Trinity Catholic undefeated at 8-0. Unable even to make simple passes, they stumbled to a 19-14 loss. Two days later at Pace Academy, before opening draw at around 5:30 p.m, Caitlin O’Brien ran over to Thibadeau with some unexpected news. “Coach Mick’s here,” O’Brien said. “Really? I didn’t think he was coming,” Thibadeau
said.
Short turnarounds are tough for Beard. He attended maybe half of the practices this year. “By the time I got bundled up to stay warm, I was so tired I didn’t even feel like coaching,” Beard says. “I was just like, ‘Nah. I need to stay home and rest.’” But that night was different. The girls ran over to Beard to say hi before returning to their warm-ups. His presence lightened the mood and gave the team a spark. McIntosh cruised to a 23-5 victory. The Chiefs went on to claim their fifth area championship this year and advanced to the state quarterfinals, before bowing again to Blessed Trinity awaited. It was much closer this time, 13-12, but the season was over. The Chiefs finished 15-2.
***
Beard is experiencing sizable shifts in his life. Gone are the girls from McIntosh with which he grew close. They graduated this spring and are starting the next chapters in their lives. Thibadeau left too.
Beard doesn’t know if his deteriorating health will allow him to coach next year, something he told the new head coach, Sara Knight. “I don’t know how much help I’m going to be,” he says. “It’s almost like I feel if I don’t go to practice or if I tell ‘em I’m not going to coach, I feel like I might be letting somebody down.”
Beard needs a new nighttime caregiver, too. Reilly O’Brien, Caitlin’s twin, graduated from McIntosh and started community college in Tallahassee, Fla. Two local boys are in the running for the position. If either doesn’t pan out, Beard says he’ll have to hire a professional. Then there’s the loneliness. While he still has a lot of friends around to spend time and work on cars with, he feels the void in his life left by these kids. “But, hey, that’s part of growing up,” Beard says. “You gotta let stuff go.” LM
ICE-COLD CAUSE
Surely you saw it this summer, people dumping buckets of frigid ice water on their heads, posting the video on social media and then challenging their friends to do the same within 24 hours or donate $100 to the ALS Association. The “Ice Bucket Challenge” had more than 1.2 million videos on Facebook and more than 2.2 million mentions on Twitter by mid-August.
laxmagazine.com
Several prominent lacrosse personalities got in on the act. In one thread, all-world attackman Rob Pannell called out U.S. teammate Kyle Hartzell, who issued the challenge to Ohio goalie Scott Rodgers, who paid it forward to Machine midfielder Kyle Harrison, who lured Bayhawks midfielder Joe Walters into the challenge. In another sequence, Team
USA’s Katie Schwarzmann took the challenge from Team STX goalie Dana Cahill and passed it on to Team USA’s Kristen Carr. Other notable ice-bucket laxers: Paul Rabil (challenging all Cannons fans), Billy Bitter (before leaping off a cliff into water),
commissioners Dave Gross (MLL) and George Daniel (NLL), several college coaches (Duke’s John Danowski, Albany’s Scott Marr, Siena’s John Svec, Stevenson’s Paul Cantabene and Cabrini’s Steve Colfer) and the Denver Outlaws’ mascot, Stix.
october 2014 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE 53
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