As spring sports approaches and the pre-season ends, Robinson Girl’s Lacrosse will thankfully begin their 2024-2025 season with a coach.
While it’s unusual for a sports team not to have a coach the girls lacrosse team seems to struggle with the task every year. For the 2023-2024 year they were coached by Nick and Piper Pistorino and their 2022-2023 year by Chef Mitchell Smithey. The posing question is why is it so difficult for the girls to find a coach?
This is because the title nine rule in Hillsborough County. This rule requires there to be both a boy’s and girl’s team so that everybody has an equal opportunity to play.
The coaches for this year’s season on the girls’ team are Robinson Alumni Sophia D’amore as Head Coach and Robinson parent Coach Chris Crook as Assistant Coach along with Nick Zysk.
D’amore decided to come back to help keep the Robinson Lacrosse legacy alive in her free time as she attends the University of South Florida, to study Political Science.
“I came back to coach the girl’s lacrosse team very last second,” D’amore said. “This program has done so much for me and has provided me with such a safe space and loving space that I couldn’t imagine taking that away from the girls.”
While eventually a coach is found it seems to be a common trend every year for the girl’s coach to be a relative of someone on the team or the school.
“I really don’t know why it’s so hard for the girls to keep a consistent head coach. During my time at Robinson, I know the head coaches were very situational. They were either somebody’s dad who graduated [or] somebody who wanted to step in and make sure we had a season or just somebody who got pulled from the weed works like I did,” D’amore said.
Not only does this issue affect the girls’ team in not having a coach but also the boys’ team as well. In Hillsborough County, if the girls’ team does not have a coach, then both teams are unable to participate in the season.
Due to this absence of coaches, four-year player and current Girls Captain Mae Allbritton (‘25) has witnessed this issue every year.
“For the four years that I’ve been on the team, I’ve seen seven different coaches, and I would say that it’s pretty annoying sometimes, especially because as captain it’s my job to try and find a replacement which can be stressful, but I have always ended up loving each coach by the end of the season,” Allbritton said.
While the search for a coach continued, Allbritton continued with their preseason practices and has been recruiting for their tryouts. This consists of weekly practices at Foster Park and even volunteering for South Tampa Sticks Youth Lacrosse.
“The team knows that lacrosse is a newer sport for Robinson, [so] having a coach ready to go during the off season isn’t the biggest concern,” Allbritton said. “Because of this, we always do captain’s practice for preseason, so I’ve been practicing with the newer girls for a while each week to get them prepared for the season.”
While this maybe stumped the girls, they’re looking forward to their season and has not let them stop from going into the season with a positive mindset.
Third year goalie Ava Booker (‘25) acknowledges the process has been difficult but the team perseveres.
“The process has been a little challenging, yet the team’s overall spirit has been high considering the situation. We have had numerous head coaches throughout my high school career, but the assistant coach, Coach [Chris] Crook, still made every season possible,” Booker said. “Mae [Allbritton] has done an exceptional job at coordinating captains practice and teaching new players, or advancing on former teammates, abilities and overall lacrosse IQ.”
While Booker may have a positive mindset, this issue still brings frustration.
“Yes, the situation does bring frustration, considering no coach equals no season,” Booker said. “Yet, Sophia Damore has been gracious enough to step in. [The] Robinson season has been saved this year.”
Allbritton also believes this season will be a success with them finally having multiple coaches for this upcoming season.
“I think our coaching situation has been handled very well this season as we have three coaches who are all very experienced so I’m super excited for this season and have full confidence that it will be our best yet,” Allbritton said.
D’amore looks forward to the season ahead and hopes to better the team’s skills.
“We [Crook and D’amore] just want these girls to have fun and love the game of lacrosse as much as we do. I’m hoping to accomplish a great season with these girls. I want everybody to learn something new and have fun while doing it,” D’amore said. “I love the sport of lacrosse so much. It has been a part of my life since I was nine years old so I want to show others how amazing this game is and how passionate you can be about it.”
Both Boy’s and Girl’s will play their first game of the season against Robinson’s rivals the Plant Panthers on Feb. 11 at 5 p.m. at home.
