This weekend, as the Philadelphia Waterdogs take the field in Salt Lake City to face the Carolina Chaos, rookie long-stick midfielder Ben Wayer will be playing a home game of sorts, just not in the usual sense.
For Wayer, Utah isn’t just a stop on the Premier Lacrosse League schedule. It’s where everything changed.
Just three years ago, Wayer’s life had unraveled. A promising but struggling player at the University of Virginia, he was quietly battling substance abuse. By late 2022, he had reached a breaking point.
Wayer left college lacrosse, school and personal relationships all behind for him to focus on his recovery, despite not knowing what he’d come back to.
“There were so many hard times there,” Wayer said. “So many times I was like, ‘This isn’t worth it. I’m throwing away my lacrosse career, I’m throwing away my college education.’”
Isolated from the outside world, Wayer began to mentally rebuild by confronting his struggles and started his road back to the game he’s played since he knew how to pick up a stick.
Following his time in the mountains, Wayer entered a halfway house program in Utah.
“Trying to work on myself and become a better person, first and foremost,” Wayer said. “What I had an advantage of, compared to maybe other people in the programs I was in, was I really wanted to get back to my teammates and my friends. I had a light at the end of the tunnel.”
That light kept him going during long, difficult days.
“It was a little bit easier knowing that if I did everything right and worked as hard as I could, there could be a chance of me playing lacrosse again,” Wayer said. “At the time, I didn’t recognize how beneficial that was, but looking back, I was so fortunate to have that.”
In 2023, he returned to Virginia, and a year later, Wayer became one of the nation’s top long-stick midfielders, collecting 81 ground balls and causing 24 turnovers. He added seven goals and five assists, proving to be a two-way threat.
“It’s still a part of who I am, but I try not to think too much about my time away,” Wayer said. “… What really motivates me now [is] how much I love our team, being the best I can be for my teammates and trying to contribute the most I can for my teammates.”
In May, he was drafted by a team known for its blue-collar toughness and team-first mentality, the Waterdogs. It was the perfect match for Wayer, whose journey had redefined what success meant to him.
Now, as the Waterdogs head west, Wayer returns to Utah as a professional athlete on the world stage.
“I was just talking to my dad about this,” Wayer said. “When I left Utah, before my junior year, we drove across the country and played golf at my dad’s friend’s course in Chicago. At that time, who knew what my lacrosse career was going to look like?”
He and his dad reflected on that distant memory with the knowledge that Wayer had made it back.
“It was a surreal moment,” Wayer said. “We were like, ‘Last time we were here, who knows if I was even going to make the UVA team again?’ And now, I’m lucky enough to be playing in the pros.”
It was a moment that encapsulated just how far he had come from uncertainty and isolation to being the person he wants to be on and off the field.
“In the moment when I was there, I thought, ‘This is who I am forever.’ A kid who went to rehab, a kid who struggled and failed,” Wayer said. “And now, I’m so happy. I’m just back to being a good person, a good family member, a great friend, a great lacrosse player, and that’s what I want to be.”
This weekend, when No. 4 takes the field in Utah, he won’t just be playing for a win. He’ll be playing for the team he fought to be on.
“My favorite part of every week is Thursday or Friday, when everyone starts showing up to the hotel. It’s like seeing your buddies again,” Wayer said. “I’m back with the team that I love.”
