Kennedy Everson ’21’s favorite team tradition are team dinners as they provide a way for the team to bond off the field.
“She is incredible. I feel like she has really grown in the past year. Right now we’ve been working on words to help us refocus, and Kennedy’s is the word “seabreeze.” We all say the word “seabreeze” and it’s like our own joke with Kennedy. She’s kept us in a lot of the games both this year and last year. I know she’ll continue to grow even more,” said Feeney.
Everson’s dedication and development has earned her The Phillipian’s title of “Athlete of the Week.”
When did you start playing lacrosse?
I started playing lacrosse in third grade as an attack player, and I started playing goalie in sixth grade.
How do you train for lacrosse or get ready for a game?
I do the same warm-up routine basically everyday—just different hand-eye coordination drills, some warm-up shots, and then the team will do some shooting together.
What are your hopes for the season?
I hope that we all stay healthy, and that we really continue to connect as a team. The team is already really connected and united, so I definitely hope we’re able to keep that. I also think that we should focus more on having less turnover and being able to really control the pace of the game.
Do you have any role models?
Liz Hogan, she plays for the professional lacrosse league. I really just like the way she plays and how she controls the field, so I would definitely consider her a role model.
What is your biggest support system during games?
The biggest support system has to be that we’re all really, really close. So, whenever anything isn’t going well in the game, I can always count on them for encouragement and what I need, so we’re extremely close in that aspect.
Do you have any coaches in particular that have really helped?
Obviously, [Head] Coach [Heidi] Wall has been supporting me through it all, especially through the recruiting process. And [Coach Taylor] Ware and Coach [Kassie Archambault ’07], they have all been so, so supportive and helpful. Also, one of our managers, an ex-player, Annie Lord [’19], has been super-duper helpful. She finds small ways to coach me by letting me know what I could work on in games, practice, anywhere. She has really been a mentor for me by telling what what I’m doing well, what I’m not.
What are your favorite team traditions?
I really like when we have team dinners. We’ll just talk and it’s super fun because it helps take away some of the stress from being on the field. We also just get to hang out as friends and support each other both on and off the field. I love our bus rides to games that are away. We always just hang out in the locker and have a really good warm-up playlist. Juliet [Gildehaus ’20], she made a playlist for us, and it’s really all mashups, and we usually listen to it before every game, which really just hypes all of us up, and gets us in the mentality to play the best we can.
What’s your favorite thing about lacrosse?
I love that game because it’s just something where you can get away from an academic setting and just be with people that you love. You get to play a game where you can be competitive. At the end of the day, you and your teammates are all fighting for the same goal; to win the game. Just being able to play with the girls and be in a setting where we are all together and play the same game, it’s just really fun. It’s something that I would never want to let go of.
Do you plan on playing lacrosse in college?
I do, hopefully. It all depends on how the recruiting goes in the fall.[a]
Editor’s Note: Juliet Gildehaus is a Sports Editor for The Phillipian.
