Get to know Pleasant Grove lacrosse player Luke Richardson
PLEASANT GROVE, Utah — When he talks about lacrosse, Luke Richardson comes to life.
The fourth of seven children, Luke is a 15-year-old sophomore at Pleasant Grove High.
Luke鈥檚 been in sports since he was four years old. He鈥檚 played football, wrestling, soccer, baseball, and rugby. But lacrosse takes the cake with six years under his belt.
Luke plays face-off middie. Which is like a tip-off that happens each round. As a face-off middie, the ball starts on the ground, then each team鈥檚 middie tries to get the ball with their lacrosse stick before the other guy hits him. It鈥檚 a bit challenging though because Luke is 5鈥�10 and 150 pounds, and he鈥檚 usually going up against guys that are 200 pounds. It鈥檚 a good thing he鈥檚 fast.
One reason he loves lacrosse is that it was the first American sport, first played by the Native Americans. He learned this from a documentary about two Native American brothers (who had played their whole lives) who wanted to go to Syracuse, New York to play lacrosse.
Being part of a team has taught him the importance of hard work and not just doing things for yourself鈥搃t鈥檚 about other people. Luke鈥檚 coach, Erik Bayliss, is a great example to him because his coach cares more about the team becoming better people, not just playing lacrosse.聽 Luke looks up to him.
One mistake Luke鈥檚 had to learn from is losing face-off, the beginning of each round when he tries to get the ball first. Every time he lost a face-off he had to learn to forget it and focus on the next one. And each round has lots of face-offs.
One of his favorite pre-game rituals is his captains leading the team in prayer. He loves it because they pray for courage, endurance, strength, and safety. He noticed it helps them play better.
Luke鈥檚 dream is to go professional at Penn State. He loved the recent movie Hustle where聽 Adam Sandler said, 鈥淥bsession is going to beat talent every time. You got all the talent in the world, but are you obsessed? Let’s face it. It’s you against you out there.鈥� Luke likes this quote so much because it teaches him to beat the other guy by working harder than everyone else.
Luke has a warm glow to his obsession that is passion. He says his greatest strengths are taking constructive criticism and working hard. When he gets motivated and works hard, he鈥檚 unstoppable.
In addition to lacrosse, Luke also enjoys elk hunting on his uncle鈥檚 ranch and writing songs for the ukulele. He also likes horseback riding.
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