When Brennan O’Neill was in eighth grade, he came to Golden Okonu’s gym for personal training. Many young athletes put in extra work, but O’Neill’s drive was different. This was already his third workout of the day.
Okonu, impressed with O’Neill’s want to get after it despite all of the work, saw something special, and for the last eight years, the two have worked to develop O’Neill into one of the defining forces in lacrosse.
As a middle schooler, O’Neill was already one of the most highly touted young players on Long Island. But hype wasn’t enough for O’Neill. He knew he needed to get better.
In Okonu, he found what he needed.
Okonu, a former college football defensive lineman, is co-owner of Peak Training System. He’s trained countless professional, college and high school athletes. In a young O’Neill, he found a talented young student ready to do what it takes to achieve greatness.
“The fact that you have a kid like that, that’s always been told he was good, and then him not being satisfied, him wanting to know more, [that’s special],” Okonu said.
Since their first workout, the two have worked together in lockstep. Okonu demands excellence and holds his athletes accountable. That commitment to greatness and personal accountability is exactly what O’Neill needed and wanted.
“I need to be pushed,” O’Neill said. “I want to be pushed.”
Okonu wouldn’t hold back in training. At one point, he created a training plan intentionally designed to make O’Neill fail. But the young lacrosse prodigy attacked it head-on regardless, looking for any gain he could make.
“The kid was addicted to work,” Okonu said.
Okonu’s background in football and training athletes in multiple sports gives him a unique perspective on O’Neill’s lacrosse game. While a lacrosse coach may hone in on specific skill issues, Okonu helps O’Neill understand his movements.
The duo works on how to run, how to split, how to attack hips. It’s the minutia of movement that’s helped O’Neill become the most dominant dodger of his generation.
“It was a breath of fresh air working with Golden on lacrosse stuff, because a lot of people are so technical about a shot, but we just work on the movements before a shot,” O’Neill said.
Okonu’s helped O’Neill go from a tantalizing middle schooler to the best high school prospect in a generation to a college superstar and now a franchise cornerstone in the PLL. Through all of it, the coaching has been hard, and the workouts are a grind.
“You’re not gonna get patted on the back for it,” Okonu said. “But people will praise and shout out the legit results.”
O’Neill is in the midst of an elite second season as a pro. He’s a finalist for league MVP and Attackman of the Year after racking up 34 points (23G, 3T, 8A) for the Denver Outlaws. That individual success is matched by Denver’s team success.
The Outlaws roared to a 7-3 regular season and earned the top seed in the Western Conference. On Monday at 3 p.m. ET, they’ll face the California Redwoods with a spot in the US Bank PLL Championship on the line.
