Humble and Kind

Just watch the Collegiate school junior run. Just watch her move quickly, skillfully, and purposefully about the field hockey and lacrosse fields. Just watch her compete.

 

“Maggie comes ready to play at top speed every day,” said Karen Doxey, Collegiate’s director of athletics and, since 1986, the school’s field hockey coach. “Even more impressive is her internal drive to achieve, excel, and help her team win. Her mere presence ignites confidence in her teammates. Never underestimate the force that is Maggie Bostain.”

 

Through almost three years as a varsity athlete, that “force” has earned a host of honors for her stellar play.

• Freshman: All-League of Independent Schools, second team All-Metro in lacrosse.

• Sophomore: All-LIS in field hockey; All-LIS, honorable mention All-VISAA in winter track (500 meters in personal best 1:19.32); All-LIS, All-VISAA, Richmond Times-Dispatch All-Metro player of the year in lacrosse.

• Junior: All-LIS, honorable mention All-VISAA, second team All-Metro in field hockey; honorable mention All-VISAA in winter track (4x400 relay).

In three varsity field hockey seasons, she’s scored 20 goals and assisted on seven others. This lacrosse season, she’s recorded 53 goals, 10 assists, and 89 draw controls for the 10-4 Cougars. Her career line reads 158 goals, 35 assists, and 224 draw controls. She’s verbally agreed to play lacrosse for Virginia and plans to make her commitment official during the November signing period.

 

Talk to Maggie about her athletic achievements, though, attempt to engage her in conversation about her T-D lacrosse POY honor – a rarity for a sophomore in any sport – and she just smiles. She’s appreciative, of course. She just sees a much bigger picture.

 

“Sports have become an outlet for me,” she said. “When I’m out there on the field, I’m thinking only about the next play. I play for the love of the game. I could be in a really, really grumpy mood, but when I step on the field, my mood changes, and I have fun.”

 

Maggie’s athletic career began long ago. She played basketball in the YMCA elementary school leagues, then at Collegiate, and even started at times on the varsity as a freshman before she switched to track. She began field hockey in the seventh grade, moved quickly through the ranks, and joined the varsity as a freshman. But it was lacrosse – she began in the Geronimo program as a fourth grader – that won her heart.

 

“I love the competitiveness and the fast pace of the game,” said Maggie, who’s also a member of the elite Capital Lacrosse Club based in Alexandria. “I love team sports and having my teammates to rely on and having each other’s backs.

 

“My coaches have always preached being a multi-sport athlete. It shows you’re versatile. It’s good cross training because different sports work different muscles and keep you in shape. I don’t want to burn out focusing everything on lacrosse. It’s nice to have other things I enjoy doing.”

 

The sport notwithstanding, Maggie has found joy in each experience. As she’s attained success, she’s challenged herself to train more intentionally and mindfully. She’s diligent about her preparation. She runs on her own. She does all within her power to enhance her explosiveness and refine her footwork and technique. As talented as she is, as acclaimed as she has become, she knows it’s her responsibility to maintain her competitive edge.

 

“I know I can always get better,” she said. “I can always improve my game. There’re girls way better than me, and I can always try to make new checkpoints to become the best I can be.”

 

To view Maggie just a talented sprinter, hockey forward, or lacrosse midfielder, though, is missing the point.

 

“She’s so humble,” said Caitlin Brooks, Collegiate’s first-year lacrosse coach. “She’s one of the only people that doesn’t realize she’s one of the best players in the country. She’s super positive with her teammates. My role as a coach is helping her understand how valuable her voice is to everyone else. When she talks, everyone listens. Her teammates love to surround themselves with her, not just because of her talent but because she’s such a kind soul.”

 

Maggie’s talent extends far beyond the athletic arena.

 

“I play the fiddle: western swing and country,” she said with a laugh. “My great great uncle (Cal Newman) is in the (Virginia) Country Music Hall of Fame. I go to him every Saturday. He teaches me. We jam together. I’ve been playing since I was seven. I’ve had the privilege of opening for the Gatlin Brothers and for Lee Greenwood (at the Old Dominion Barn Dance at The Beacon Theater in Hopewell.”

 

So you find delight in endeavors as disparate as playing sports at a high level and playing the fiddle? I asked.

 

Maggie smiled, as she does quite often.

 

“Like lacrosse,” she said, “it (playing the fiddle) changes my mood and my attitude. Both sports and music allow me to forget about stress and have fun.”

  -- Weldon Bradshaw