Former Idaho lacrosse player now going into coaching
For many student athletes, graduation can be a bittersweet experience.
On one hand it is a new beginning — all of the hard work and long hours they put into the classroom are over — but on the other hand they are no longer able to compete in the sport that many of them have dedicated years, if not their entire lives to.
Idaho women’s club lacrosse | Courtesy
The Idaho women’s club lacrosse team sets up its defense against Whitman during the 2014 Boise Classic in
the spring. Brittiany Graham, third from the left will coach the Vandals in 2015 after graduating this fall.
That is the case for Brittiany Graham, a member of the women’s lacrosse club who is graduating this December. However, she has elected to stay in Moscow for the spring semester.
“I really miss playing but coaching has been quite the learning experience and I really like it,” Graham said.
Graham will be officially done with school in December with a degree in Broadcasting and Digital Media, but she plans on staying in Moscow through the spring and walk with the rest of the class of 2015 in May.
After that, she plans on moving back to the Boise area where she is originally from and find a job in broadcasting — ideally in postproduction. After hopefully doing that for a few years she wants to move to Seattle or Los Angeles, she said.
Along with coaching, she will be assisting first year team president Willow Vero with all things related to the club, not just coaching. She was the team president for two years before Vero took the position this fall.
She has been helping out on both the coaching side and the bureaucratic side during this semester as she is finishing up the last few classes for her degree.
“With the coach it does help a lot because it can be hard for someone who is also playing to also coach,” Vero said. “We had two student coaches who graduated last year, but because they were on the men’s team before they were strictly coaches and I think that it is easier to have someone from the outside come in. It avoids confusion between coaching and playing.”
The team president wears many hats being as the club is still rather small and new on campus. Vero does everything from communicate with the other teams in the league to handling the club bank account and everything in between, she said.
Graham said next year they plan on expanding enough to have a vice president as well.
Despite her new position as the coach this year, she was far from a seasoned veteran lacrosse player when she first came to UI. She had never played the sport before but decided to give it a try and she took to it quickly, she said.
The team varies in experience level. From novice all the way to players who have been playing for over a decade, Vero said.
Lacrosse is primarily a spring sport but they usually play in one tournament during the fall in Boise. They also practice all year.
On Feb. 28, the club will be hosting a tournament on the SprinTurf with schools from all over the Northwest.
If anybody is interested in getting involved with the women’s lacrosse team in any facet, Vero and Graham said they are willing to help the first-year player along. They can contact Vero, the team president, at [email protected].
Joshua Gamez can be reached at [email protected]