Over the summer Gavin Boree ’24 spent two months in Canada playing box lacrosse with professional players to prepare for college lacrosse.
Boree’s mother inspired his interest in lacrosse., “My mom was folding laundry one time and a game came up on ESPN. She thought it was awesome. Then Coach A came up to me and he said that I could go try. And if I didn’t like it, I could leave.”
Initially, Boree wasn’t sure about lacrosse, “So I started trying but all my friends had played before I got started playing. So I was on the B team and they were on the A team. And I didn’t like it at first because it’s so different, with a stick and it’s really hard to get into, because it’s such a different sport. I was really angry that I wasn’t on the A team. So I decided to keep playing.”
Flash forward five years and Boree is recommended to a program in Canada to play with professional players. Living with a host family and two players from the Czech Republic, he was able to build lasting relationships. “I love those kids. They spoke English, but not that much. But I still talk to them every week.”
Boree’s focus during the program was to improve his technical skills. “Playing box can help your field game a lot. Because you have to learn how to catch [the ball]. It teaches you to absorb contact and catch better, and play in tight spaces.”
In box lacrosse, the goals are tiny, like hockey goals compared to the larger triangular lacrosse goals he was used to. Boree had never played box lacrosse before this program. “It was a big change. Especially as I’ve never played before, it was kind of a different sport. So I had to learn. And it was brutal. It was really fun. But it was so different and aggressive. And these are men coming off work. They’re coming in work clothes. And they’re trying to play professionally. So it was really intense. But it was a lot of fun.”
During the program, Boree was getting up at around twelve o’clock every day because practice didn’t start until seven or eight o’clock at night. He spent time with his fellow roommates bowling, going to the mall, and going out for food. The next day they would do it again.
When Boree traveled back home and began playing lacrosse again, he noted major differences in his gameplay.
“It feels like the goal is wide open. And it just feels like the whole game slowed down because everything’s more spread apart when in box, it’s like a lot more compact. And there’s always somebody hitting you and touching you.
Boree learned a lot from his time playing with professional players and was able to get insight into what his future lacrosse career might look like.
“I’m just trying to get more athletic and more in shape because I know that when I get to college, it’s gonna be a different world. Instead of me being one of the better players on the team, everybody is going to be the person that was the best player on their team and in the state when they were in high school. It’s going to be a different world where I’m gonna have to find a way to separate myself from players who are just as elite as me in high school. So that’s pretty interesting and exciting.”
