The Ponte Vedra lacrosse team is off to a great start for their 2017 season. The Sharks have gone undefeated so far by winning four games against Timbercreek, Fleming Island, Bishop Moore, and Bolles. One of the Sharks’ most noticeable offense players is Reid Smith, a senior who has played on the varsity lacrosse team all four years.
Smith is No. 7 on the Ponte Vedra lacrosse team, and he plays an offense position as an attacker. Smith was born in Georgia but moved to Florida at the age of 7 and has been living in Ponte Vedra ever since. When he was 4 years old, Smith began playing baseball; but around the time he started seventh grade, his older brother started playing lacrosse, and Smith decided to quit baseball and start his lacrosse journey. Smith’s older brother played lacrosse for Nease High School while he was in high school and currently plays lacrosse at Alabama State. Although Nease is Ponte Vedra High School’s biggest rival, Smith enjoyed playing against his older brother in lacrosse games. Smith’s older brother and Matt Kavanagh, a lacrosse player at Notre Dame, are his main influences when it comes to lacrosse.
“My brother is the one who really got me into lacrosse and keeps me playing,” Smith said.
Since his freshman year, Smith has had other high schools try to recruit him and has received many offers from colleges and other organizations as well. He has been offered to play lacrosse at Jacksonville University, University of Delaware, the Air Force, the Navy, Boston University, UMBC, Saint Johns University, High Point University, University of Notre Dame, Maryland University, and a couple of other smaller schools.
Smith is currently talking to Maryland University and the University of Notre Dame, but he is also considering attending Florida State University and playing club lacrosse there.
“If I don’t go play college lacrosse, I’ll probably go play club at FSU – which they have a really good team there – and I’ll just go for school, but we’ll see,” Smith said. “I’m still figuring things out.”
Smith also won multiple awards and titles in lacrosse during his junior and senior years. His junior year he was titled as an all-American lacrosse player, and he was the leading scorer in Florida. He also won the St. Augustine Record’s player of the year his junior year. Both his junior and senior year he was an Under Armor All-American selection for the South, and he is the all-time leading scorer for Ponte Vedra.
A few of Smith’s defining moments playing lacrosse include when he played in the state championship last year. Even though the sharks lost, Smith enjoyed the large crowd at the game and said it was one of the most fun games he ever played.
Another defining moment for Smith was when he played against his older brother during his brother’s senior year; he enjoyed the sibling rivalry and competition. Smith is also truly inspired by his friend John Michael Knight. Knight, Smith, and Smith’s best friend used to play lacrosse together in the summers. Knight had a stroke and can no longer walk due to Locked-in Syndrome, but this made Smith and his best friend, who is also on the Sharks lacrosse team, dedicate their past two seasons to John because he is such an inspiration to them. The three of them are still good friends to this day and embody what it means to live In the Game.
Keep Calm & LAX On
Written by: Logan King
Photography by: Logan King
