When Elon University women’s lacrosse head coach Josh Hexter describes his role, he does not say he just coaches or trains athletes. For Hexter, his role as head coach is to make sure the women who come through the Elon lacrosse program leave it more equipped to be successful when they graduate because they were on the team.
As Hexter heads into his 10th year of coaching lacrosse at Elon and the team prepares to take on top lacrosse programs from across the country this spring, Hexter sat down with Elon News Network to discuss the team’s goals and challenges for the upcoming season.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
As you’re looking ahead to this season, what are some of your hopes and goals for the women’s lacrosse team?
“One of the goals is to win the national championship. The other goal is to win the CAA championship, and those are the outcomes we talk about.
But really the goal every day is to embrace our competitive drives and try to get better every day, try to be the best version of yourself every day, and try to satisfy that curiosity that we have out in the field, and to really give each other our best every day.”
As you’re looking toward the season, are there any things that you can think of from either last season or the pandemic that you are trying to tackle this year?
“I think last year it really showed … it brought up the fact that when things are taken away from you like that so abruptly, you have no choice but to understand gratitude a little bit better than you did.
And it's pretty amazing how fast you can fall right back into the same hole of feeling like the ‘poor me,’ oh I don't have this, I don't have that, instead of just being grateful for the opportunity to play.
And when you can really reach down and embrace that every day, then the little things that are tough don’t seem as bad.
And you really are able to allow yourself to just play and make mistakes and push each other, without worrying about the other stuff that ultimately doesn't make that big of a difference.
Sometimes you can start to wrap your brain around the negatives, instead of being grateful for your health and the opportunity to get out there and play.”
Have you seen that shift in the team, as we get closer to the endemic stage, to more of what the team was like pre-pandemic?
“Oh, I see it with everyone, not just athletes. I think we all fall into that trap, for sure.
I'm lucky to be surrounded by such an amazing team of young women that we can all remind each other to do what we're supposed to do and remind each other to be grateful and to take risks and to have fun.”
I wanted to ask you a little bit about next week’s game, the season opener. How are you and the team feeling heading into this match?
“We feel great. We're excited about it, the chance to compete against two good teams on Friday and Sunday. What's better than that?”
Is there anything standing out to you about either opponent that the team is working on in practice to combat, for both of the games next weekend?
“We've only been focusing on us right now, just on us getting better every single day, and regardless of the opponent we play, we have to do what we do and do it really well.
We don’t necessarily concern ourselves with the name on the chest of who we're playing. We concern ourselves with competing at the highest level possible that we can compete at.
That's why we do enjoy playing some of the top teams in the country because win or lose, it's gonna raise your level, one way or the other, and the best athletes want to do that.”
For those who have not attended a lacrosse game at Elon yet, what would you today them ahead of next week’s game?
“Well, you're gonna see a fast physical style of play. Our team is tough and gritty and physical. I think that if nothing else, that'll be on display this weekend. They’re going to compete hard.”