Another ball skips past freshman and lacrosse player Quentin Studdert. His head drops as he drags his stick across the turf, kicking up black pellets while he drags his feet.
From the sideline, his coach stays calm. Instead of tearing into him, he continues to encourage him, telling him to keep going, reminding him that his mistakes are part of the process of getting better.
For Studdert, that response stood out. It sharply contrasted the club environment he had grown accustomed to, where bad passes were often treated like failures and the pressure to perform outweighed any sense of validation or support. At Paly, though, the game felt different. The emphasis was not solely on results but on growth, and that discrepancy transformed the way Studdert felt about lacrosse.
For high school athletes, coaches often shape more than performance. The environment they create can influence whether a sport feels motivating or encouraging, and whether athletes want to continue showing up or quietly let the sport fade away.
At Paly, that impact has become evident in lacrosse, where players report their coaches have made the sport feel more supportive and enjoyable.
For athletes like Studdert and freshman Kostas Pashalidis, that difference affects not only how they play, but also whether they want lacrosse to remain part of their future.
Before this season, Studdert was hesitant to continue with the sport.
After years in club lacrosse, the sport had become more draining than rewarding, shaped by an environment that focused heavily on results and left little room for error.
What had once been something he devoted countless hours to was beginning to feel more like an obligation than a passion.
“Before this season, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep playing lacrosse,” Studdert said. “Club had kind of taken the joy out of it. But here, the coaches make it feel more positive and enjoyable.”
For Studdert, the biggest difference isn’t that Paly coaches push players less than club. It was the way they did.
Instead of dwelling on mistakes, they treat them as part of the improvement process. That shift turns frustration into motivation, allowing Studdert to reconnect with the sport instead of feeling worn down by it.
Studdert’s experience reflects a larger truth regarding high school sports: coaches can shape whether an athlete stays invested in a sport at all.
When players feel supported rather than ridiculed for mistakes, their mindset changes dramatically. They’re more willing to improve, take risks and remain engaged with the team.
For some athletes, this kind of environment can restore a passion that was fading. For others, it can spark one that had not yet existed.
For Pashalidis, the impact of coaching looked different, but led to similar results.
Unlike Studdert, Pashalidis entered the season with no previous background in lacrosse.
At first, he was trying to gain confidence in something new, unsure whether it would become anything more than a one-season experience.
But over time, the energy and encouragement from each coach changed that.
“I had never played lacrosse before, so at first I was just trying something new,” Pashalidis said. “But the coaches made it so fun, I wanted to be playing lacrosse all the time.”
Because he was a beginner, Pashalidis could have quit just as quickly as he had started.
Instead, the coaches made practice exciting rather than overwhelming. “The stress I had felt in other sports faded quickly faded as the season progressed,” Pashalidis said.
Their approach helped turn an unfamiliar sport into one he wholeheartedly enjoys, and in turn lacrosse became something he wants to pursue beyond Paly.
Though Studdert and Pashalidis entered the season from opposite starting positions, their experiences point to the same conclusion.
In both cases, the coaches’ impact extends past instruction. They influenced not only how the athletes play in practice and in games, but how they feel about playing in the first place.
This difference can shape more than a season. For some athletes, it can shape a lifelong connection to the sport.
While players felt that impact in real time, the atmosphere behind it was intentional. For Paly’s coaches, making the sport demanding but enjoyable was a key aspect of their approach.
JV boys lacrosse coach Ross Revenaugh said one of his biggest goals over the past two seasons is to ensure his players leave satisfied.
“For the past two years coaching JV, one of my goals has been that every player has such a positive experience that they want to keep playing lacrosse and earn a spot on varsity,” Revenaugh said.
For Revenaugh, that went beyond repeating offensive sets or defensive sets. A major part of coaching is building a trusting relationship with his players, especially when a player’s confidence can shape their development and improvement down the line.
“[We try to show each player] that we believe in each of them,” Ross said. “Athletes play better when they believe in themselves, and we really do believe in the kids.”
This spotlight on reassurance explains why players such as Studdert and Pashalidis changed the way they viewed lacrosse.
And this impact proves to have stretched beyond individual athletes. When players like Studdert and Pashalidis enjoy showing up, they are more likely to encourage others to join or continue with the program.
“[Pashalidis] and I are trying to get as many people as possible to play club out of season,” Studdert said.
At the high school level, where coaching is rarely about financial reward, that investment says a lot more. Coaches like Revenaugh are not returning each year because of a paycheck, but because they care about the athletes and the experience they can create for them.
This same kind of impact may exist beyond boys lacrosse as well. Across Paly sports, coaches have the power to shape the environment around their players by treating them with respect and creating a culture that can cultivate them.
That kind of influence can be found in field hockey as well. Sophomore Ela Aba, who played on the JV team as a freshman before getting moved up to varsity this season, said the environment her coach created helped shake not just her development, but also her confidence.
As a freshman, Aba said having a parent coach on JV made the team feel more supportive while still making sure players hold a high standard. Instead of making mistakes feel embarrassing, her coach emphasized growth and made the sport feel as it did for her when she was a kid.
“Last year, I was still figuring out whether field hockey was something I wanted to keep pursuing,” Aba said. “But my coach made it a lot easier to focus on improving and enjoying the sport instead of being scared to mess up.”
That foundation carried with her into her sophomore season on varsity. Even with the huge increase in competition, Aba said she felt more prepared than ever because of the confidence she was able to build up the year before.
“Moving up to varsity was definitely a challenge at first, but I felt a lot more ready because of how much confidence I built on JV,” Aba said. “My coach made us believe we could keep getting better, and that stayed with me.”
As the varsity team reached the CCS Division I playoffs this season, Aba said that balance of competitiveness and support remained a huge aspect of their teams identity. In that sense, the influence of coaching wasn’t reflected only in individual growth but in the team’s success.
In high school sports, a coach’s impact is frequently measured by wins, losses and playoff results. But for players like Studdert, Pashalidis and Aba, the biggest difference is not always found in the final score. It was found in whether lacrosse still felt worth showing up for.
This is what successful coaches like Revenaugh create — not just results, but a stronger connection between athletes, their teammates and the sport itself. By creating a challenging environment without making it discouraging, coaches have the power to turn burnout into belief and uncertainty into commitment.
At Paly, this type of influence was already felt in the journey of individual players. Over time, it may shape even more: team culture, program strength and the long-term connection athletes have with their own sport.
