Captain Baron Abrishami is actively recovering from a concussion.
As Andover Boys Lacrosse Co-Captain Baron Abrishami ’21 starts a season that will bring his three years on the team to a close, he strives to lead by example, both on and off the field. According to Abrishami, setting a good example off the field is especially important this season, with the threat of Covid-19 and potential cancellations as a result of it.
“[The most important challenge to deal with is] making sure everyone is following [Covid-19] protocols, like wearing masks everywhere, just doing stuff that is required to be on campus, because the last thing we want is for a game to be canceled because of lack of responsibility by someone. So just holding everyone to a high standard with that,” said Abrishami.
According to Co-Captain Will Rickards ’21, Abrishami is an integral part of the team with his communication skills and leadership abilities while simultaneously bringing unity and positivity to practice everyday.
“I think [Abrishami] brings a great sense of leadership. He’s a great guy—he really talks to the other kids well, he really leads the team. It’s really unfortunate… that he got concussed in the last game. Our prayers and thoughts are with him, but I think he brings a lot to the team,” said Rickards.
According to Co-Captain Troy Pollock ’21, Abrishami’s off-the-field energy inspires his teammates and lifts spirits; his dedication to the team resulted in his injury in Andover’s latest game against Belmont Hill.
Pollock said, “Baron brings the best energy on and off the field. He is a great big brother to everyone on the team. Everyone looks up to him and he’s just a fun person to be around. He knows how to inspire and he knows how to get people ready for games. He brings it every day at practice. He got injured going hard to the net, but he really cares about the team. He cares about all of our teammates, the coaches, and everyone respects his dedication.”
As the season progresses, Abrishami hopes to demonstrate the team’s tenacity throughout practices and games, emphasizing one of the team’s biggest strengths: its willingness to approach the sport both mentally and physically.
“Mentality-wise, we know that we’re underdogs, so we play with everything that we have and we play with nothing to lose because we know that we’re underdogs and we love that, we’re gritty. We love to get after it, if that means going after a ground ball in a game against two kids or being able to score a goal with a second left in the quarter. We’re all about the grit,” said Abrishami.
Looking ahead, Abrishami will continue his lacrosse career next year at Emerson College, and he hopes to end his Andover career on a strong note as Co-Captain in preparation for college.
“I’m going to be playing college lacrosse, once I graduate from Andover, so just training myself so I can play at the next level as well and perform there. But also just to keep everyone motivated. We have a very good schedule this year—we have [Deerfield Academy] coming here in a couple of weeks, and they’re ranked number two in the country, and we play [Phillips Exeter Academy] two times, back to back at the end of the season, and it’s always good to beat them as a way to go out and graduate,” said Abrishami.
