Just a few years ago, Lauren Reid was playing Division I lacrosse at one of the highest ranked schools in the country. The University of Maryland had won seven out of nine national championships before she arrived. During her freshman season, her fellow Lady Terrapins suffered a heart-breaking loss in the NCAA semi finals to the Princeton Tigers, who went on to win the national title in 2003.
Now, the Portland native is back and ready to make Maine a lacrosse hot spot for its striving athletes.
“It feels great to be home,” says the twenty-five year old Deering High School graduate, who was away in Utah this past winter. “Especially after being away for so long, it’s definitely helped me to appreciate my roots,” she says.
After coaching J.V and assisting the Varsity team at her former high school this past season, Reid has stepped in as the fifth women’s lacrosse coach in the program’s history.
“Coaching at Deering was a great experience. It was mostly learning how to take the Division I playing experience and the expectations down to a high school level, ” she explains. “It taught me how to be patient and really helped me to be able to communicate well and understand all types of players.”
Her Deering experience isn’t her only source of coaching education.
After her freshman season at the University of Maryland, Reid left the well-established program and transferred to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and continued her successful career there.
“I definitely had a hard time balancing my athletics and academics (at Maryland), as well as living up to the mid-Atlantic expectations and political aspects of lacrosse,” she says.
Ultimately, it was her minimal scholarship from the school and financial issues that enticed her to make the final transfer to UMass.
Despite only playing one year at Maryland, Reid was able to witness and be part of the intense dedication, as well as the expert knowledge the program had possessed, and still possesses.
She saw that the sport of lacrosse in Maryland was miles ahead of the New England region in terms of style of play. And although Maine has come a long way with the sport since her departure, lacrosse is still much more prominent in the mid-Atlantic region than in New England.
The distinguished style of play, the advanced stick skills, and understanding of the game that the mid Atlantic has prided itself on, is what Reid hopes to bring to USM’s program.
“That’s really why I’m so excited to be coaching a university in Southern Maine. I’ve seen what it takes and I’ve watched how coaches’ coach and recruit at that level,” Reid says.
“There’s tons of great athletes here in Maine that do have the talent and the skills to be playing at a Divison I college level. So I’m really excited to recruit those athletes and get girls to build a very strong and consistent program here.”
Despite being the youngest coach currently working at USM, Reid still has many fresh experiences to draw from, especially after observing her own coaches.
“Advantage-wise (as a young coach), I think I can understand these girls well and I know the type of coach that I fed off when I was playing. Especially when considering the differences I now get to make that I wish they (my coaches) had made in order to make my experience the best it could be,” she says.
The only conflict that Reid’s age could pose is her relationship with the players. Being so young, it’s often hard for coach’s to draw the line between a friendship and a player/coach relationship.
Although Reid has an open door policy and hopes that her players know that she is willing to talk about whatever issues need to be discussed, (which she wishes she had more of in college) she is also aware of how important it is to separate herself from them as a respected coach.
Her goal is to find the medium ground of approachable, yet still a coach who demands 100% of her players’ focus and energy.
“I really think I’ll have what it takes to get the girls to respect me as far as my knowledge and my experiences and what I want for the program,” Reid says.
With the upcoming season just a few months away, the women’s lacrosse team has already met and discussed future goals as well as expectations.
As Reid plays catch up to understanding how the team usually plays as far as offensive styles and defensive attacks, she looks forward to a strong season.
“We hope to have the numbers to the point where our bench is as deep as our starters. Hopefully the more people that hear about my coaching strategies through the girls that have come to see me in Fall will get excited and come out for lacrosse, so we can build that strong, deep team that I’d really love to see.”