Fire and Fun

“If you’re not having fun, why play?” he said. “I love playing with my teammates, playing fast, having fun.”

 

For White, an attackman who as a junior this past spring earned All-Prep League, All-VISAA, US Lacrosse All-American, and Richmond Times-Dispatch All-Metro and player of the year honors, the fun began early. It’s occurred often. If all works as he hopes, it will last forever.

 

“The earliest I remember,” White said, “is playing in my back yard with a little mini-goal and fiddlesticks (basically, miniature lacrosse sticks) and tennis balls with my dad in goal and playing against Dyson and William (his older brothers) and having fun. My mom said I always woke up, picked up a stick, and would be outside practicing.”

 

Andrew Stanley, Collegiate’s head boys lacrosse coach since April 2005, remembers vividly the first time he saw Joe White in action.

 

“He was three or four years old when Dyson (Class of ‘11) was playing Geronimo,” Stanley said. “He was a kid on the sideline with Willie (Class of ‘16), and they were getting after each other. I remember watching them on the hill next to Field 8 (at Collegiate’s Robins Campus) with lacrosse sticks or a football or rolling down the hill and thinking, Oh my goodness, look at the fire in those kids.”

 

Stanley watched Joe White as he played through Geronimo and followed his progress as he competed in the elite Crabs program in Baltimore, so it came as no surprise that he was ready to play varsity lacrosse as an 8^th grader.

 

“Joe has always embraced the challenge,” Stanley continued. “He has the toughness that allows him to get ground balls, but he’s always played with grace and creativity. Joe feels the game and reacts. He has the athletic ability and heart to take the pounding and give one out. It’s been really fun to watch.”

 

Statistically, White, who’s committed to Penn State, has been nothing short of stellar. This past season, he scored 62 goals, contributed 36 assists, and scooped up 77 ground balls. Through four years, he’s the program’s career leader in points (333), goals (192), and assists (141) and fifth (with 262) in ground balls.

 

One doesn’t achieve athletic excellence on talent and grit alone. The game makes sense to White, but his awareness has evolved with time and practice, practice, and more practice.

 

“It happened gradually,” he said of his understanding of the game. “There wasn’t one specific moment. Around 6^th grade, something just clicked. I could see the field a little better. At least for an attackman – and Coach Stan says this all the time – it’s about forgetting the guy in front of you playing defense. It’s about seeing the next guy sliding to you or coming toward you. It’s anticipating what’s going to happen after I beat a guy and seeing where an open guy will be.

 

“Starting out at a young age really helped, but I honestly think a lot of it comes from just playing in the back yard with my brothers. Instead of going out there to practice, we were playing a fun game, and the practice was within that.”

 

Competing on the varsity while still in Middle School did present challenges, however. In essence, it was trial by fire.

 

“It was nerve-wracking,” he said. “I was playing against guys who were going to play DI lacrosse and I could get crushed at any time by some six-foot something, 200-pound guy, and I’m only 5-7, 140 pounds. As the year went on, it started clicking. I started understanding that I wasn’t going to get run over as much as I thought I was.”

 

White is now 5-10, 190, a captain, and the tone-setter for the Cougars, who overachieved (14-7) this spring against the best competition Stanley could schedule.

 

“This was a huge year for Joe,” Stanley said. “He sees things and reacts instinctively. This was the first year I noticed him communicating the X’s and O’s, the strategy, the hard-line stuff to players. He was pulling the strings to get people open.

 

“That became clear to me in the Episcopal game (a 13-10 road victory on April 24). Joseph, you could tell, saw something and wanted to speak. He ran the huddle and went through the offensive adjustments we needed to make. They were the right adjustments. That was a turning point of the year.”

 

White’s athleticism, intensity, and skill have earned him a trophy case full of accolades. He has nothing left to prove, except to add to his totals. Right? Wrong.

 

“My number one goal,” he said, “is winning a state championship. That would be the top of the charts for me.”

            -- Weldon Bradshaw