While most of Cathedral’s sports teams strive to distinguish themselves from their neighbors on campus, the boys’ Varsity lacrosse wants to do just the opposite. Indeed, Mr. Jim Mandler, the team’s newest head-coach, is adamant that the boys “emulate” other teams in the hopes that they will eventually get the same respect that some, most notably the boys’ football, girls’ soccer, and water polo teams, garner.

In order to do so, then, Coach Mandler encouraged his boys to always “give people respect and to be good citizens on campus.” However, Coach Mandler’s requests for his boys did not stop there, but rather he went on to remind the boys lacrosse team that they should work hard “like the football players do”, support their fellow teams, and do the little things, such as picking up stray trash on campus.

Coach Mandler’s teaching philosophy does not stop here, though. In fact, he is also very passionate about the importance of the boys simultaneously investing themselves in the game and detaching themselves from the results: “We want them to give it all they got each and every day, each and every minute. We want them to just let the wins and losses take care of themselves. We don’t want them to even think about that.”

The above philosophy has proven to be a fairly successful coaching method, as the boys topped off their 18-3 season going into CIF Finals; though they unfortunately lost in a 6-5 upset against LCC (La Costa Canyon). Nevertheless, the boys still came a long way from the start of the spring season, fully earning the title of being number eight in the U.S. lacrosse boys’ west region.

Titles and distinguishes set aside, their success was not achieved without all of the hard work and effort that the boys put into their season.

Despite the season officially starting in April, many members of the 35-player team began practicing with one another months before the real start of the season. Even further, most of the boys also played lacrosse year-round, though not necessarily on the same team.

“People don’t realize how playing lacrosse is such a long and big commitment,” said Cole Wolfson, a junior member of the team. “Every player on the team plays year round, and the actual spring season is probably one of the longer sports seasons [on campus], lasting from mid-February to the end of May.”

Having extra off-season training sessions 2-3 times per week before the season began really helped the players prepare for the actual season, as they were thus able to get a jump-start on their weight training and strength and conditioning workouts.

During the regular season, the boys’ practice was usually broken-up into segments – including everything from learning about situation awareness and increasing each player’s “lacrosse IQ” to working on fitness and conditioning and running through game simulations. The most important aspect of any training the players underwent, however, was that repetition was key in order for any skills to be mastered.

After spending so much time with one another, the general atmosphere surrounding practice was a competitive one.

“We are constantly pushing each other,” said Cole.

Regardless of the pressure the players put on one another and the strict attitude the coaching staff maintains, the coaches are “good at keeping the game fun,” said Cole.

Indeed, Dekker Stebel, yet another junior member of the team, felt the same, saying that the coaches, Mr. Mandler especially, “really help [the players] and put a lot of effort into the program.”

“[Coach Mandler] really relates well to the players,” added Cole.

For Coach Mandler, however, he simply dedicates so much of his time to the program because it’s what he loves to do: “…I believe it’s my calling…you just have to have a passion for it.”