The Player’s Lounge: Justin Guterding

By Justin Guterding

In a blink of an eye, 1/5th of the inaugural PLL regular season is over. The Chrome Lacrosse Club is 2 plays away from being 2-0. That is the beauty of sports. We as athletes, recognize that every single play in the game matter. Are there plays that seem more important because there is a minute left in the game? Sure, but the missed groundball in the first quarter matters just as much as the missed ground ball in the fourth.

That is something I will never forget Coach John Danowski taught me during my time at Duke. Every play matters, no matter how much time is left on the clock. If you are able to recognize that as an athlete, you will start to realize the enormous amount detail that goes into your craft. Seeing Coach Danowski this past weekend at Red Bull Arena brought me back to all of the valuable lessons he preached to our team. There are many sayings he is known for, but the lesson that every play matters will always stick with me.

With that being said and putting the wins and losses aside for a moment, I could not be more thankful to everyone who has taken part in the growth of the Premier Lacrosse League. From Mike and Paul, to the investors, to the media team, and most importantly, to the players. We have given children a chance to dream of being a professional lacrosse player one day.

Like Coach Nat St. Laurent, we have now become someone’s “Why.” That speech that my former coach gave to the Redwoods LC has really stuck with me and I am grateful that our media team was able to capture that moment. Seeing children running around in the stadium and The Premier Zone with my jersey on has certainly made me step back and think. I have slowly been recognizing that myself and my peers have now become what I once idolized. That realization is a feeling I can not quite put into words.

On top of my gratitude for the PLL, I also could not be more thankful to my parents for introducing me to the game of lacrosse. Mainly my father Joe, since he played and primarily introduced me to the game, but if I didn’t include my mother, that wouldn’t go over well. But in all seriousness, lacrosse has taken me places I could have never imagined. I have built relationships with players that I have idolized, which may be the best part about this whole experience. I am playing with guys like Matt Danowski and Ned Crotty, who I not only looked up to when I was in middle school, but guys who have coached me and helped develop me into the player I am today. I am on the same attack line as Jordan Wolf, who set a standard at Duke that I wanted to live up to. This past weekend against the Whipsnakes, it was myself, Jordan and Matt on the same attack line after a goal huddling up and Jordan said,“This is literally Justin’s dream.” Although Jordan said it sort of jokingly, it could not have been more true. There were plenty of times where I dreamt of even having a catch with those guys one day.

On top of building relationships and giving children a chance to dream about being a professional lacrosse player, we the players ourselves now get the feeling as well, of what it is like to be a professional athlete. From the stadiums, to the staff, the media, the fans. Top to bottom. After two weeks of games, I could not be more happy and proud of where we are as a league.

Now, back to the Chrome Lacrosse Club. To be completely transparent, we know that it is going to be very difficult to win each week in this league, but we feel as if we have not played nearly close to as well as we can together. From our shooting, to our ground ball play, our transition game, and our slow starts. We have gone down 4-0 and 3-0 in our two games this year. After both of those starts, we have won 12-9 and 11-9 in those games. Of course, that is not how sports work, but if we can figure out a way to get ahead early, or even just weather an initial push, this team will be dangerous. On top of that, we need to be able to put teams away. We have had the ball both times in overtime and were unable to convert. I love where we are at as a team, and I love the fight we have. Chrome has unbelievable leadership, from our coaches, to our captains, to our practice players. This group is special, and I am so excited to touch down in Chicago this weekend to compete on the national stage.

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