2024 NEPSAC Spring News Magazine

NEW ENGLAND PREPARATORY SCHOOL ATHLETIC COUNCIL

New England Preparatory School Athletic Council

President

Ryan Frost Cardigan Mountain School Vice-President

Tim Joncas Westminster School Secretary

Lisa Joel Phillips Andover Academy Treasurer

Jim Smucker Berwick Academy Co-Directors of Championships

Jamie Arsenault New Hampton School

Bob Howe Deerfield Academy

Lisa Joel Phillips Andover Academy Director of Classifications

Sean Kelly The Wheeler School Coordinator of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Lamar Reddicks Milton Academy Past Presidents

George Tahan Belmont Hill School

Bob Howe Deerfield Academy

Jamie Arsenault New Hampton School

Mark Conroy Williston Northampton School

Martha Brousseau Greenwich Academy Middle School Representatives

Rob Feingold The Fay School

Amber Kuntz Beaver Country Day School District I Representative

Stefan Jensen Hyde School District II Representatives

Tara Brisson Tilton School

Jenna Simon Holderness School

Connor Wells Brewster Academy

District III Representatives

Betsy Kennedy Pingree School

Jen Viana Cushing Academy

Sean Kelly The Wheeler School

Andrew Mitchell Lexington Christian Academy District IV Representatives

Mike Marich The Frederick Gunn School

Mo Gaitán Pomfret School

Laurie Sachs The Rivers School

WPresident’s Letter

Ryan Frost Cardigan Mountain School

elcome to spring! For many of our schools, this has been a long time coming, with several sizeable early spring snow storms, heavy rainfall, flooding, and a once-in-a-generation eclipse mixed in as well. As I write this, I find myself enjoying my first Sunday off of the spring, and thankfully, it is one of the first nice, warm, sunny days to help me enjoy it.

As I read through the articles in our most recent issue of NEPSAC News, I am reminded of how fortunate we all are to work at such exceptional schools with such rich histories, robust programs, and limitless futures of possibilities due to all our hard work and the fantastic students we send out to the world to make a difference everywhere they go.

With all of this, I see our large and diverse organization at a pivotal moment of self-reflection and adjustment when we see schools wrestling with what the future of their athletic programs will look and feel like. Where we see schools restructuring programs and pushing against historical norms on sports seasons and program structures. Similar to the collegiate level, we see increases in school transfers, sports-specific conferences, conference realignments, and NIL, all under years of increased sports specialization, increased pressure and expectations of college scholarships and the explosion of the youth sports moneymachine grind our students and their parents have come up through.

I feel honored and privileged to work with the amazing members of the NEPSAC board to help lead our organization into the future as we try to help set the framework for what NEPSAC is and could be moving forward. As we look to the future, I would encourage all member schools to get involved at the district level and work to get involved with the NEPSAC board. It is excellent professional development and an incredible way to put into practice the servant leadership lessons we try to instill in all of our coaches and student-athletes. All the best as you run your sprint to graduations and summer vacations. Please reach out if I or any member of the NEPSAC board can be of service to you.

All the best, Ryan Frost

TREASURER’S REPORT

by Jim Smucker, Berwick Academy, NEPSAC Treasurer

Thank you for your continued support and efforts this winter season.

DUES:

Beginning on July 1, 2024 all NEPSAC, District and Coaches Associations dues will be available to be paid on online and all dues need to be paid by October 15th:

NEPSAC PARTNERSHIPS

We are continuing to identify potential partnerships and sponsors for NEPSAC to help ensure that the the intentions of this organization are met, all while staying true to our mission and values. If you have a contact or know a vendor that may be interested in sponsoring or partnering with NEPSAC, please let us know.

REMINDERS/TIPS FOR MAKING PAYMENTS ONLINE:

To be most efficient it is important that schools only create one account when making their payments. If you don’t remember your login information, simply click on the “Forgot your username or password?” link to enter your email address to receive instructions to reset your password. Remember to check your spam/junk folder for these instruction emails.

Please be aware that there is a processing fee to off-set our cost with every online transaction. We are not able to refund processing fees, so please be diligent about this process and your record keeping.

How To View Your Account

Use this guide to learn how to view your account.

NEPSAC Online Directory:

Please continue to update your school information in the online directory with any changes that you might have. It is extremely important that we have accurate contact lists of our athletic departments for a variety of communications. The online system allows for the most efficient way to collect information. Examples of use: Our coaches associations, athletic trainers, schedulers, sports information directors, and equipment managers all need accurate email lists for their important communications. Look for reminders for 24-25 school year updates in May. Contact Laurie Sachs communications@nepsac.org if you have any questions.

The following resources are behind the password at www.nepsac.org to serve you better and streamline communication within NEPSAC:

» NEPSAC By-Law and Policy Handbook

» NEPSAC NIL Registration

Got news to share with other NEPSAC schools? Send the details to communications@nepsac.org and we’ll put it in the next issue.

» NEPSAC Grievance Form

» NEPSAC Expulsion Documentation Form

» NEPSAC NIL Policy and Registration Form

NEPSAC 2023–2024 MEETINGS

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Tuesday, September 19

Remote 8:15

Tuesday, October 10

Remote 8:15

Thursday, November 16

Boxborough, MA 4:00

Friday, November 17

Annual Meeting, Boxborough, MA

Tuesday, January 9

Remote 8:15

Tuesday, February 13 Remote 8:15

Tuesday, April 30

Cushing Academy 10:00

MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Thursday, March 29

Fay School 10:00

DISTRICT I

All meetings at Hyde School

Monday, September 11 10:00

Monday, November 13 10:00

Monday, February 26 10:00

Monday, May 20 10:00

Zoom meetings may be held if needed in October, January and April

DISTRICT II

Thursday, October 19

Holderness School 9:00

Thursday, February 8

Tilton School 9:00

Thursday, May 2

New Hampton School 9:00

Weekly meetings on Zoom from August 15, 2023 to May 7, 2024.

DISTRICT III

Tuesday, October 3

Zoom 10:00

Tuesday, January 23

TBD 11:00

Tuesday, April 30

Zoom 10:00

DISTRICT IV

Tuesday, September 26

Choate Rosemary Hall 10:00

Thursday, April 11

Westminster School 9:00

SPORTS MEDICINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT

by Amy Wiggins ATC, LATC; SMAC chair

Wow what a spring: rain, snow and a solar eclipse! I hope for a calm end of year. It is hard to believe it is April.

SMAC is now on Instagram as @nepsac_smac, please follow us and send us your news and pictures to share.

A few updates and reminders:

» Safe School Awards is now accepting applications. If you presently have this award, please let me know so I can update our web page. Over the next year, many changes will be made to simplify the application process.

» We will post any NEPSAC job openings for you on Instagram ! please send information to smacchair@nepsac.org

» Hockey neck guard requirements will go into effect for the winter 2024-25 season.

» Finally, please mark your calendars for November 22 , 2024 for our in person conference and meeting during the NEPSAC Annual Meeting; stay tuned for speaker details and more information.

Best, Amy

Hotchkiss Celebrates the Dedication of Khoury Court

On January 27, The Hotchkiss School marked a memorable moment with the dedication of its basketball court in the William C. Fowle Gymnasium as Khoury Court, honoring alumnus John Khoury ’95 and his family. The ceremony, held just before a game against Williston, was attended by Hotchkiss Trustees, Williston representatives, students, and special guests John Khoury, his wife Breanna, their children, and John’s sister Jennie Khoury Applebaum ’94.

The dedication acknowledged the Khoury family’s significant contributions to Hotchkiss’s basketball program. John Khoury, a former varsity basketball captain and a current member of the Board of Trustees, has been instrumental in shaping the program’s success. His tenure as a player marked a turning point for Bearcat basketball, leading to its growth into a prominent program.

Craig Bradley, along with Joe Busacca, head coach of the boys varsity basketball team, and team captains Carter Warren ’24, Davyn de Jongh ’24, and Dean Hogans ’25, led the ceremony. They expressed gratitude to the Khoury family for their unwavering support and presented a signed basketball and jerseys to the family.

The event culminated with the boys varsity basketball team inaugurating Khoury Court with an official game and win over Williston. This dedication not only celebrates John Khoury’s legacy but also signifies the ongoing strength and spirit of the Hotchkiss basketball program.

Photos courtesy Randy O’Rourke

When Life Gives You Storm Damage…

Rising from the regrettable loss last summer of the great beech tree that stood near the entrance to Tubridy Circle, these beautiful wolf sculptures were placed in their new home on the Rectory campus in early April. The single howling wolf stands upon the trunk of that tree, while the young cubs gaze across from the bed of pachysandra on the other side.

These beautiful pieces were carved from white pine by sculptor Cody Stosz of Kodiak Carving in Amherst, MA, using chainsaws of varied sizes. They will welcome one and all to the Rectory campus, a reminder of the enduring spirit of that guides our School. As Mr. Williams said, “Fifteen years ago, Rectory adopted the wolf as our mascot. The spirit of the wolf has become deeply ingrained in School life. That spirit now has a visible manifestation on display as you walk from the Tubridy Circle to our main entrance.”

As seen on Instagram

miltonadmission and miltonacademy Milton students were busy over spring break!

worcesteracademy Our baseball team had the once in a lifetime opportunity to play at Fenway South, spring training home of the @redsox, this week. The team is in Florida during break to get ready for the upcoming season!

NEPSAC Teams

theriversschool Exciting trips for our spring sports over March break! Boys’ and girls’ tennis traveled to Hilton Head, SC, while golf, softball, baseball, and girls’ lacrosse trained in the Orlando, FL, area.

thewinchendonschool The Winchendon School baseball team had a very successful spring break trip down in Port St. Lucie. The team spent a week down in Florida playing a rigorous schedule while battling the heat. Needless to say, it was a very successful trip. The team went 6-4 through their 10 games that were played. After returning to Winch, the boys started off the spring season at home on Wednesday with a win against St. Mark’s. Good luck the rest of the season!

on Spring Break

goshgreenwich Our Varsity A Lacrosse team just finished up an incredible training trip in Clearwater, FL! The girls were able to train, scrimmage, and have lots of fun! We cannot wait for the first game of the season this Friday!!

hopkinsschoolct Girls and Boys Lacrosse took a trip to Orlando, Florida this spring break for spring training! Boys Lacrosse coach Robbie LoRicco said, “We were provided the opportunity to scrimmage high level lacrosse programs that we would not usually get to face. After practices and games the team had access to several theme parks, including The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Studios, and Islands of Adventure. This trip proved not just to be a valuable training session, but an invaluable team bonding experience.” Girls Lacrosse coach Kristen Wich said, “Hopkins Girls Lacrosse was well-represented during spring training in Orlando, FL last week with 31 student-athletes and 4 coaches dominating practices, scrimmages, team bonding, and too many rides on the VelociCoaster to count.” Take a look through these photos to see some fun moments for the Hopkins Lacrosse teams! #GOHOP

trinitypawlingschool Trinity-Pawling baseball completed another great spring trip to Fort Pierce, Florida. The team had three competitive games with Lawrenceville, Berkshire, and John Burroughs (MO). As always, the trip was filled with a lot of practice and development time for a young but promising team. The team also had an amazing opportunity to hit with Mo Vaughn ’86 at his facility in Boca Raton. Mo and his team at @vaughnsportsacademy were incredibly gracious with their time and gave the team an experience they will never forget! #RollPride

ga_gators Chillaxin on Spring Break!! #GoGAtors! #FunInTheSun!

1929 Eaglebrook Winter Carnival invitation and program, sent to Frank Boyden, headmaster at Deerfield Academy

Scan this code with your phone to experience vintage 16mm winter fun!

THAYER ACADEMY | BRAINTREE, MASSACHUSETTS

Sentnor Success Receives Well-Earned Media Notice

by Bobbi D. Moran, edited by Craig Salters

Ally Sentnor ’21 is receiving a lot of attention these days as both an outstanding soccer player and a terrific role model, and the general feeling is that kudos couldn’t go to a nicer person.

That’s certainly the consensus in the friezebedecked halls of Thayer Academy, where Sentnor earned ISL All-League and NEPSAC AllLeague honors in both 2017 and 2018 while playing an impactful role in the Tigers’ 2017 NEPSAC championship. The Hanson native then took her talents to the University of North Carolina, earning First Team All-ACC and ACC Midfielder of the Year honors as a redshirt sophomore before being selected first overall by Utah Royals FC in the National Women’s Soccer League’s draft this past January. Sentnor made her NWSL debut March 16 in a home opener against the Chicago Red Stars and scored her first goal March 22 in a 2-1 victory over North Carolina Courage.

“We are incredibly proud of Ally and thrilled to watch her lead in an arena that feels as if it has been waiting for her arrival,” said Bobbi Moran, Thayer’s director of athletics. “What an incredible nod to Thayer’s girls soccer program to see Ally selected as the No. 1 pick in the NWSL draft.”

The Boston Globe recently took note of Sentnor’s accomplishments in a March 13 article written by the Globe’s Amin Touri. The piece chronicled Sentnor’s

rare combination of talent and drive, evident even at age 6, while noting her ability to remain grounded throughout the development process.

“There seems to be very little Ally Sentnor wants to talk less about than Ally Sentnor,” wrote Touri in his well-crafted profile of the soccer prodigy who only recently turned 20.

Moran said she received a phone call over Winter Recess from Ally’s mother asking permission for Ally to come to campus and use the soccer field for photos for a news story. “Yes” was the immediate and enthusiastic answer.

“I was thrilled that she wanted to have photos taken at Thayer,” said Moran. “It’s an honor for Ally to feel such a strong connection to her alma mater.”

Moran recalled her time working at the Loomis Chaffee School in Connecticut when the

U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team practiced on the prep school’s fields before a game. Moran took her young daughters to watch the practice and came away impressed at how Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, and their teammates were such great role models.

“I often think about how hard it is today to be in the limelight with all the social media pitfalls out there,” said Moran, “and yet Ally has demonstrated that she is a tremendous role model and mentor for the next generation of young girls who are searching for great athletes to look up to.”

CHRIS BERNSTEIN

UTAH ROYALS

Taft Coach Rachel Beam Named Coach of the Year

Congratulations to Taft Varsity Field Hockey Coach Rachel Beam, who has been named the MAX Field Hockey 2023 High School Northeast Region & Connecticut State Coach of the Year.

From MAX Field Hockey: In her first season, Beam led Taft to the WNEPSFHA Class A Championship, Founders League Championship, and NEPSAC A Championship. The Rhinos finished an undefeated 20-0-1 season as the top ranked team in the Northeast Region and #16 ranked team in the nation. They outscored opponents 121-20 and defeated the #1 ranked team in the New England Region, Phillips Academy Andover, 3-2 in the NEPSAC A final to claim the top prep school title. Read the full story here

NEPSAC Winter 2023–2024 Tournament Champions

Be sure to hit the links under each sport to see the All-NEPSAC athletes

BOYS BASKETBALL

Class AAA Vermont Academy

Class AA Bradford Christian Academy

Class A Phillips Exeter Academy

Class B The Rivers School

Class C The Wheeler School

Class D Lexington Christian Academy

All-NEPSAC List

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Class AA Noble & Greenough School

Class A Loomis Chaffee School

Class B St. George’s School

Class C Wilbraham & Monson Academy

Class D Rocky Hill Country Day School

All-NEPSAC List

BOYS ICE HOCKEY

Stuart/Corkery Tournament (OPEN) Kimball

Union Academy

Martin /Earl Tournament (LARGE) Kent School

Piatelli/Simmons Tournament (SMALL) Canterbury School

All-NEPSAC List

NEPSAC All Time Champions List

GIRLS ICE HOCKEY

Chuck Vernon ( ELITE) Bracket Noble and Greenough School

Patsy Odden (LARGE) Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School

Dorothy Howard (SMALL) New Hampton School

All-NEPSAC List

WRESTLING

Boys Overall Greens Farms Academy

Boys Small Roxbury Latin School

Girls Overall Phillips Andover Academy

Girls Small Middlesex School, Greens Farms Academy

All-NEPSAC List

BOYS SWIMMING AND DIVING

Division 1 Phillips Andover Academy

Division 2 St. George’s School

Division 3 Hamden Hall

All-NEPSAC List

GIRLS SWIMMING AND DIVING

Division 1 Phillips Exeter Academy

Division 2 Miss Porter’s School

Division 3 School of the Holy Child

BOYS ALPINE SKIING

Class A Northfield Mt. Hermon School

Class B Milton Academy

Class C Vermont Academy

GIRLS ALPINE SKIING

Class A Noble & Greenough School

Class B Holderness School

Class C Indian Mountain School

NORDIC SKIING

Boys Gould Academy

Girls Gould Academy

BOYS SQUASH

Class A Brunswick School

Class B Belmont Hill School

Class C Loomis Chaffee School

Class D Suffield Academy

GIRLS SQUASH

Class A Greenwich Academy

Class B Sacred Heart Greenwich

Class C Middlesex School

Class D St. Mark’s School

Class E The Ethel Walker School

ROBERT FALCETTI/TAFT

NEWTON COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL | NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Ringing in the 2024 Tennis Season with NCDS alumna

Karen O’Sullivan, U.S. Tennis Association of New England Hall of Famer

by Laura Kelly, Digital Communications Specialist, Newton Country Day School

Even in her youth, before earning numerous national and international athletic accolades, Karen O’Sullivan ’93 was a trailblazer. When she started in eighth grade at NCDS in 1989, she was one of only a few students who commuted from the city, while most of the student population came from Newton and its nearby suburbs. “I was an anomaly of sorts. I had to acclimate. I didn’t know what to expect when I started this journey. My classmates didn’t know what to expect, either. I was probably the first kid they met from South Boston.”

Despite having a different background than the majority of her peers, O’Sullivan shared that her 27-person graduating class was a tight-knit community that gave her and the women around her “a strong foundation that was truly special.” This foundation served her well in her academic and athletic careers during and after high school, and continues to hold strong today.

O’Sullivan explained that what is taught in the classroom at NCDS is transferable to all aspects of life, including sports. “[Being an NCDS student] was a wonderful experience to open my eyes to other opportunities. The curriculum at Newton shares the careers and paths available to girls. It opened my eyes to what else was out there in the world.” Carrying this mindset with her, she played on the NCDS tennis team, receiving accolades such as 4-time EIL MVP, League AllStar and AISGA All-Star and was elected into the NCDS Hall of Fame. NCDS was supportive of her tennis career both in and outside of school, ensuring that tennis could remain a cornerstone of her life while she was a student. Balance was

key, O’Sullivan shared. “It’s one of those things that you strive for but is hard to achieve. Stay true to yourself,” she advised student athletes. “Be authentic to who you are and what you want to do, have a good work ethic, put your best efforts forward and hopefully good results will come.”

She then went on to play at Duke University, where she was a two-year captain, two-time All-American, was named All-ACC on three occasions, and participated in the Professional Women’s Tour in Europe following her graduation. She has been a New England adult tournament player for the past 20 years, and in 2023, she was inducted into the U.S. Tennis Association of New England Hall of Fame, and enshrined at a ceremony at the International Hall of Fame in Newport, RI. O’Sullivan’s continued success in

tennis has provided a pathway to giving back to the tennis community.

“[The USTA New England Hall of Fame] was an amazing acknowledgement,” O’Sullivan shared. “I was truly honored to be recognized for not only my competitive achievements, but also my contributions to the sport, which is an important journey of mine. It has given me the opportunity to travel the world and to make life-long friends, but also to give back through nonprofits in the New England area. That is my continued mission now.”

O’Sullivan’s present endeavor is leading the nonprofit Police Activities League (PAL) as its Executive Director. PAL is a Boston nonprofit that

Karen

promotes positive, trusting relationships between law enforcement and the community through programs and experiences. The organization supports programs that empower young people and guide them toward a successful future. “Moving forward, we all need to think about how we can positively impact the lives of youth when the world is not an easy place at times,” she said. “Many aren’t as fortunate as others, so how can we work collectively to help kids get on a productive life path?”

O’Sullivan and her father, Jerry, were also recently recognized by Sportsmen’s Tennis Center, a Dorchester nonprofit offering free and low-cost tennis, academics, and life skills programming to more than 5000 youth from underserved Boston communities. “I started playing there at eight years old,” O’Sullivan shared. “It’s been an amazing journey that allows me to positively impact the lives of city kids, and that deeply resonates with me and makes me very proud. It’s really come full circle.”

O’Sullivan ’93 with her father, Jerry. Photo courtesy Karen O’Sullivan.

RCDS Honors Coach Gil Castagna for 45 Years at RCDS with Ceremonial Puck Drop

At the Girls’ Varsity Hockey season opener on Monday, December 4, Coach Gil Castagna (Coach C.), took part in a ceremonial puck drop to commemorate his 45 years at RCDS. Prior to the puck drop, Associate Director of Athletics Wendy Haft and Girls’ Varsity Hockey Head Coach Jess Zimmerman reminisced about Coach C.’s impact on the entire Wildcat commu-

nity during his tenure. Coach C. was then presented with a small token of appreciation, a custom engraved puck.

A special highlight was the unveiling of a special banner that will be hung during the winter season, which the Girls’ Varsity Ice Hockey team dedicated to Coach C. Thank you, Coach C., for 45 incredible years! Once A Wildcat, Always A Wildcat! RYE

Bruins Announce 2024 Recipients of John Carlton Memorial Trophies

Both players were recognized at the Bruins game against the Ottawa Senators on April 16 at TD Garden

by Boston Bruins

BOSTON - On April 15, The Boston Bruins announced that forward Monique Lyons of The Williston Northampton School and forward Austin Borggaard of St. Mark’s School are this year’s recipients of the 2024 John Carlton Memorial Trophies.

The John Carlton Memorial Trophies are given annually by the Boston Bruins to the outstanding female and male student athletes in Massachusetts high school or junior hockey. The Trophies are awarded to students who excel in hockey and in off-ice endeavors, including academics and extracurriculars. The award is in honor of the late Bruins scout and administrator John Carlton, who passed away in December of 1982 after a long and dedicated tenure in hockey at all levels of the game.

Lyons is a three-sport student athlete at The Williston Northampton School, where she plays ice hockey, soccer and softball. The left winger served as an assistant captain during the 2023-24 season, recording 30 goals and 29 assists for 59 points through 26 games. She won back-to-back NEPSAC championships (2023, 2022) with Williston Northampton, and earned recognition as a member of the all-NEPSAC team and Co-Player of the year following the 2024 season. Lyons is an honor roll student who will continue her hockey career at Brown University in the fall.

Borggaard, a Worcester, Mass. native, attends St. Mark’s School, where he plays ice hockey and lacrosse. In his senior season, the center served as captain and tallied 24 goals and 25 assists for 49 points in 28 games, leading the Independent School League in goals and earning a spot on the All-ISL 1st team. He won two consecutive ISL Eberhart Division championships with St. Mark’s in 2022 and 2023. Borggaard is an honor roll student who will continue his hockey career at Sacred Heart University in the fall of 2025.

Both players were recognized during the second intermission at the Bruins game against the Ottawa Senators on April 16 at TD Garden.

ASBA Honors Distinguished Sports Facilities

Forest Hill, MD – The American Sports Builders Association (ASBA), the national organization for builders and suppliers of materials for athletic facilities, has announced the winners of its annual awards. Awards are presented each year to facilities built by ASBA members, which best exemplify construction excellence.

Awards are presented in various categories: Tennis Courts, Running Tracks, Sports Fields, Pickleball Facilities, Multi-Purpose Facilities and Track & Field Facilities. Within some categories, there are divisions; for example, the Sports Field category recognizes single- and multiple-field facilities.

Winners of awards were announced at the Association’s 2023 Technical Meeting, presented from December 1–4 in Houston, Texas. The meeting served as a testament to ASBA’s growing membership, as well as its reach in the industry, having a record-breaking attendance of 1,100 individuals, an increase of more than 30% over any of the Association’s meetings to date.

“We are proud of the work done by all members of ASBA but this year’s award-winning projects showcase true excellence,” said David Clapp, CTCB, chairman of the Association. “They are not only designed and constructed to exacting standards, as well as being aesthetically beautiful, but they provide an excellent playing experience for the athletes who use them and the spectators who come to watch them.”

Projects are scored individually based on considerations such as layout and design, site work, drainage, base construction, surface, amenities, innovation and overall impression. Winning entries are those whose cumulative scores met or exceeded the standard.

NEPSAC Honorees

Distinguished Multi-Field Facilities

» BB&N Grove Street Athletic Campus, Watertown, Massachusetts. Activitas Inc.

Distinguished Outdoor Tennis Facilities

» Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut. Classic Turf Company LLC.

» Pingree School, Hamilton, Massachusetts. Huntress Associates Inc.

» Williston Northampton School, Easthampton, Massachusetts. Classic Turf Company LLC.

Outstanding Outdoor Tennis Facility of the Year

» Bronze Award. The Eren Family Tennis Center at Rumsey Hall School, Washington Depot, Connecticut. Classic Turf Company LLC.

DISTINGUISHED MULTI-FIELD FACILITY: Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School, Grove Street Athletic Campus, Watertown Massachusetts. Activitas Inc.

OUTSTANDING OUTDOOR TENNIS FACILITY, BRONZE

AWARD: The Eren Family Tennis Center at Rumsey Hall School, Washington Depot, Connecticut. Classic Turf Company LLC.

DISTINGUISHED OUTDOOR TENNIS FACILITIES: Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut. Classic Turf Company LLC.

DISTINGUISHED OUTDOOR TENNIS FACILITIES: Pingree School, Hamilton, Massachusetts. Huntress Associates Inc.

DISTINGUISHED OUTDOOR TENNIS FACILITIES: Williston Northampton School, Easthampton, Massachusetts. Classic Turf Company LLC.

The Strength of Mark Ellis ’13

by Jerry Price

As a PG student at Westminster, Mark Ellis ’13 was a phenomenal athlete, a standout on both the football and lacrosse fields. Timothy Joncas ’00, director of athletics, recalls that “Mark held himself and his teammates to incredibly high standards of performance and conduct. He epitomized grit and grace on and off the field.”

Recently, Ellis became the director of Olympic sports performance at Northwestern University. He was previously the strength and conditioning coach and the lead performance coach for the men’s lacrosse team at Princeton.

Ellis continues to be very engaged with Westminster.

He returned last fall to share his story with students and his energy and passion for Westminster was palpable, says Joncas.

In the following article, written by Jerry Price in 2023 and reprinted with permission from Princeton University Athletics, Ellis shares a very personal story of grit and grace.

In the weight room, there is no place to hide.

There are no excuses to be made, no negotiations to be had, no blame to place elsewhere. It is a place of total, brutal, sometimes crushing, sometimes uplifting honesty.

There is only the weight you can lift, the weight you cannot lift and the effort you’re willing to put in to close the gap between the two.

That’s the lure for Mark Ellis, the reason he is drawn to such a place.

The weight room is life’s metaphor.

Mark Ellis is told that he is at once old-school and cutting edge, and his first response is to laugh.

“That’s actually a perfect assessment of me,” he says after a moment’s contemplation of the seemingly incongruous duality.

He has old-school eyes, strong, deep-set and tough. He has a cutting-edge mouth, educated, fast-talking, sharp, always engaged.

The 28-year-old Ellis sits on a bench outside of the Caldwell Field House. He is at home here. He is a strength and conditioning coach at Princeton, working with men’s swimming and diving, women’s diving, men’s soccer, women’s tennis and men’s lacrosse. His impact has been felt quickly: The men’s soccer and women’s tennis teams won Ivy League championships this year, and the men’s swimming and diving team finished second.

As for men’s lacrosse, the Tigers reached the NCAA Final Four for the first time in 18 years, led onto the field literally by the man they call “Coach Ellis.” On game days the team would line up in two columns behind him and follow him out onto the field. In reality they would follow him anywhere, with the respect he’s earned and the impact he’s made on them, collectively and individually.

“The best way I can describe him is to say that he is a life force,” says Princeton head men’s lacrosse coach Matt Madalon.

“He makes everything he touches better.”

How do the players he works with describe him?

“He is relentless,” says longstick midfielder Luca Lazzaretto. “He does everything relentlessly for us. He is top-to-bottom relentless. He is paramount for our team’s success.”

“He is a ball of energy,” says midfielder Alexander Vardaro. “I only need to use the word ‘energy’ to describe him. His energy is unmatched. Every morning, maybe the guys are tired. Maybe they were up late doing schoolwork. He can lift up everyone’s energy. He sets the tone. Chest high. Full speed. Full effort.”

“Energy,” says shortstick defensive midfielder Marquez White.

“Energy,” says defenseman Jacob Stoebner.

The cutting-edge part of who Ellis is comes from his commitment to bringing the latest in science and technology to his teams. The old-school part is his understanding that all the technology in the world doesn’t help you much if you don’t put in the work. These are lessons he learned from his own experiences as a lacrosse player, first at Garden City High School and then later at both Stony Brook, where he got his undergraduate degree, and Hofstra, where he earned his master’s, and ultimately for two summers with Major League Lacrosse.

“You can blame the coach for not playing you,” he says. “You can’t blame anyone in the weight room. There aren’t any magic tricks there. It’s hard work. To do anything successfully, you have to work at it consistently. It’s about discipline. The data stuff is really cool, but I like the work. I like the hard work.”

It is the old-school part that has enabled him to lift the weights he can lift, the literal ones of metal and the figurative ones that are much heavier. Just exactly how strong he is was made clear to the members of the Princeton men’s lacrosse team in his speech before the team got on the bus for championship weekend.

“That story,” White says, “made me feel that rather than just being the team that he worked with, we were his brothers that he wanted to see succeed.”

On the bench not far removed from where he gave that speech, Ellis is talking about the sports bras.

“What do the, um …”

“The sports bras?”

“The vests.”

“You can call them sports bras.”

OK, the sports bras. They’re part of the Catapult system and they’re worn by the members of the men’s lacrosse team under their uniforms, in games and in practices. They measure anything and everything related to the fitness of the athletes who wear them. He was first introduced to the sport science at Stony Brook and brought it with him to Princeton.

HIS ENERGY IS UNMATCHED. EVERY MORNING, MAYBE

THE GUYS ARE TIRED. MAYBE THEY WERE UP LATE DOING SCHOOLWORK. HE CAN LIFT UP EVERYONE’S ENERGY. HE SETS THE TONE. CHEST HIGH. FULL SPEED. FULL EFFORT.

PRINCETON MIDFIELDER ALEXANDER VARDARO

“With Catapult we can cover yardage, high-speed yardage, 75 percent of max velocity,” he says. “We can monitor player load. We can look at effort numbers. Maybe you have two guys who play the same position, but their numbers are much different. With the timing units we have, the speed velocity stuff, they can see where they stand. Nobody wants to be the best two-miler on the team. You run the two-mile test once and say ‘OK, you’re in shape. Good for you.’ But are you the fastest on the team? Are you the fastest in your group? Are you maybe just faster than your buddy? They all want to be the fastest. They become unwillingly competitive.”

He came to Princeton during the pandemic year, which gave him a chance to implement his systems with the 25 or so players who were on campus in the spring of 2021. They in turn were able to help the returnees and newcomers become acclimated when they returned last fall.

“He calls it ‘Feed the Tigers,’” Vardaro says. “For years, for a long time, the goal for lacrosse players was to get as strong as possible. He said he wanted us to get really explosive and really fast. He’s been the backbone of that aspect of the program. His lacrosse background, collegiate and professional, has really helped us with what direction we take, how we do conditioning. He has great expertise.”

The results were obvious. Princeton’s personality was defined by the toughness, quickness and physicality that was instilled by the man who led them onto the field.

“He had a monumental impact on us,” Stoebner says. “He ensured that we were ready week in week out. He understands the wear and tear of a long season and he prepped our bodies extremely well in the fall. I think his speed training impacted us most. I felt the fastest I’ve ever been. Our guys felt the same and it definitely showed on game day. But it’s not just his workouts that impact the team; it’s the unending energy that he brings during our workouts, practices, and on game days.”

His impact was clear from the start of the fall season, even after more than a year away from playing. It carried over into the

spring, when the Tigers went from being unranked to moving into the top five of the national rankings and staying there most of the season.

Princeton had not reached the NCAA tournament in 10 years. It had made the most recent of its 10 trips to Championship Weekend in 2004, 18 years earlier. This time, the Tigers earned the fifth seed in the tournament and ran past Boston University 12-5 and Yale 14-10 to reach the semifinals.

The win over Yale came on the same Shuart Stadium field at Hofstra where he had played for the Pride. When he walked the team out of the locker room, it was clear how much the moment meant to him.

Nearly a week later, the team gathered in the Caldwell locker room before getting on the bus to head to Hartford and the Final Four. Madalon asked each coach if they wanted to say anything.

Almost nobody was ready for what Mark Ellis said.

If you looked out the front of the house where Mark Ellis grew up, you saw the town of Hempstead.

“In Hempstead, it’s simple,” he says. “You graduate from high school, and then you go to work for the town of Hempstead. Facilities. Landscape. Something like that.”

If you looked out the back of that house, you saw Garden City.

“In Garden City, it’s not a question of if you’re going to go to college,” he says. “It’s just about where you’re going. I was fortunate. I got to attend school in Garden City. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew what I didn’t want to do. I didn’t want to work for the town of Hempstead.”

His parents had three children, separated by seven years each, before they divorced when Ellis was seven. The oldest is his sister Dominque, who is now 35. Then there is Ellis. His brother Michael is 21. His mother, a nurse, remarried a man who had four children, two boys and two girls: Stacey, now 35; Diquan, 28; Corey, 23; and Markea, 21.

“Corey and I were very close,” Ellis says. “He’s the one I related to the most. He was competitive. I could take him anywhere with me.”

His stepfather was one who worked for the town of Hempstead. Ellis would live with his mother and stepfather until they moved to Roosevelt when he was in high school. At that point, he moved in with the family of one of his best friends in Garden City.

“I went from not even having a bed to having my own room,” he says.

Of the seven children in the family, he was the only one who went to college. His first athletic love was football, which he began to play when he was 10. In Garden City, though, lacrosse is king, and the list of the players who came through there with Ellis is long and distinguished, including the likes of Duke’s Justin Guterding, Harvard’s Devin Dwyer and Stephen Jahelka, and Virginia goalie Dan Marino.

“It was Marino who told me that I should try lacrosse,” he says. “I was the oddball in Garden City who wasn’t playing.”

He first tried the sport in eighth grade, when he was handed a long pole by the coach. He took it home and decided to work on ground balls, only his yard was too small to do so. Instead, he practiced picking up loose balls on concrete, and he almost immediately tore the mesh right down the middle.

“After two days, they took the pole away and gave me a shortstick,” he says. “They told me I was now a middie.”

He was a running back and cornerback in football, a wrestler, a track and field athlete and a middie at Garden City High School. When he graduated, he was unsure of his next move, until his lacrosse coach told him about a Connecticut prep school, Westminster, that would offer him a scholarship for a PG year and that it would be a great stepping stone to college.

“I was shell-shocked,” he says. “It was school six days a week. It was jacket and tie. I had to adapt to the lifestyle there. I could tell there was a recklessness, a childishness there. I wasn’t used to any of that. But I got to meet new people, and I ended up having a great experience.”

He thought his route to college would be as a football player, but he didn’t like the recruiting process for the sport. When the chance to get a scholarship to Stony Brook arose, he jumped at it.

“I was going to visit Maryland,” he says. “I still have the voicemail on my phone from Coach [John] Tillman. But Stony Brook was willing to pay for everything.”

He pauses for a moment as he sits on the bench. Then he adds this part of the story:

“And I had some family stuff.”

Yes, he did. He’s had it his whole life.

His father had his share of legal troubles, and Ellis “hasn’t seen him work a day in his life.” His oldest brother ended up in trouble with the law and going to prison. He had been extremely close to his grandmother, who had raised him along with his mother. He calls her his “safe place and best friend.” She died while he was at Westminster. When it came time for college, he wanted to stay close to home to be around for his mother.

There was one member of his family who had gone to college and in fact was a college athlete, a women’s volleyball player at Tampa. She was a cousin named Melissa Vanderhall, and she had been a three-time first-team All- American and three-time Academic All-American. She had inspired Ellis that he, too, could make it to college.

On Aug. 13, 2017, while Ellis was at Stony Brook, Vanderhall’s mentally disturbed brother murdered her, her mother and her best friend. It was the second time in less than a year that Ellis had to deal with his family and murder.

The first time was when he woke up on Sept. 1, 2016. The aftermath of that moment will linger with him forever. And that was what he wanted to share with the lacrosse team in the locker room when it was his turn to speak.

“I wanted the guys to realize that yes, we were going to play Maryland, and we might win and we might lose, but there are things that are bigger than that,” he says. “I felt like I needed to tell them.”

“I didn’t know about it before he told us,” Vardaro says. “His story touched everyone. There were definitely tears when he was done.”

The same phone that has the old message from John Tillman also has another voicemail. This one does not make Ellis smile.

On the night of Aug. 31, 2016, Ellis went to sleep in his room at Stony Brook. At 1:33 a.m. on Sept. 1, his phone rang. He slept through it.

When he woke up, he saw he had a voicemail from an unknown number. The message was soul-crushing.

Ellis has had his phone in his hands the entire time he has been sitting on the bench. He has gone back and pulled out a few pictures, some of his family. He’s shown a picture of his murdered cousin Melissa. Now he again goes into his phone, this time to play the voicemail.

It starts out as the voice identifies himself as a detective with the Nassau County police department. It goes on to say that his younger brother Corey has been arrested and they were trying to reach his father. Corey didn’t know his dad’s number. He did know Ellis.’

I WANT TO BE PART OF A CULTURE WHERE THE CHILDREN I WORK WITH COME BACK AND SAY, ‘THIS WAS THE BEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE.’ I WANT THEM TO SEE ME AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS AND SAY, ‘YOU HAD A BIG IMPACT ON MY LIFE.’

“It’s crazy,” Ellis says after the message trails off. “We have the same parents. The same background. I told Corey he had two routes to choose from me. He could follow me to college. He could end up incarcerated. He chose the worst evil.”

Corey, whose last name is Williams, was alleged to be part of a series of violent crimes in Nassau County that spanned nearly a year. Included in that spree were two murders.

The legal process took a major toll on Ellis. The most heartwrenching was when he saw the tape of his brother in the interrogation room, calling out for him. The trial would last four weeks, and the jury would deliberate for nearly a day before convicting him on all 17 charges, including two counts of seconddegree murder.

He was sentenced to 100 years to life in prison. He was 19 years old at the time. He is currently serving his time in Attica State Penitentiary in upstate New York.

“He ended up in a bad environment, with idiotic, nomentorship situations,” Ellis says. “I wasn’t there for him. I was at school. People hate when I say that, but I feel like I let him down. My brother means a lot to me, but lives were taken and you have to pay for that. It’s hard for me to think that I’ll never see him again outside of those walls.”

That’s part of the story that Ellis told the men’s lacrosse team.

“That story was incredibly touching,” Lazzaretto says. “That’s something none of us knew, but we all really felt it when he said it all.”

“I never knew that about Coach Ellis,” White says. “Hearing that story really gave me a new perspective on the hardships that have surrounded him throughout his life and how he’s become so successful despite them. I think this story is more powerful because of the fact that his brother is around our age. Coach Ellis was able to connect with us so well because he wishes his brother was able to be here and do something like this, but instead we have taken that place in his life.”

As Princeton’s season went along, Ellis had been keeping Corey updated. As the games got more dramatic, Corey’s interest grew.

“He wouldn’t ask me how I was doing,” Ellis says. “He’d go right to asking me about how the team was doing. I’d send him pictures. I’d send him clips. He’s the same age as the guys on the team. I wanted them to know that there were people they didn’t know who were rooting for them. It was a vulnerable spot for me, but I felt like I had to tell them.”

The other part of the story was about family. It was, as White said, about how he has found another family with the people in the locker room.

“It was an incredible moment,” Madalon says. “He’s an amazing person. He’s persevered through so much, and he still has such a great outlook about everything. He really touched everyone on our team.”

“We always talk about the aspect of family,” Vardaro says. “Coach Madalon always says it’s ‘we,’ not ‘I.’ We do things as a unit. This is a team sport. In the case of Coach Ellis, he embodies the brotherhood we try to create with Princeton men’s lacrosse. He really is a great man.”

Ellis pulls out his phone again and shows a few pictures of Corey. He’s seen him outside of the prison once when Corey’s grandmother passed away, and he was allowed to go to the funeral. The hurt is obvious when Ellis talks about his brother. The waste.

So, too, is the determination that has brought him from, as he said, the same background as his brother all the way to this bench on the Princeton campus.

“I was nervous when I first walked into this,” he says. “If you looked at the rest of my family minus me, you’d say there was no way I’d ever work at a place like Princeton. For me, I can bring them something different. I can tell them about my brother. It doesn’t matter about your background. People see me and they don’t necessarily think ‘Princeton’ when they do. ‘You coach at Princeton?’ they say. ‘You’re not Princeton material.’ I was the only Black kid on any team I was on in high school. I can bring some light to the guys. These are some issues they’ve never had to deal with. I can’t blame them for not knowing what they don’t know. But maybe they think ‘if this is something that Coach Ellis, who cares so much about me, deals with, then maybe I need to step back and consider things.’ I was worried when I came here that I would be dealing with a different kind of kid, but they’re not much different from the children at Stony Brook and Hofstra that I played with. The academics are tougher. They ask a lot more questions, that’s for sure. If they don’t know something, they’re going to ask. I like that. I like the idea that I can teach them something they don’t know to guys who know a lot.”

He had thought about possibly going into coaching or athletic training, but the strength coach at Hofstra suggested Ellis would be good at what he did.

“I love to see the athletes progress,” he says. “I love to see it click in their heads. ‘Coach Ellis taught me this.’ I know what it takes to do it now. Yes, I’m coaching, but the athlete controls his or her fate. Sometimes they get lost. They just want to push and push and push. They want to see the reward. It’s perfect for a school like Princeton, where everyone is so intelligent. They see the numbers. They see the progression. They see where they are in the pecking order without having to have it be subjective. Are you the slowest kid? Now we can fix that. They can see progress. They can see it. I love helping them get there.”

His vehicle for all of this is the weight room, that place of no BS. It fits him. There’s no BS to him either. He wants to grow in the position, eventually to run his own department.

Mark Ellis will stay true to himself. That you don’t have to worry about. He talks about how his mother never had to worry about him, how self-reliant he’s always been.

When he talks about wanting to make his family proud, he means the one he grew up in. He has two families now, though.

That one, to whom he is still strongly connected, especially to the brother with whom all future contact will be on the other side of that horrific wall.

To that he has added the Princeton family.

“He’s as much a part of us as anyone,” Madalon says. “And we couldn’t be more thrilled about that.”

“I want to be able to impact people,” Ellis says. “This may sound naïve, but I want to impact people in a way that will stay with them. I want to be part of a culture where the children I work with come back and say, ‘This was the best experience of my life.’ I want them to see me after all those years and say, ‘You had a big impact on my life.’”

Then he gets up from the bench and heads toward Jadwin Gym, back to work. There’s only one thought to be had as you see him walk away.

Doesn’t he realize he already has?

Mark Ellis visited campus last year to talk to students about his career.

Science in Motion

New technology helps optimize Big Red athletic performance and recovery

by Brian Muldoon

Football co-captain Nihaal Rana ’24 enters the Downer Family Fitness Center for an off-season workout after a full day of classes. He warms up quickly to the fast-paced rhythms pumping through the facility sound system, then greets head strength and conditioning coach Shaun Fishel, aligns his feet on the left and right side of a force plate deck, and gets ready to jump. Fishel pulls up Rana’s profile on an iPad and prepares a countdown for him to complete a series of countermovement jumps.

Rana stands with his hands on his hips, then squats and jumps as high as he can. As he leaps, a three-dimensional, fullbody assessment camera captures his movements and more than 70 data points, including body weight, jump height and peak propulsive force. That data will help shape Rana’s workout program for peak performance.

Although force plates are new to Exeter, they are a staple in collegiate and professional strength and sports medicine facilities and have become part of medical testing at the NFL Scouting Combine.

capturing data to help his conditioning workouts.

“It is interesting to be able to track my progress,” Rana says. “Coaches want to know your weight and how much force you can create, so it is cool to be able to have this in our gym on campus.”

The data is also used to individualize strategies for injury prevention and rehabilitation. Fishel says the software includes an automatic flagging system that identifies potential body mechanic problems. For example, lower-limb asymmetries could alert trainers that a student is favoring one side because of tightness, injury or natural body development. Not all asymmetries need to be fixed, but the data identifies a student’s baseline.

The body assessment camera also notes potential body compensations that would raise a student’s risk of injury. Capturing a baseline measure of function offers a guide to any rehab program necessary for a student to return to play.

“This has been a game changer,” Director of Athletic Training Adam Hernandez says. “Having objective data that we can point to so we’re not guessing on how a student feels has allowed us to return students back from injury in a safer manner and has decreased the amount of time a student has a recurrence of an injury. We can look at the data and know how close they are to their normal.”

The jump tests can also create a motivational bond among teammates who use the technology during their scheduled inseason lifts.

“Whenever our team gets on the force plates, it’s a good chance to get everyone hyped up,” says Kate Rose ’24, co-captain of the varsity field hockey team. “We all yell and cheer each other on. It

Above and below: head strength and conditioning coach Shaun Fishel works with Nihaal Rana ’24,

can be fun. We use the data to compete a little bit against each other, too.”

Although the programming, data and use of this equipment is supervised by the strength and conditioning staff, once students are trained they can test themselves and track their progress. The ability to view results in real time and notice developments, fatigue or other variances in their personalized data gives students ownership and responsibility for their training.

“Our students bring in exactly what they bring into the classroom with a sense of agency and a sense of wonder,” Hernandez says. “They want to see the data and want to understand what the data means. It gives us another opportunity to educate our students. We are arming them with data to ask good health questions, be stewards of their own health-care, and prepare them to be lifelong healthy individuals.”

Force plate data example. Image courtesy Hawkin Dynamics.

Athletes are not the only beneficiaries. As Fishel says: “No matter what sport they play, or even if they do not play a sport, this technology offers data that we can look at to keep all students healthy.”

Kate Rose and Adam Hernandez work with a body assessment camera.

Kedeem Octave ’12

Mentoring Kids Through Baseball, Technology, and Life Lessons

by Maria Buteux Reade

Not many twenty-somethings start nonprofit foundations. Even fewer become major league baseball coaches. But then again, Kedeem Octave, now 29, is not your average young man.

Octave spent a postgraduate year at Trinity-Pawling. Equally talented in soccer and baseball, he chose to pursue collegiate baseball, his true passion, and dreamed of a professional career. However, two shoulder surgeries and a broken leg knocked him out of contention as a major league player. “Those injuries caused me to pivot from my dream of playing pro ball,” Octave recounts. “But I didn’t give up hope. I wouldn’t be where I am today if those events hadn’t happened. Baseball has reaffirmed all the major life lessons: time management, how to deal with failure, and the importance of being relentless in pursuing my goals.”

After graduating in 2017 from Wilmington University where he had earned an academic scholarship, Octave turned his sights on becoming a major league coach. “Baseball was changing, and I saw data analytics as an exciting new tool. I found opportunities that put me ahead of the curve and developed ways to translate data into transformative coaching for the players.” That data included information tracked by hightech monitors on elements such as swing mechanics, bat speed, launch angle of the ball, biometrics, and efficiency of body movements.

First steps in his path? Serving as director of baseball operations at West Point and then volunteering as a coach at Virginia Tech, an early adopter of technology and statistical analysis. The immersive experience he gained there caught the attention of the Minnesota Twins who hired Octave for video and data analysis. Next came a job in player development for the New York Mets, before the St. Louis Cardinals hired him as an on-field hitting coach.

Kedeem and his brother Stephen ’14, a scout for the Chicago White Sox, pursued another dream they shared: creating a foundation to give kids the opportunity to succeed in baseball,

regardless of financial background. Established in 2019, the KS Octave Foundation runs training events and camps that incorporate the same technology that professional teams use. Proceeds from these events help fund more opportunities for young players who cannot otherwise afford it. “We’ve hosted more than 60 camps so far, primarily in our main facility located in the Hudson Valley, where Stephen and I grew up. We work with 25 to 30 kids in each session and divide them into smaller groups of

five. Each group is paired with a separate piece of technology and a coach.”

“We’ve made a sizable investment in this approach, and that allows us to provide a unique experience for our young athletes’ skill development. We also provide access to a number of pro ball players who stop by or join through FaceTime to share honest stories and offer words of encouragement with the kids. They jump at the chance to have an impact on these young players.” The foundation also provides scholarships for exemplary college-bound athletes.

“Baseball has been good to Stephen and me, and this foundation means a great deal to us,” Octave concludes. “This is a creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial venture that bears our family name. We try to be the mentors we wish we had as young adults. The foundation represents our commitment to setting goals and taking risks. We teach the kids that if you fail, get up again and figure out how to move forward. And as my parents taught us, if you’re truly passionate, you’ll keep going.”

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Kedeem (left) and brother Stephen (right) at a youth camp.

Beyond Baseball

Exploring American History Through Athletics and Art

by Joe Charles; photos by Joe Charles unless

noted otherwise

The upper school History course “Stars, Stripes, Seams, & Stitches: Baseball & American Culture” is a captivating journey for students into the heart of American history through the lens of the nation’s beloved pastime. The semester-long study, designed and taught by History Department Chair Patrick O’Neill, uses baseball as a lens to investigate and assess complex historical and societal issues while examining the origins and expansion of the game from the late 19th to the late 20th century.

The course, now in its second year, was conceived out of a desire to explore American history in a unique way.

“While football may have taken the lead in popularity, baseball holds a special place as our national pastime,” said O’Neill. “I wanted students to experience American history through the captivating narratives embedded in the game of baseball.”

O’Neill noted that it took two years to design the cross-disciplinary class, with

the school providing ample professional growth and development opportunities to shape a curriculum appealing to both sports enthusiasts and historians. The result is a course that not only delves into the intricacies of baseball but also weaves a tapestry of American history through its stitches.

Through Harkness conversations, roleplay simulations, assigned readings, essay writing, and benchmark assessments,

students seek answers to two essential questions: How does baseball reflect, challenge, or reinforce American culture? How and why do we create baseball heroes?

A visit to the National Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, provided students the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice by critiquing the museum’s presentation and making recommendations about how the exhibits

could be redesigned to present a more complete story of the game.

“Our trip to the Hall of Fame was very interesting to see how they chose to portray the story of the game differently than some of the things we talked about in class,” said Owen McGreevey ’26.

Owen, who plays baseball at King, added that he appreciated the unique lens the course offered into American History.

“As a baseball player, it was interesting to learn the history of the game and how it was more than just a game,” he said.

The course concluded on Jan. 11, as students completed their culminating project: “Beyond Stats: Baseball Cards Reimagined.” The project was inspired by Topps Project70, in which artists were commissioned to reimagine classic baseball cards.

Working in groups, students reimagined cards for Branch Rickey, Henry Aar-

on, and Barry Bonds. Using class readings, discussions, and assignments to inform their designs, students worked with Art and Design teacher Ran LaPolla to tell a more comprehensive story of players, the game, and American society.

“They worked mostly with existing images that they find on the internet, including symbolic imagery that helps ‘tell’ the story of their card,” said LaPolla. “The students have great ideas, and the project has been very successful!”

Leina Wyatt ’24, whose card featured Branch Rickey, felt the collaborative nature of the final project could be challenging at times but ultimately was a rewarding experience.

“I think we were all very encouraging of each other’s ideas, and I think that everyone was satisfied with the results,” she said.

Photo courtesy Patrick O’Neill

Taking the Plunge For the Bulakuls, Swimming is a Family Affair

by Chelsea Edgar

The Bulakul family gene pool might, in fact, be a swimming pool. Brothers Teddy ’06, Tim ’08, and Tyler ’10 grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, and their parents often took them to the beach or the pool to beat the intense heat. By the third grade, the boys were swimming for their British international school’s team. At Hotchkiss, they set records in Hixon Pool that stand to this day. And this summer, Bulakul Bearcats made waves together competing as a family and representing Thailand at the World Aquatics Masters Championships, a biennial event held in Japan in 2023—a testament to their unwavering commitment to excellence and the support they found within the Hotchkiss community.

For the Bulakuls, swimming is much more than a competitive sport; it’s a lifelong discipline that has bonded them as brothers and teammates. “It’s taught us a lot about accountability, about showing up to practice and putting in the work,” said Teddy, who swam at Johns Hopkins University after graduating from Hotchkiss. “It’s about camaraderie and grittiness, and those things have carried us through from when we were young to Hotchkiss and college and now in our professional lives.” After Hotchkiss, all three Bulakuls went on to swim for their respective colleges—Teddy and Tim at Johns Hopkins and Tyler at Amherst College, where he continued to break conference and college records. In recent years, Teddy and Tyler, who competed in the World Championships, have moved to far-flung parts of the world to pursue their careers: Teddy earned his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, resides in northern Virginia, and works in sales for Microsoft; Tyler earned his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and returned to Bangkok, where their parents still live, to work in private credit investing at Ares Management. But in spite of the geographic distances among them, the Bulakul

Tyler Bulakul ’10, top, and Teddy Bulakul ’06 represented Thailand at the 2023 World Aquatics Masters Championships.

clan has stayed connected through the pool—and the brothers’ dedication to swimming has even inspired their parents, Suravut Bulakul and Camille Ma P’06,’08,’10, to take the plunge.

In August 2023, Teddy, Tyler, and Suravut competed in the World Aquatics Masters Championships held in Fukuoka, Japan, an event that drew more than 10,000 top swimmers ages 25 and over—with some competitors in their 90s—from more than 100 countries. Several of the swimmers were previous and current Olympians. Suravut raced in the 50-meter freestyle event, the culmination of six months of training; Camille, who had qualified for the championship but decided not to participate, cheered her family on from the pool deck. For the first time in decades, Teddy and Tyler swam on the same relay team, placing among the top 10 relay teams in the world for their age group in the 4x50-meter freestyle relay.

Teddy, who prefers sprints to long-distance swims (“Coach [Keith] Moon can attest that he swam me once in the 500-yard freestyle my prep year, and never again!” he joked), competed in the 50-meter butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle.

Tyler competed in several individual events, including the butterfly triple crown consisting of the 50-meter butterfly, 100-meter butterfly, and 200- meter butterfly. He ended up breaking the Thai national masters record for his age group in

Teddy Bulakul ’06, right, and Tyler Bulakul ’10, left, with their parents, Suravut Bulakul and Camille Ma P’06,’08,’10.

each event. He also placed in the top 10 in the world for his age category in both the 200-meter butterfly and 50-meter backstroke.

Teddy and Tyler broke multiple Thai national masters records for their age groups, including both relays in which they competed together.

After their final race, the Bulakuls celebrated by indulging in their family’s other favorite shared activity: eating. Fukuoka is known as the ramen capital of Japan, and the Bulakuls sampled no fewer than five different ramen establishments.

For Teddy and Tyler, the experience of rooting for their father marked a major role reversal. At the Masters Championship, Teddy said, “I was kind of the face behind the camera, whereas my dad had always been that person. To see him set a goal, and then to be there in person to watch him go for it, was really a lot of fun.”

As seasoned competitors, Tyler added, he and Teddy could help their father with his pre-race jitters: “We’ve done this so much that it’s second nature, but our parents would sometimes freak out, like, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to finish this,’” Tyler said. “But we would just tell them, ‘It’s all going to be fine. Just don’t go out too fast, and pace yourself.’”

VERY BEST YEARS’ FOR HOTCHKISS SWIMMING

At Hotchkiss, the Bulakuls were known for inspiring their peers with their passion for swimming and water polo, said head boys varsity and JV swim coach Keith Moon P’13,’16, who is also the E. Carleton Granbery Teaching Chair, instructor in English, history, and Russian language, and a Lufkin Prize recipient. “All three Bulakuls were remarkable in their willingness to do whatever was expected or needed for the team,” Moon said. “For eight years, we had at least one Bulakul on our team, and those were some of our very best years in terms of swimming and water polo. They were instrumental not just as exceptional swimmers, but also as the sorts of team leaders who made other swimmers want to join.”

Tim, the middle Bulakul, was captain of both the boys swimming and water polo teams during Tyler’s lower-mid year. Tyler currently holds the Hotchkiss individual record in the boys 100-yard butterfly and was part of the 200-yard medley relay team whose record remains unbroken to this day; Teddy was a member of the team that still holds the school record for the 200-yard freestyle relay two decades later.

After college, Teddy kept up a regular swimming routine by squeezing in laps in the morning before work, which he says helps him start each day with the right mindset. “You’re setting yourself up for the day, for the week, for the month, for the year,” he said. But Tyler stopped swimming for almost a decade after college, burned out from years of competitive racing. At the beginning of this year, he said, he was finally ready to get back into the pool. Within a few months, Tyler noticed a big difference in his mental and physical wellbeing. “Everything just kind of clicked,” he said.

Around the time Tyler began swimming again, his parents had joined The Royal Bangkok Sports Club, their childhood club’s master’s team, to stay active. As they watched Tyler lose more than 40 pounds and get back into shape, he explained, they decided they wanted to push themselves, too. Together, Teddy, Tyler, and their parents set their sights on the 2023 World Aquatics Masters Championships. Now that they’ve achieved that milestone, they’re already looking ahead to the 2024 World Aquatics Masters Championships scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar.

Until then, the Bulakuls plan to keep each other accountable across continents and time zones, Teddy and Tyler said. They have a family text thread where they share their swimming workouts— and, of course, photos of the meals they eat afterwards. “We love to eat,” Teddy said. “My theory is that we can either eat less or work out more, and there’s no way we’re going to eat less.”

Photos courtesy of Hotchkiss Magazine

Teddy Bulakul ’06 and Tim Bulakul ’08 on the boys swimming team in the 2006 Mischianza. The team had a 10-0 record and placed third in the New England Championships.

The Bulakuls earned a top 10 relay diploma at the world championships.

Lunch and Lead

Speaker Shares Leadership Insights

As part of KO’s Margaret E. and Henry R. Roberts Center for Leadership program, students attend forums to speak with successful alumni and local business leaders and gain insights on leadership skills. In January, KO’s Lunch and Lead series featured Kingswood Oxford alum Derek “Deke” Green ’81, a retired Lieutenant Colonel who served 22 years in the U.S. Air Force with increasingly impressive roles and responsibilities.

Following a career as an electrical engineer at Westinghouse, Green joined the United States Air Force initially as a Flight Commander and successively served as a Chief Pilot, Acquisition Program Manager, Supervisor of Flying, and combat pilot during the Gulf War. His stellar field performance led him to a management position within the Pentagon, supervising 15 Air Force programs with a budget of $6.3 billion, including the maintenance and operation of Air Force One. He also wrote Air Force policy for these programs. Later, he was selected as a VIP Pilot for the White House, Department of Defense and Congress, flying out of Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. There he became Commander of Operational Support for the 201st Airlift Group. In 2003, NASA selected Green as an astronaut candidate, but he didn’t make the final cut because of imperfect eyesight.

In 2007, Green left the Air Force and began his career with General Electric, where he was General Manager of General Electric Corporation’s Global Flight Operations Division. Green left GE in 2014.

Green was inspired to enter the Air Force at a young age. “Ever since I was six, I wanted to be an astronaut, seeing Neil and Buzz bouncing along the moon in the summer of ‘69,” he said. “My mom told me to go to bed, and, after she went to bed, I went downstairs and watched more of the lunar walk.” After learning that all the astronauts were military fighters and had engineering degrees, Green knew the path he had to follow. “Turns out, after I was in, I was a lifer,” he said. “I stayed in the Air Force for 22 years.”

During the Lunch and Lead forum, one student asked Green how he stays calm in intense situations. He replies that while externally, he might look calm and collected, inside his brain is a “helmet fire,” a voice inside screaming the directions. “It’s all about training, training, training,” Green said. “When you do these multiple tasks under pressure, it becomes natural. That’s how you look calm. I don’t think anyone actually feels calm. It’s kind of like public speaking.”

Green said one of his toughest times at KO was Dick Dale’s history class when he had to deliver a two-minute presentation in front of nine peers. “I froze,” he said. “I messed up so badly, and Dick Dale put me through my paces. That year, I won the public speaking award because I learned to practice over and over and over again.”

During one mission, as Green flew a 400,000 lb. lumbering jet into Somalia at night, his jet came under attack from bullets. Automatically, his military training kicked in. “Right away, I went through the combat entry checklist because the last thing you

want is a bullet to hit your pressurized aircraft,” he said. “You get a hole in there, and that starts to spread. It’s like popcorn. I had nine people counting on me. I turned the lights off and depressurized the plane. I turned out, went over the water, came back in from the water, and did an overhead approach. I wasn’t being creative. That was training, training, training. All that I was trying to do was to stay alive.”

Green counts KO as one of the foundational experiences in his life. While at KO, Green was an athlete, musician, and academic and mixed easily with various social groups.” I could talk to anyone,” he said. “That’s going to serve you well. I was just having a good. time. If you lead, people are either going to follow you because they like you or because they can connect with you. I learned that here. That whole thing about hard work. I learned that here.”

He said he didn’t fully appreciate the meaning of the KO motto “Vincit Qui Se Vincit” until after he graduated. “All that ‘conquering yourself’ I didn’t understand when I was here,” he said. “They were words on a shield. But doing the stuff that you have to do so you can do the stuff that you want to do, all that I learned here. I see it as clear as day now.”

When Green fell short of achieving his dream of becoming an astronaut because of his eyesight, he was very disappointed and didn’t share the news with his wife for a week. He told the students not to be deterred when disappointment strikes because it doesn’t spell the end.

“When it’s your time, and you’re building the foundational guidelines, you will be able to go into any field,” he said. “Keep studying; keep having that work ethic; keep moving forward. I’m an ordained minister, and my worldview is all about people. If what I do does not help people, shame on me. I should be able to be a positive addition to the community. And that’s what wakes me up the promise of doing something helpful.”

Derek Green received NEPSAC’s Martin William Souders Award in 2022. Read more at NEPSAC’s honors and recognitions site.

We Are All Kids

Reflections on Cardigan’s Finnish Exchange Program

by Davis Jamison ’24; photos courtesy Cardigan Communications Team

The fellowship between Cardigan Mountain School and Hyvinkää, Finland is a special one. Years ago, the Cardigan hockey team traveled to Finland for a tournament. This was back when cell phones were nonexistent and people still used landlines. Upon arriving in Finland, the Cardigan boys were quick to realize that the tournament had been canceled. However, a small town, about 45 minutes by car from Helsinki, accommodated the stranded guests. The hosts provided this lost team games against the local school, the Vehkoja School. Since the mid-1970s, this tradition of kindness and hospitality has continued. This year the Finnish boys came to The Point and celebrated the 49th year of friendship between Cardigan and Vehkoja School.

I traveled to Finland last March and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I stayed with a host family and one of my teammates. It was magical to experience Scandinavian culture and life through living in a household. I enjoyed the trips to the sauna most nights and met life-long friends. It was a special bond to experience. The boys from Cardigan were treated with the utmost respect and hospitality. We attended classes, played floorball, explored the Hyvinkää mall, toured Helsinki, enjoyed Finnish cuisine, and even went to the disco one night. I am so happy that I went!

This February, the Finnish boys traveled to Cardigan. When the Finns entered the dining hall, there was an immediate connection. All the boys who made the trip last year recognized familiar faces and friends. What a relationship! They experienced the Cardigan way of life for a week, just as I had a year before. The Finns also explored Boston and the New Hampshire state capitol, and got a sense of American life for the week. The Cardigan Varsity Team and Vehkoja School Team faced off one night. Unfortunately, we lost in overtime, but it was an incredible game and matchup. Additionally, the Finns played other local school teams.

I had the great opportunity of having four boys in my dorm, two upstairs and two downstairs. Every night, all the Finnish boys and some Cardigan boys would congregate in the French 1 common room. The conversations would last for hours. We discussed likes, dislikes, travel, favorite sports teams, and what it is like to live in our respective countries. It was so cool to catch up with past friends! The language barrier made no difference in the meaningfulness of our conversations. If anything, it made the experience more powerful! We exchanged candies from our countries and laughed until we had to return to our rooms for the night. I enjoy the friendships created during this short span of time.

I interviewed a few teammates about the Cardigan-Finnish exchange. Here is their responses:

How does the experience compare while both hosting and traveling to Finland during your time at Cardigan?

Nathan Caples ’24: Although the team did not get to travel to Finland like last year, it was still a blast to host the Finns, and see familiar faces from the 2023 trip.

What is the largest takeaway from this memorable exchange experience?

Nathan Caples ’24: I learned that people of different cultures and backgrounds can still collaborate and create meaningful friendships. I also learned that Finnish guys can really play hockey.

I also interviewed our Finnish student at Cardigan this year. Eetu Lindholm ’24 has been the goaltender for the varsity squad this year and a large part of the team’s success. He is a one-year ninth grader like most of the Finns who study at Cardigan.

Have you enjoyed your Cardigan experience and are you proud to join the group of Finnish alumni — also known as the “Old Boys”?

What was it like to play against the Finnish boys in a Cardigan jersey?

Eetu Lindholm ’24: It was different to play against old friends. I played on the Vehkoja team last year and played against Cardigan. It was a special experience.

Eetu Lindholm ’24: Yes! It is an important thing to me. My father is a part of this group and graduated from Cardigan in 2000. Great experience!

I have joined a selective group through the Cardigan and Hyvinkää connection. This is a tremendous opportunity to learn and grow. Through traveling to Finland and hosting the Finns, I learned how different yet quite similar our lives are. We are all kids. The Finns returned to their everyday lives in Hyvinkää as I have here at The Point. I am thankful that I was able to partake in this interaction. If I ever return to Finland, I will definitely visit Hyvinkää!

Editor’s Note: The Varsity Hockey Team enjoyed another successful season, skating to a 18-7-3 record and winning both the Belmont Hill Holiday Freshman Invitational in December and the end-ofseason Belmont Hill Hockey Invitational in February.

See more photos of our friends visiting from the Vehkoja School as they experience Cardigan and New England.

A Winter’s Worth of Gratitude to the Proctor Ski Area Crew

by Scott Allenby; photos by Lindsey Allenby

Rain is falling, fields are being cleared for our spring sports teams, and Spring Term classes are underway, but the snow surface at the Proctor Ski Area remains rock solid late into March. During a quiet moment when traffic on Route 11 has stilled, you can still hear the thwacking of gates across the valley at the Proctor Ski Area as Proctor’s, Dartmouth College’s, and Boston College’s ski teams sneak in a few last training days at the Proctor Ski Area.

As we prepare to shut down the ski area for the season, we take a moment to thank those who helped us have one of the most successful alpine, Nordic, and jumping seasons at the Proctor Ski Area in its long history. So much has happened over the last four months since we first heard Garry, Mac, and Steele fire up the snow guns in early November. During an incredibly challenging natural snow season, the Proctor Ski Area hosted 18 alpine races, including 12 races between December 31 and February 1 and the Lakes Region Alpine Championships. We saw 2,900 athletes compete in alpine races at Proctor this season, including visiting

athletes from Norway, Chile, Canada, and across the United States. These athletes ranged from US Ski Team members with World Cup starts to those competing in their first alpine race of their life.

The Proctor Ski Area hosted the New England Preparatory School Nordic Championships, countless training sessions for local high school Nordic teams (Kearsarge Regional High School, Concord High School, and more) and the Andover Outing Club, and saw snow on our trails and jumps earlier than almost any other venue in New England. Early in the season, Proctor was training and racing when other mountains in New Hampshire and Vermont had to postpone or cancel events. Time after time, race after race, visiting coaches and athletes had unbelievably positive experiences training and racing at the Proctor Ski Area. From the conditions to the efficiency of race organization to the friendliness of the ski area staff, this winter saw the Proctor Ski Area shine brightly as the finest privately owned and operated on-snow venue in the region.

The positive experience thousands of athletes and families had at the Proctor Ski Area this winter does not simply happen.

It is a product of the commitment, dedication, and talent of the Proctor Ski Area crew led by Garry George ‘78, Mac MacDuffie, and Steele Henderson. From the moment the drone of the snow guns and compressors cut through the November air to these final days of grooming an unexpected 20 inches of heavy, wet March snow, Garry and his team steward the ski area as if it is their most cherished possession.

The “job” of managing the Proctor Ski Area is never done. The irregular hours and long days and nights of preparing trails requires an irrational devotion that Garry has modeled for his team for 43 years. On Saturday, the final home race of the season saw this team rise to the challenge one more time as they managed the biggest storm of the season. The name of this final race, the “Thank a Snowmaker Slalom,” is fitting. As the season concludes and the traffic down Lawrence Street dwindles, we are filled with gratitude for those who ensured the magic of the Proctor Ski Area continued to shine brightly this winter.

Learn more about the Proctor Ski Area! And check out a video about the snow crew.

BAY STATE GAMES

WHAT IS BAY STATE GAMES?

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W I N T E R G A M E S

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NON-SPORT PROGRAMMING

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COACHING

OPPORTUNITIES

B a y S t a t e S u m m e r G a m e s H i g h S c h o o l

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V O L U N T E E R

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S u m m e r G a m e s

Rose Misiewicz and Hannah DeLong Carry Childhood Bond to the U.S. Women’s Development Sled Team

by Bob Reinert, Redline Media, for USA Hockey

After meeting in high school, Misiewicz and DeLong have been coaches for Team USA since 2019. Rose Misiewicz and Hannah DeLong first met as teenage roommates more than two decades ago at Berkshire School, a boarding school in Sheffield, Massachusetts. They played hockey together there and remained teammates at Middlebury College in Vermont.

Therefore, when Misiewicz, a Duluth, Minnesota native, took over as head coach of the U.S. Women’s Development Sled Hockey Team in 2019, her first choice for an assistant coach was obvious.

“(DeLong) was really the first person that I thought of,” Misiewicz said. “She’s kind of like my sister. We’ve known each other for quite a long time. She’s a very good complement. We work really well together. It ends up being a pretty good partnership that her and I have with the team.”

The longtime friends joined forces again March 13-16 for the three-game 2024 Sled Series against Canada at MAYSA Arena in Minot, North Dakota.

The U.S. played well in the series, sweeping the Canadians and outscoring them 17-2 across three victories.

The U.S. hadn’t played together since September when it defended its title at the 2023 Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge in Green Bay, Wisconsin. That meant Misiewicz had some work to do with their players when they reached Minot.

“It was a lot of, let’s say, correcting bad habits in the beginning,” she said. “It’s amazing how quick those bad habits form.”

With only a couple competitions a year, Misiewicz doesn’t get a ton of practice time with the players. When the team is together, she tries to narrowly focus on one goal to make sure that gets accomplished in the short time they have on the ice.

The team studies film when they’re together. After an event, Misiewicz andDeLong send the players back home with ideas of what to work on.

“They really like feedback, and they want to know what they can do to get better,” Misiewicz said. “A lot of them haven’t grown up playing hockey. In terms of that hockey sense, they don’t come into the sport of sled hockey having that.”

DeLong pointed out that on top of different levels of experience, a lot of the players have separate mindsets when it comes to what they want out of playing the game.

“A lot of people have gotten into the sport for a sense of

community and a feeling of belonging for the first time as a disabled athlete,” DeLong said. “And then some of them are true hard-core athletes, watch a lot of hockey, play a lot of hockey and live, breathe ice hockey.”

Dealing with that range of mindsets can be a challenge, but DeLong said the women on the team always mesh quickly once they get on the ice.

“We have to bring these girls from all different backgrounds, hockey knowledge, playing abilities, put them together, and then also take it to a different level,” she said. “The cool thing is they come, and it takes a day to readjust, and then you start seeing them play together and feeling part of a team, and they just love it.”

As a nurse practitioner in the VA health care system, DeLong, of Belmont, Massachusetts, takes joy in coaching a team that includes four veterans on its roster.

Misiewicz and DeLong lead the U.S. program at a critical time in the sport’s growth, between the debut of the Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge in 2022, to this year’s Sled Series in Minot, which broadcast live on USAHockeyTV.com.

Misiewicz noted that the current roster features players from a variety of different backgrounds and ages.

“You look at that age span, and it’s incredible every time we come together and how inclusive and how much of a team these ladies really are and how they just jell and look out for each other and even stay in contact,” said Misiewicz.

“It’s such an amazing group of women to work with. They all have different disabilities and different abilities, and it’s just incredible to see everything that they do. I know it’s challenging for them. It’s just amazing how much passion and dedication they all have for the sport and to see it grow, as well.”

DeLong added that she hopes to see current players enter the coaching ranks someday.

“If we’re doing our job right, in the next 10 years, we’d love to see that full staff of women who also have disabilities coaching,” she said. “A part of my role that I really love is actually mentoring our players to be coaches.”

Story by Red Line Editorial, Inc.

Photo by Mason Kramer/USA Hockey.

Penn State’s Dylan Lugris Named 2024 Hockey Humanitarian Recipient

by Pete Souris, Hockey Humanitarian Award; photos by Jim Rosvold/USCHO

Junior Dylan Lugris (Buffalo, N.Y.) of the Penn State University men’s hockey program was presented the 2024 Hockey Humanitarian Award by the Hockey Humanitarian Foundation during a ceremony on Friday night at the RiverCentre in Saint Paul at the Men’s Frozen Four. Lugris is the first Nittany Lion hockey player to win a major national award.

Lugris is the 29th honoree of the award, the 14th Division I male to win the award and the fourth male from a Big Ten school to be honored. He was recognized during the Friday night NCAA Men’s Frozen Four awards ceremonies, alongside the recipients of the Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award, the Mike Richter Award and the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.

The Buffalo, New York native was one of five finalists, joining Hank Kempf (Wilmette, Ill.) of Cornell, Northfield Mount Hermon’s Jack Quinn (Lancaster, Mass.) from LIU, Raice Szott (Daysland, Alberta) of Merrimack and Sarah Thompson (Ottawa, Ontario) from Syracuse.

“I congratulate all the nominees for their contributions to their local and global communities. It is an incredible honor to stand alongside these exceptional men and woman. I’m truly grateful for being recognized as a Hockey Humanitarian,” commented Lugris. “I didn’t do this for the award, but I’m very proud that sled hockey is growing and getting the recognition it deserves. The Coyotes have a special place in our programs’ heart. We look forward to continuing this relationship for years to come.”

The award is presented annually to college hockey’s finest citizen a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team but also to the community-at-large through leadership in volunteerism.

Lugris wasted little time getting involved in the local State College community once arriving in Hockey Valley in January 2021. Dylan quickly formed a bond with the local sled hockey organization, the State College Coyotes. Dylan began attending weekly practices, eventually having teammates join him as he

learned more and more about the sport of sled hockey and the Coyotes’ organization.

In an effort to make a difference for a struggling organization that only practiced once a week and did not compete in actual games, Dylan proposed the idea of holding the Penn State Sled Hockey Classic in January 2023. A second Sled Hockey Classic was held this past February. Dylan’s mission is to grow the game of hockey while bringing awareness and knowledge to the sport of sled hockey and to provide the Coyotes the means necessary for organizational growth and competition.

The Classic is a hockey scrimmage between the Coyotes and the Penn State men’s hockey team at Pegula Ice Arena in front of the passionate Penn State fanbase. Dylan spearheads each event with the help of his Penn State teammates. A member of the Penn State men’s ice hockey team handles every aspect of the Classic from the planning and organization through the execution of the event itself.

Since the initial event, the Coyotes have more than doubled in roster size and are now proud members of the Northeast Sled Hockey League. The Coyotes are now competing in multiple games per month thanks in large part to the nearly $50,000 Dylan and his Penn State teammates have raised for the Coyotes organization over the past year. Dylan and his teammates are excited to continue the growth of the event in years to come as it is now a winter staple within the Hockey Valley community.

“The Hockey Humanitarian Award is such a prestigious honor. It’s an award that recognizes the culture of hockey and the community involvement associated with the sport,” said head coach Guy Gadowsky. “I’m really proud of Dylan, the team and this community.”

Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky, a 24-year collegiate coaching veteran, is no stranger to the Hockey Humanitarian

Award as he is now the only head coach to roster multiple Hockey Humanitarian recipients. Lugris joins former Princeton goaltender Eric Leroux, the 2006 Hockey Humanitarian Award winner.

On Friday night, the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation presented Lugris, alongside Coyotes Co-Founders DJ and Alexis Wilson and team captain Sara Becker, with a check for $3,000. The other four finalists each received $500 for their respective designated charities. These donations from the HHA Foundation are made possible through the generous support of the award’s partners and donors.

What Can Coaches Do to Reduce Resistance and Build Buy-In?

As a coach, you’re often faced with implementing strategic decisions and making tough calls. And just as often, the athletes on your team may resist those decisions or the changes that you’re trying to make. Getting buy-in from athletes isn’t always easy, but it is often critical to the team’s success and your relationship with players.

Here, board-certified family physician and TrueSport Expert Deborah Gilboa, MD, shares strategies for reducing resistance and building athlete buy-in.

UNDERSTAND WHAT RESISTANCE IS, AND WHERE IT COMES FROM

Resistance rarely comes from an athlete who is actively trying to be difficult and find flaws in your proposed plans. “Resistance tends to come when worldviews aren’t aligned,” says Gilboa. You have a view of the world built on your experiences and where you are in life, while athletes have an entirely different worldview.

Resistance can also come from a place of caring deeply about something—and that’s actually a good thing. “Often, athletes are resisting a change that you’re suggesting because they care, not because they’re trying to be difficult,” says Gilboa.

ASK IF WHAT YOU’RE HEARING REALLY IS RESISTANCE

What you see as resistance may not be resistance at all. “Don’t hear every question as resistance: Open your mind to the idea that it might be engagement and not resistance, or it might be collaboration and not resistance,” says Gilboa. “I think coaches often have a strong power structure view in mind. Some coaches think that collaboration and questioning undermine their authority, when actually, if they can stay curious about it, they’re going to find that it increases their respect amongst the athletes.”

“As a coach, you need to open your mind to the fact that your athletes questioning you about

something may not actually be resistance,” says Gilboa. “That may be how you were conditioned to view it. But it might be the athlete trying to engage, because they’ve been taught to be collaborative. For example, if you say that a set of mats need to be washed off and you’re outside in the field with a hose, your athletes may suggest bringing them into the showers to rinse in warm water instead. That’s not resistance: It’s collaboration.”

BE CURIOUS ABOUT YOUR ATHLETES

When you think your team isn’t buying into an idea or you’re facing resistance from one athlete, Gilboa says that rather than feeling defensive,

try to feel curious. “Assume that you don’t know exactly what’s going on with the team or the athlete,” she says.

“It’s easy to make assumptions, especially when we think we know an athlete very well. But if you can start with curiosity about why they’re resistant to a change you’re suggesting, that helps you understand where they’re coming from, and it can potentially help you reframe your proposed changes in a way that makes more sense to them.”

ASK ATHLETES TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THEM

Curiosity is important, but so is asking questions of your athletes in a way that doesn’t make them defensive. Gilboa recommends the simple question, “Can you help me understand?” Or “What’s this story for you?” if you’re not sure how to proceed.

From there, you can ask an athlete to share the scenarios that they see playing out. For instance, if an athlete is injured but wants to return to play immediately while you believe they need more time on the bench, let that athlete walk you through the scenarios they see. You may realize that in their mind, another week on the bench will mean no more playing time for the rest of the year, or that a college recruiter will miss seeing them in action and they’ll lose out on a chance for a scholarship. Once you understand where the athlete’s resistance is coming from, you will be better equipped to help them.

SHARE YOUR PERSPECTIVE

“If your athlete in the above example tells you that he needs to start in the game in order to help the team win, and that he’ll deal with an exacerbated knee injury afterwards, that’s his perspective of what’s best for him and the team,” says Gilboa. “Now, you can share your perspective. As a coach, you may know that if the knee injury the athlete currently has worsens, he might never play again or even have a lifelong knee issue.” Remember, of course, to follow whatever medical recommendations the athlete has received. Make sure that you and the athlete—or the team as a whole—examine both sides to any story. It’s always helpful to understand where the athlete is coming from, even if you (or a physician) have expertise and insight that leads to a different decision.

BE OPEN TO YOUR ATHLETES BEING RIGHT

If you want to reduce resistance and increase athlete buy-in on your team, you will need to be

open to the possibility that your athletes may actually be right, and you’re the one who needs to make a change. “A lot of coaches still view resistance as disrespect and they punish it,” says Gilboa. “Older coaches in particular were raised to believe that any questioning of authority was disrespectful. But the current generation of young athletes has been raised to ask questions and share their feelings.”

“So, when a coach says to a group of athletes, ‘I want you to pick up all these mats and take them out in the hallway,’ they may not immediately comply with that request. They may ask why, or suggest a different place to bring the mats,” says Gilboa. “That isn’t disrespect, it’s critical thinking and engagement in the process.”

BE TRANSPARENT WITH YOUR TEAM

As coaches, we often want to present fullyformed solutions to difficult problems that a team is facing, without ever sharing the original problem with the team. To you, the solution is a good one—perhaps even the only one—based on your worldview and information. But your athletes may not have the same view or information and may view the change you’re suggesting as unfair. To get buy-in, you need to be transparent and provide all the facts, so that your athletes can form opinions from a more knowledgeable place.

“Give them more transparently sourced information, and be open to hearing their opinions and concerns,” says Gilboa. For example, if a school’s athletic budget has been slashed and you’re faced with combining the varsity and JV teams into one larger team for practices and sharing the bus for competitions, your varsity athletes may not be excited about this idea, especially if you simply tell them that the teams are merging. But if you present them

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with the facts about the budget cuts and are open to hearing any of their proposed solutions, you’re going to lower their resistance to the changes.

SET A TIMER

“After you’ve presented a change that athletes may not like, give them five minutes to feel their feelings and express what they hate about it, because change is hard,” says Gilboa. “Once that time is up, you can shift into problemsolving mode and ask athletes if they have other suggestions or solutions. You can offer true empathy, processing time, transparently sourced information, and some choice to help decrease resistance.”

TAKEAWAY

Rather than disciplining athletes who resist your decisions as a coach, lead with curiosity and listen to their concerns. As a coach, you may understand that a change to the team is necessary, but make sure that your athletes understand your reasons and be willing to hear their suggestions with an open mind, remembering that athletes who show resistance aren’t necessarily disrespecting you or your authority.

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