Cecelia Messner '22 Recruiting Profile

As a member of four varsity sports teams for school as well as three outside club teams, I have had the opportunity to play with many different people and to be coached by multiple coaches. This has allowed me to develop personal relationships whether through lacrosse, field hockey, ice hockey or basketball that have shaped how I play and lead in each of these sports. This variety of teams has helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses as well as my teammates which has allowed me to become a leader on teams by showing others how to capitalize on their strengths and really play to each others' strengths.   These experiences have also exposed me to different types of coaching and practices, and playing for and with many different individuals with different sets of skills, backgroundand personalities has taught me different ways to lead. For example, in the spring of 2019, my travel hockey team won the National Championship for U14 Tier 1 Girls Hockey. By being the best team in the country, we did not receive equal playing time, and I was often short-shifted. Instead of getting upset as some of my teammates did, I saw this as an opportunity to encourage my teammates and be a positive leader on the bench.  I was able to recognize my role in that extremely close and exciting game, and I led by example by being positive and focused on the bigger picture which was for our team to come away with the win! I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to play at the varsity level for all three of my sports as a freshman, sophomore and junior year. I have been mentored by some great leaders in each these sports most of which are playing at the highest level in D1, D3 and D2 schools.

In my freshman year, I started on varsity and through the season I worked towards being comfortable as a leader even though I was one of the youngest on the team. I have a competitive spirit and I bring that to all of our practices. I make all players feel comfortable no matter their skill level because being a part of a team means that we have to lift everyone up.  I have so much respect for my coaches as they help me become a better player every practice and I take everything that they say seriously and work towards incorporating their corrections and directions into my play. I try to be as coachable as possible because it shows coaches that you care about the game. I am friends with all of my teammates which makes for easy conversations about the game and things that we can work on as a team. None of them find me intimidating which makes me a good teammate because they feel comfortable to make mistakes and learn through them. Playing hockey gives me an upper hand in lacrosse because hockey is in a smaller space and it moves a lot faster than most sports, forcing me to make quick decisions and always keeping my head up. These skills transfer to lacrosse and allow me to have good vision of the field as it is in a much larger space.   Lacrosse is definitely a passion of mine and I hope to continue playing at the collegiate level.