The Fleming Island Girls’ Lacrosse Team won their first district championship in school history by defeating The Bolles School 13-6. Not bad considering this is the first year they’ve had to make cuts at tryouts. Captain Kelly Beach led the way, evading defenders with a comfortable lead as time expired. Head Coach Clint Lyons called it their best performance of the season.
Beach is one of the more experienced players for the Golden Eagles, having competed in recreational leagues since she was in fifth grade. A friend’s mother had played in college and started a team along with Beach’s mom and a few others. She joined the North Florida Wave travel team after junior high and currently plays for them in addition to the school team. Wave Head Coach Meghan Fanning offers Beach a second perspective on the game, which Beach then relays to her school teammates.
She credits strong senior leadership and team harmony for this season’s success. “[Our chemistry] shows on the field. We mesh better, and play as a team,” says Beach. “It’s an honor to be a captain. This year, I knew I had to step up my game and my leadership. [I want to do] whatever is best for the team.”
Beach looks forward to the promise of her senior year, to build upon the momentum of their first postseason berth. Losing the 2014 seniors will be difficult to compensate for, but from what she’s heard, the incoming freshmen show immense potential.
Jennifer LaVangie, wife of boys’ Head Coach Jeff LaVangie, will coach a summer league team to acclimate new players to the program. Beach will not participate on that team, because she will be consumed in her travel squad’s schedule. Starting in June, she expects to have a tournament to play in every weekend. They’ll visit Georgia and Virginia on their tour with plenty of college scouts in tow. She welcomes the chance to earn a scholarship but is focused more on a prospective university’s academics.
She won the class treasurer office again this year and is an excellent student: she just earned her first “B” grade on a report card, in chemistry. She is enrolled in the AICE program at Fleming Island and has a busy exam schedule because of it. She dreads the thirteen tests waiting for her at the end of the semester but tries to keep an optimistic perspective nonetheless.
“It’s going to get tough, but I’ll get through it,” she says.
Beach intends to enter the job market for the first time this summer to gain experience and strengthen the look of her college application; and of course, to make some spending money, too.
She’s also looking forward to visiting family in Connecticut at their beach house (no pun intended) over the July 4th weekend. Maybe she will have time to pick her ukulele back up on vacation. She got it for Christmas two years ago and did not take to it as naturally as her lacrosse stick. It probably didn’t help that it was out of tune the whole time, either.
Then she will be back to work, and there will be plenty of it waiting for her when she returns. But she doesn’t mind it. Hard work is what she’s good at.
Favorite Athlete: U.S. Women’s National Team defender Ali Krieger
Favorite Subject: Math
Least Favorite Subject: History
Ideal Place to Travel: “any tropical paradise”
Gatorade or Powerade: Gatorade
Favorite Movie: The Proposal
Last Song Played: “Why Georgia,” by John Mayer
Superpower: Teleportation
Player Spotlight/ Jacksonville/ April 2014
Kelly Beach
Fleming Island High School
Orange Park, FL
Brandon Ibarra
Fleming Island Junior Leads Team to First Lacrosse District Title
