From Sammamish to Beverly

Answering the question "Where are you from?" is really annoying to me. I usually say Seattle, Washington because no one around here knows or has even heard of Sammamish, Washington......My response usually elicits the follow up question "Really? How'd you hear about Endicott?" To this I have a host of different answers and it usually depends on who's asking. More often than not I will just say I heard about it from a family friend or I got recruited; that seems to work.  

The following people are how I landed at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. They were highly influential throughout my entire collegiate recruiting process. These are the people I consulted with and how I eventually became a student-athlete here at Endicott.

Parents:

Both my parents were extremely supportive in the whole recruiting process. Although my Mom wasn't too fond of me going across the country, she eventually dealt with it. It was a little tougher on her because I am the first born, but my Dad comforted her. My Dad had stressed that although he didn't want me to leave, it was indeed a phenomenal opportunity both for higher education and for sport.

Scott Brayton:

Scott is a family friend who started a company called Varsity Student Institute (VSI). He is originally from back east, and played soccer at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York back in the day. What he does is help match colleges up with kids looking to play sports at the next level. Exposure, tournaments, calling coaches, arranging filming at showcases and tournaments, sending film, SAT and ACT test prep, everything you can think of. He helped me trim down and identify what I was looking for in a school, and to answer the question: “Would you still want to go there if the head coach left or if the sport was cut from the school?” Without Scott I would never have even heard of Endicott College.

Spencer Matches:

I played along Spencer from the first time I ever played organized lacrosse. He is one of my best friends, along with his identical twin brother, Matt. I played with Spence in high school, club, and summer travel teams, so we've been around a lot of lacrosse together. He completed a post-graduate year at Bridgeton Academy in Maine, then got recruited to play at Division 1 Ohio State. It's awesome to see him do so well, and to look back and see both of us push each other the way we did. Not many kids come out of the northwest and play lacrosse in college, let alone our high school.

Lachlan Murphy:

My first year playing, I was a freshman at Skyline High School. There were two junior captains, Riley Gervais and Lachlan Murphy. I knew about these guys well before I tried out for the team from reputation alone. These guys were phenomenal players and Lachlan was bound to play at the next level. Lachlan got recruited by Division 3 Rensselaer Polytech Institute (R.P.I.) a great and successful program. He was the first player from Skyline to get recruited and play at the collegiate level. He was and continues to be a true role model in terms of his ethic, and how a person should conduct themselves. As a high schooler, looking at what he did made me think “hey, If he can do it, I can do it”.

Coach Quirk:

Coach Quirk is a family man, and was the selling point as to why I decided to attend Endicott. Whenever I would talk with him on the phone, we rarely spoke about lacrosse. It was all about “How's school? How's your Dad, Mom, Brother, Sister? Are you enjoying your Junior year? etc. Lacrosse was literally the last thing we would get to. He preaches all the time that we are a family, and yes he teaches us how to be successful lacrosse players, but more importantly he teaches us how to be successful in the game of life. He is more than a coach, and wanted to make sure I was comfortable going to Endicott all the way across the country, even if for some reason I wasn't playing the sport. A perfect example is when I broke my thumb over this past spring break. The break required surgery where I needed two screws in the largest bone in my thumb. When I heard this news I called my parents. Needless to say my mom was very worried, she was freaking out. Coach Quirk called them and reassured that everything would be just fine. The day of my surgery he took me to the hospital, and picked me up. When I came out of surgery he was sitting down in the waiting room. Head lacrosse coaches, especially at this level, that do something like that for their players are few and far between. 

These five people (six technically) are all connected in that they were instrumental during my college search and ultimate decision making process. I am having a great college experience so far, and I owe it to each and every one of them. My parents for support, Scott Brayton for doing the leg work in finding the school, Spencer Matches for pushing me, Lachlan Murphy for paving the way, and Coach Quirk for his reassurance and genuine care about me as a student-athlete.