Already very accomplished for his age at 14, Baltimore’s Tucker Williams simply just loves playing lacrosse.
“People say it’s the fastest game on two feet and it’s just so much fun,” Williams said Wednesday night at the Cobourg Community Centre as his Northumberland Nemesis U15 team prepared to face Whitby.
As a goaltender, Williams isn’t moving at that quick pace up-and-down the floor, but he certainly continues to make big strides in his lacrosse development, a path that will take him south of the border to Division 1 prep school Berkshire in Sheffield, Massachusetts to play for the varsity lacrosse team with and against some of the best players in the United States.
“It was a long decision, got a couple schools, but this school really stood out to me, like the people, the opportunity that they give me to go play down with them, just can’t wait.”
Williams will head to Berkshire at the end of August after he represents Team Ontario once again at the Lacrosse Canada National Box Championships. He’s backstopped Ontario teams to three straight national titles.
“It’s just a great honour to represent Ontario and just can’t wait to win them another one,” Williams said.
This year’s championship tournament for the U15 players will be held Aug. 11-15 in Halifax.
Williams recently won a National Invitational Field Lacrosse Tournament in Albany, New York with his Beast Lacrosse team.
Closer to home with his U15 Nemesis team that competes in the A Division of the Ontario Box Lacrosse League, he’ll aim to compete for a provincial championship in August.
With a size advantage since his start in lacrosse at a young age, Williams said goaltending was a natural fit going back right to his introduction to the sport.
“I was a bigger kid when I was younger so my parents just threw on goalie gear, put me in net…been playing lacrosse since,” he said, referring to mom Cathy and dad Jason.
Williams takes the pressure of the goaltending position in stride and keeps a short memory. If he gets scored on, he moves on.
“Just got to keep my mind positive throughout the whole entire game…memory like a goldfish,” he said.
While lacrosse doesn’t usually offer a full-time career like other professional sports, Williams hopes to go as far as he can.
“As we know lacrosse players don’t make that much money so really depends how life goes,” he said.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
