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Belichick & lacrosse

Bill Belichick’s longtime interest and passion for the sport of lacrosse led him to Philadelphia over Memorial Day Weekend.

Belichick watched the sport’s collegiate championship at Lincoln Financial Field, and also was the guest speaker at STX/USILA All-American Brunch.

“You’re almost star-struck of Bill Belichick’s stature in a room,” said Hofstra All-American Chris Unterstein. “It was nice to have someone that important and successful come to a collegiate event. Then you see him staying until the end, shaking everyone’s hand, taking pictures. It was pretty special for the players there.”

Belichick played lacrosse at Annapolis High, Phillips Andover Academy (1971 New England champs) and Wesleyan University. He was a captain as a senior at Wesleyan.

“To me, one of the best parts of his speech was the fact he’s a football guy but he was relating everything to our sport,” Unterstein said. “He said he had a lot of respect for the people who play it and how much he respected the college athlete; that he had been through it.”

Belichick’s speech touched on discipline, hard work, teamwork and his family’s connection to lacrosse. Belichick told the crowd he attended Navy lacrosse games with his late father, Steve, as a child. In recent years, he’s been a regular spectator to his daughter’s college games.

Unterstein said Belichick’s speech included a few stories on teamwork, including one from the Patriots’ 2004 Super Bowl season. Belichick told the crowd that it was the dog days of training camp and one day he was walking to practice with offensive tackle Matt Light. The players were tired and Light was attempting to get Belichick to give them the day off.

Belichick told Light that players would have to earn the day off, because nothing is simply given to them. Naturally, Light asked what the team specifically had to do to earn a day off.

Belichick told Light if he could catch a high, spiraling punt, the entire team would get the night off, with no practice the next morning. On the flip side, if Light didn’t catch the punt, the team would do 20 extra wind sprints and the schedule would remain the same.

Light caught the punt. Belichick told the All-American crowd it was one of the team’s most significant team-building moments of the season.

“The whole point of the story was that guys who might normally not talk much to Matt Light were out there coaching him, trying to help him out,” Unterstein said. “He said from that point on, it was just unbelievable how much closer everyone was. He stressed that as being a turning point.”