Boot Camp// military gym rats


RUN FOR DAYS


Former Marine puts Notre Dame women through the paces


At age 19, Wisconsin native Geoffrey


Puls joined the U.S. Marine Corps to serve his country, find direction in his life and gain some maturity. After more than four years and two tours of duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was honorably discharged to pursue degrees in sport science and kinesiology. Puls, now the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Notre Dame, uses his military background not only to train women’s lacrosse players, but also to impart his perspective as a veteran. “I can almost demand the same expectations of these girls as I would of my Marines,” he said. “My first tour overseas was probably the most eye- opening experience that I’ve ever had in my life. I really lean on that memory as a whole when things do get hard in my life and when I’m making my athletes’ lives a little difficult.”


Puls never played lacrosse, but now in his second year coaching the Irish, he has altered his programming to better fit the needs of the sport. “Women’s lacrosse, in my opinion, is


a very conditioning-based sport where our girls need to run for days,” he said. “Strength and power training takes the role of injury prevention and the ability to sustain all the miles the girls are running. You need that strength and power to be able to maintain yourself on the field to make those cuts and moves to score.”


Puls appointed sophomore midfielder Casey Pearsall and junior defender Stephanie Peragallo as his gym rats for this article.


48 LACROSSE MAGAZINE » November 2014


— M.S. A Publication of US Lacrosse


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