been on the same team so we have a lot of the same drills and a lot of the same knowledge of lacrosse, so it's easy to work together.”

Yantz and Flaherty took over some of the empty spots left by last year's coaches. Lacrosse captain alumni Asjia Roberson and Natalie Kokes served not only as teammates, but also as mentors to both the youth girls and to fellow varsity players like Yantz and Flaherty. Now, there are high expectations as Kokes attends the University of Washington and Roberson earned a scholarship to play for USC Lacrosse.

“It's hard to fll those shoes because a lot of the advice I have is from Asjia," Yantz said. "I feel, even as a captain and a coach, it's hard to communicate what you want people to do, es pecially younger kids.”

With coaching the ages that they do, “dif ferent perspectives” are shared when coaching these girls. Both enjoy talking to these girls and sharing about not letting their frustra tions get the best of them.

“When frst start ing to play, just know that it will get easi er and you will get better at it, and it will take a while but it will even tually happen,” Flaherty said. “And always re member: how you play and how you prac tice does not determine your worth as a player.”