Gar-Field Boys Lacrosse: 'Every Day is a New Day'

It's no secret among the Cardinal district teams that the Gar-Field boys lacrosse players are smart as well as talented. Most of them are involved in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and have learned to balance a rigorous class schedule with athletics. Many also participate in band or choir, and play other sports such as golf or football.

What remains uncommon knowledge around the district is that Chad Dunlop is not only the varsity head coach of the Indians, but he is also the junior varsity coach, and at 25-years-young Dunlop is essentially a one-man show.

"This is my first time being in charge," said Dunlop. "Every day is like a new day."

Dunlop, who is also a Gar-Field high school graduate, was named the lacrosse head coach after spending the last two years as the assistant coach. Additionally, he coaches junior varsity football for the Indians.

"The previous head coach left to go to a different school," added Dunlop. "I was still around, so they just gave it to me."

Although Dunlop is the youngest lacrosse coach in the Cardinal district, the decision to place him in charge was a no-brainer. Dunlop played lacrosse at Gar-Field during his junior and senior year and has played football his entire life. He then attended Salisbury University in Maryland and played lacrosse and football before dislocating both shoulders. Dunlop's decision to come back and coach at Gar-Field was solidified after watching the Indians perform worse every year following the retiring of Dunlop's high school coach, Pat Hogan.

The 2010 record of 7-6 was the best season that Gar-Field lacrosse has had in the last five years. After four games this season, the Indians are 2-2, and Dunlop hopes to continue the improvement and get revenge on district rivals Potomac Senior high school, who were responsible for eliminating the Indians in a first-round tournament game that was called for lightning.

Only five members returned from last years team, and Dunlop has had the challenge of recruiting and training new players, most of whom don't even know the rules of lacrosse. However, the bond and respect that Dunlop has gained as the JV football coach has made the process seamless and exciting.

"This year is one of the biggest rosters we've had in years," said Dunlop. "We have 40 total between JV and varsity, usually we only have around 25 players."

Dunlop is young enough that many of the players view him as a friend, yet he's old enough and has had enough experience in lacrosse to be respected as a coach and mentor. This made it easy for him to fill his roster with players from the football team. Junior LaRon Hinton, the Indians' lead face-off guy, is actually a football player turned lacrosse fanatic.

Dunlop described Hinton as the Barry Sanders of lacrosse, and after being coached by Dunlop, Hinton now wants to attend the University of Virginia and hopes to play lacrosse professionally. Through four games this season, Hinton has 23 goals and serves as one of the team captains.

"He puts on a show every game," added Dunlop.

Dunlop hopes to build a JV program with freshman and sophomore football recruits and have them continue playing as upperclassmen which would then provide experience on his varsity team. He currently has 10 freshmen on JV and feels that they could be the foundation for a strong team that competes for the district title over the next three years.

"We usually don't have that many younger guys that play lacrosse," said Dunlop. "We just started getting this uproar of freshmen."

Dunlop was adamant about singing the praise of his senior captain Joshua Dunivin. Dunlop recruited Dunivin from football last year to play on the JV squad. Now in his final year, Dunivin has worked extremely hard to excel in lacrosse.

"After the game he'll call me at 10:30 p.m. and ask what he did wrong in the game," said Dunlop. "He always wants to watch film and sometimes calls me at 5:30 a.m. to know what's going on with practice and what he needs to do better. I wish I would have recruited him when he was younger, but he's completely devoted and doing a great job with the team."

It sounds like Dunlop is doing a great job as well.