Rachael Bond '22 Recruiting Profile

    I am lucky to have been a very fortunate person throughout my life.  I am lucky enough to have a loving family who understood the need of an active lifestyle, playing sports, and being part of a team for myself.  Since I can remember, my mother let my siblings and I try every sport we wanted to see what we liked and what we had the most fun at. While my brother and sister were more intrigued by soccer, I was interested in numerous sports. It seemed that when we got to high school, their love for sports faded while mine seemed to grow. My friends were the biggest influencers in what sports I wanted to play growing up. I started with soccer, then basketball, softball, competitive sailing, and hockey. After deciding that those sports were not right for me, I picked up lacrosse. Th first year was hard, as it should be, I played attack for a school outside of my district. Then in 8th grade, I started playing for my high school. Although I felt most accustomed to attack, I tried out as a defender, but something didn’t fit. One day, I asked my coach to play goalkeeper for a practice. I have never felt more at home then wearing those pads and knowing I’d have bruises the next day.

     The first time I realized how important lacrosse is to me was actually not too long ago. In an off season game, I took a shot to the head while playing goalie and got a concussion. At first I heavily ignored it, weeks later I found out how much I was risking.  Just a few weeks before the start of our season, my coaches and captains planned team conditioning sessions. They had started right after I got my concussion, so I was not able to participate. Despite my injury, I still chose to go to every session, as well as participating in every booster meeting I could. Seeing all of my teammates back together again was the only thing that made every day a bit better. All I know was, I would have ran killers all day just to do those drills with my team. With the concussion came vision problems, which worsened my hand-eye coordination as well. The quick reflexes I had worked constantly to develop seemingly disappeared. Working my way back to that was not only time consuming, but extremely frustrating. I would wake up hours before school started to do wall ball or walk the line, as well as after I was done with my schoolwork. I had never felt very irritated at anything, but this was an arduous challenge. I'm immensely grateful to be able to play again and I finally see how big a role lacrosse plays in my life. Whether it's meeting with my team, waking up early to work out, or spending hours with my trainer, the chance of playing is all I need.

    Although lacrosse is a massive part of my life, academics always come first. Every day is a new challenge and I'm consistently pushing myself to get the best grades I can. Accepting when I need help, on and off the field is not uncommon for me. I find that advocating for myself betters me and the support I get from my teachers and peers is unwavering. I find that challenging myself with more difficult courses is also very important. The courses I take can insure that I am more prepared for college and I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to receive such an amazing education.

    I have been incredibly blessed this past season to find, not only wonderful teammates and coaches, but a family I truly feel will support me throughout my career. Some of my most prominent characteristics are those I have gained from my family and team. I have been persistently told by coaches from various leagues that I exemplify team spirit and consistency. Lacrosse takes teamwork to have a great season and I am privileged to have a supportive team behind me in my family, friends, teammates, and coaches.