‘Are we being good people?’

A day ahead of practice season for the boys’ lacrosse team at Haddonfield Memorial High School, head coach Damon Legato started things off with a different kind of training.

“What you don’t realize is, everything you do reflects everybody in this room, everybody,” he told the players. “So what you do, the way you walk down the halls, if you’re cursing, if you’re doing bad stuff in classes, if you’re annoying – that reflects on the guys sitting around you. It reflects on your coaches. It reflects on your family. It reflects on our school. It definitely reflects on our program. Those little guys playing lacrosse, what you do affects them …

” … So make sure these ripple effects that go out are positive,” Legato added. “Are (we) being good teammates, being good students, being good people in the community?”

The team’s first media day happened on March 8, inspired by the same tradition at the college level.

“We’ve never done this before, but I just wanted to get the guys in and set up, feeling comfortable, get the freshmen acclimated so that they don’t show up wide-eyed and they understand what we’re trying to do,” Legato explained. “But it’s also just to have fun.”

A coach at various schools for 26 years, Legato maintains that his job is more than just teaching lacrosse.

“We try to teach our upperclassmen, our captains, how to be good leaders and how to be good people so that they teach down,” he noted. “And I think one of things we’ve always done in our program really well is teach down. Take care of the younger guys, make sure our kids our teaching.

“I can’t be the only one sitting there preaching.”

Team captain Mac Clancey appreciates Legato’s style.

“I personally like the way he treats us on the field,” Clancey said. “He’s not too easy on us, but he’s also not mean like some people think. I think he pushes us to a great point so we can be successful … I feel like I’ve become more responsible because of his teachings and his discipline on me.”

Senior team member Griffin Breen credits Legato’s lessons with preparing him for a future outside of lacrosse.

“It doesn’t even feel like a sport,” Breen observed. “He’s like preparing us for the future to be a good young man. It’s not just about lacrosse … He says something – like be a dog – and that basically means go as hard as you can every day.

“It’s not just for lacrosse; you can apply it to everything in your life.”

While sports are a small part of a student’s life at the high school, Legato wants to use that time to instill good lessons in his players.

“You see them wide-eyed, and then seeing them develop into who our juniors and seniors are is pretty cool,” the coach pointed out. “But I think that’s more them, and we just kind of facilitate certain things to teach lessons … I love teaching lessons through sports. It’s a great avenue to do it. But I think good families, good people, good school, I think it’s kind of a combination of everything. We don’t want to be left out of that.”

Freshmen Charles Miller, who has played football and wrestled, is excited for lacrosse.

“I have a lot of friends I play lacrosse with like my whole life, and I know they had a lot of fun last year,” he recalled. “I’m excited to play with all of them.”

Freshman Myles Cheatham, a veteran of football and track, looks forward to being part of a team that feels like a family.

“I think the kids on the team, the upperclassmen, are great support for the freshmen,” he pointed out. “It’s a great family that we’re gonna build, and I can see myself really bonding with some of these upperclassmen. I think they’ve all been taught really well throughout their time here and I’m ready to work with them.”

This year’s boys’ lacrosse team has its most members ever, 45, compared with 24 the last two years and 26 in spring of 2023.

Mac thinks that’s because of how great the team is.

“I think that word just gets around that the culture here is amazing,” Clancey observed. “Kids have so much fun (and) the coaches are great.”