Lacrosse Strong Stories

Savannah Hadley | UC Davis Lacrosse

“As a graduate from University of California, Davis and a four-year collegiate athlete on the Division I Women’s Lacrosse team I can confidently say strength and conditioning programs helped me get recruited and become a top contributor to my collegiate team. I started my first strength and conditioning program my Junior year of high school after deciding to start the recruiting process for lacrosse. Just being on a competitive sports team alone wasn’t enough, the extra weights and conditioning made for drastic results. I was running faster and longer as well as gaining muscles that I didn’t know I had. It also prepared me for the higher level of play when I started college.

Strength and conditioning not only helps elevate performance but also helps for recovery. My sophomore year of college I unfortunately tore my ACL. After surgery and a couple weeks of rehab I was able to start a return to play program in the weight room. That specific program helped me regain my speed and strength in my knee that made me stronger than I was before the surgery. The strength and conditioning programs are starting to incorporate accident prevention exercises that help athletes play for longer with less injuries which is crucial.

I worked with Coach Craig for most of my collegiate career and he was an amazing coach and trainer. He created sport specific workouts that focused on the areas that we needed to work on most to help us on the field. Along with his extensive knowledge in the strength world, his motivational personality puts the finishing touches on his coaching program.”

Taylor Cuenin | UC Davis Lacrosse

“I believe the most important thing for any athlete to consider while striving for maximum performance in a sport is to take care of his/her body. Throughout the course of my career as a Division I athlete at UC Davis, strength and conditioning were always a top priority. What I appreciated most about my training was how it could be tailored towards my various individual goals as a lacrosse player. My main focus while training was to build muscle mass and strengthen my core in order to improve my performance on the draw, on defense, and on my offensive drives. However, my greatest strength as a player was my quickness and speed, which I did not want to sacrifice. As a result, my training was fine-tuned to increase muscle mass while maintaining quickness and speed.

… strength and conditioning are critical for injury prevention. It’s unrealistic to expect one’s body to perform optimally if it isn’t being constantly prepared to do so.

Luckily I was able to quickly recover from the injuries I did face throughout my career, and I can attribute this ability to recover in a timely manner to my dedication to strength and conditioning. The main source of motivation throughout my career was the love I had for my sport and team, so I would encourage all young athletes to find a source of motivation like this while training for the sport they love.”

Morgan Sissler | UC Davis Lacrosse

“As a collegiate athlete, Strength and conditioning was an integral part of my performance. It helped me gain flexibility, agility, speed and helped support a healthy lifestyle.

I learned that the effort put in directly correlates to success.

Becoming educated on the importance of strength and conditioning while seeing the outcomes definitely helped excel in my athletic career.”