Originally from Northern Virginia, I developed a passion for lacrosse at a very young age. I was, literally, obsessed with the sport and making sure I was the best. I had played many sports competitively, including volleyball, basketball, softball, tennis, ran track, etc. You name it, I played it. One of my biggest accomplishments was being named All-Area Player of The Year as a junior in high school. This hadn’t happened in our area before. During this time, I knew I wanted to play lacrosse at a very high level in college. For me, it was DI or bust.
After attending a recruiting seminar, my mom and I were introduced to NCSA and signed up immediately. Back then, I had a paper profile that was sent out to college coaches nationwide. Through the efforts of NCSA, I landed some DI offers. I was overwhelmed with excitement. My dreams were finally coming to fruition. Unfortunately, a few months later, I was involved in a very severe accident that made it tough to go away to school. Being close to my family was really what I needed at the time, therefore, I was unable to follow my dreams of being a collegiate athlete.
Fast forward a few years later: I missed the sport that brought me the most happiness, so I headed down to Tampa, Florida, and became the varsity head coach of a high school girl’s lacrosse team, the Robinson Knights. After two years of coaching, I realized that I wanted to do more. I wanted to help athletes pursue their dreams of playing in college. I found my way back to NCSA and was excited to have an opportunity to work for such an amazing organization. NCSA also provided me the opportunity to go back and finish my third year coaching, in Tampa, while allowing me to work from home.
After I finished my responsibilities there, I moved to the great city of Chicago. I love working at NCSA. This organization has a very special place in my heart because not only do I believe in our mission, love helping families, and I’ve seen how much we can help athletes firsthand, but I also met my husband here. Finally, a word of advice, don’t ever give up on your dreams. It can be tough at times, but nothing worth having ever comes easy.