Congratulations to recently appointed U19 Head Coach Remington Steele! We interviewed Remington about his lacrosse experience and aspirations for NZ U19 lacrosse.
Tell us a short bit about your coaching/playing experience.
I played four years of college lacrosse in the US. My freshman year was at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania, before transferring to Limestone College in South Carolina for my last three seasons. I played for Canada in the 2008 ILF U-19 World Championships, and won a silver medal. After graduation, for a year, I worked as a High School Coach in Texas and ran a company that helped get kids recruited to college to play lacrosse. Now I am the Assistant Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Limestone College.
What has been your most memorable experience as a coach?
My most memorable experience is probably going on right now. We are currently in the NCAA Tournament and are competing for the national championship.
Can you give us one or two pieces of advice for high school girls aspiring to play for the NZ U19 squad and beyond?
The best advice I can give is to work on your stick skills, that is the key to being a great lacrosse player! If you can’t pass and catch it is very difficult to be successful in this sport. I think it is also very important to challenge yourself everyday in training. Recognize what you have been struggling with and tell yourself that you’re going to do it better today.
What are you most looking forward to about coaching the NZ U19s?
I’m excited to see how lacrosse is growing across the world. New Zealand is a great sporting nation and I think lacrosse could become very popular there. I also love international competition, and I know what an honor it is for these girls to represent their country. I am excited to be a part of that!
What is your all-time favourite drill to run at training?
Anything that is fast paced and keeps everyone moving. I like doing a lot of transition stuff because you are able to focus on every part of the sport in one drill and it forces the girls to become more well rounded players.
Remington will be working alongside the girls all the way up to the 2015 U19 Women’s World Champs in Scotland. We look forward to having him join our lacrosse community!