COURTESY OF PANET
Falling in love with the sport at a young age led Girls Lacrosse Co-Captain Emily Smith ’22 to join the Andover team. Despite facing obstacles along the path, Smith has been able to enjoy her time within the sport.
“I started playing lacrosse in the first grade… I joined a club in third grade, and my parents actually run my club team, so it’s been a part of my life forever; I actually coach now. It’s a huge part of my family, and that’s why I continue to kind of fall in love with it. And then also, just like all the friendships that you may claim across, it pushes you as a person,” said Smith.
According to Grace Hammond ’23 and Smith, Smith looks to encourage her teammates to improve by maintaining a balance between encouragement and constructive criticism. She is always trying to build connections with her teammates.
Hammond said, “She leads by example and is a positive leader as well as giving constructive criticism. She’s very good at keeping a good balance of being super supportive of our teammates, but also when we’re losing the game, she brings up technical terms and things to kind of bring the group together.”
Smith added, “I feel [I try to push] everyone to be better. So that comes with constructive criticism, but also being very supportive and cheering everyone on when they do awesome plays, making sure people don’t get their heads down. And then outside of lacrosse, I think that comes with having team dinners, making sure to reach out, texting, we kind of text all the time giving people shout outs after games to make sure everyone kind of feels supported… We also like to have a lot of team dinners all together to try and form those connections. And we had the spring trip before we even came. So we were able to build a lot of connections not even just in Varsity, but in the JV program as well.”
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic placing a halt on Smith’s past two seasons and suffering an ACL injury, Smith has remained persistent in keeping up with her love for lacrosse. According to Smith, she values the support her teammates provided during difficult times.
“It’s been a difficult couple years [playing lacrosse at Andover] just because we had COVID sophomore year. And then I tore my ACL junior year. But everyone at Andover is so awesome, because they’re so supportive, and they do so much for you… When I tore my ACL, [Upper] year, people sent care packages, you get all kinds of notes. It’s just like a very special team to be a part of, and just like the people you meet. So I still talk to my captains for my freshman year, and even like people that have graduated the last couple years, they still keep in touch. So you build pretty strong connections that way,” Smith said.
According to Audrey Powers ’24 and Hammond, Smith is an important part of the team due to her kindness and respect towards her teammates. She always strives to create a sense of unity throughout the team.
Powers said, “I guess it’s really a team of respect and Emily has earned everyone’s respect, so when she talks the entire team is listening and she really looks out for every single member of the team as well. If someone is kind of on the outskirts or like, doesn’t seem as included, she’ll bring them in.”
Hammond added, “She’s very kind. I feel like I never hear anything really negative coming from her. She’s trying to uplift the team. I would say I think the best way to describe it is that she’s an uplifting member of the team.”
