Recently, the Log caught up with Michael Li ’24, a recent Loomis Chaffee graduate and former member of the LC Boys Lacrosse Team. Last year, he played a key role in helping the lacrosse team claim the Founder’s League Title, the team’s first in 15 years. Currently, he plays Division III Lacrosse at Amherst College.
When asked about the transition from high school lacrosse to college lacrosse, Li commented, “I’d say that Loomis definitely prepared me well for the level of play at Amherst. I attribute a lot of this preparation and my development as a player to Coach Ball and Coach Tarantino, specifically. I got better every year just because they spent so much time… coaching me individually, both in lacrosse IQ and defensive skills.”
Their coaching was especially useful, Li noted, ‘because college lacrosse differs in the way where it’s much more organized and a lot of it is in the mind.’
“… It’s all about structure organization—knowing what to do and why,” he explained.
According to Li, while the team culture of college lacrosse differed slightly from his experience at Loomis, it proved to be exciting. “Even in the off season, we were always doing activities as a team, meeting at least four or five times a week for lift or team bonding events,” he said. “At first I was worried about being welcomed into the team since I was a walk-on, but all my teammates were all very accepting of me, and treated me no different as soon as I made the team.”
“One thing I miss about playing lacrosse at Loomis, though,” Li continued, “is the familiarity of it all. It was so exciting because there were teams that were your [traditional] ‘rivals’… and that brought a lot of school spirit and made games more fun and engaging, because you want to beat these people that [you’ve been playing] for three or four years.”
When asked what game he would want to relive once again, Li responded, “I think my [senior year game against] Taft in the championship. I’d definitely play that game again because winning against the team who [had] been beating you for [a few] years in a row is a really nice way to end things off.”
Li offered some advice for athletes in high school aspiring to play at the next level in college. “I would say there’s always a way for you to find your place on a team, particularly for people who want to work and want to play and have the right sort of drive,” he remarked. “I think coaches look for that in a lot of players and it’s hard to find sometimes, but when they do find it, they appreciate it and they’ll want it on their team.”
