Personal Statement

My name is Maddie Holloway and I love lacrosse. I love my team, my coaches, and most of all, the game itself. I think my favorite part of lacrosse is that it's one of the most aggressive sports that women play. My position is goalie. I like playing in goal, my passion is to play outside of the crease. I like to make myself an additional player on the field. The reason I choose to play goalie is that I like to be a "coach on the field" just like a quarterback. I love to coach my teammates on defense, and I have been told that I have the loudest voice on the team, which you can clearly hear from the sidelines. I believe I have a unique understanding of the game because I see everything from the goalie's point of view. I am lucky enough to have had several goalie coaches and they have taught me so much, each from their own unique perspective. Liz Hogan has taught me so much about footwork and exploding to the ball. Allie DaCar has taught me a ton about hand eye coordination and patience. My first goalie coach Drew Whyte taught and continues to teach me mechanics, positioning, but most of all he has brought a level of wisdom from his 20 plus years of coaching teams like Santa Clara and Stanford. 

I am well educated in my positioning and understand how to pinpoint where the shot is travelling, how to work around the inside of the crease, how to clear properly and start the offense, and how to work outside of the crease and become another player on the field.

I dedicate my days to practicing and grinding it out to grow as a goalie. I practice, on my own, almost every day, even after my team practices. I practice the things I wasn’t able to work on in that recent practice and the things that my goalie coaches have me working on. I play other sports as well, such as field hockey, volleyball, snow boarding, and wake boarding, and these all help to me keep in shape for lax season.

Another reason I enjoy this sport so much is the mental aspect of the game. It helps me to keep my mind off my worries and focuses on what I need to improve on as a goalie. Being a goalie also helps me to step outside of my comfort zone, and to try new things that might seem scary at first. I used to be terrified to snowboard since I had an accident and I broke my tailbone and felt like I could never ride down a mountain again. However, after I took up the job of playing keeper, it helped me to become more fearless, and this has allowed me to go back to the slopes. Now I ride black diamonds, pump up my team and I'm a wall in front of the cage!

Lacrosse is the best thing that I do. I love being part of a team and doing my part to come away with a victory!

Lacrosse rules!