Science teacher Rachel Frantz began playing lacrosse in the third grade, and it all started with her mom blindly signing up to coach a lacrosse team. This caused Frantz to get brought along for the ride that would eventually start her lacrosse-filled life.
“It was something I got to do with my mom right from the start, and I think that’s why I really liked it when I was littler,” Frantz said.
Frantz, now a teacher, coach and professional lacrosse player, continues to try to balance everything on her plate whilst being around the game that she loves.
In the beginning of her lacrosse journey, Frantz played on a team in high school that wasn’t very strong, because the younger program was still figuring it out.
Even so, Frantz still loved the game and the people around her.
“It was still fun because it’s just a place to make friends and learn something new,” Frantz said.
Frantz then went on to play at the collegiate level at Augsburg University in Minnesota. However, women’s lacrosse still wasn’t very big at the time.
Frantz’s team was the only collegiate program in the entire state, and even now the state only has three D3 programs, one D2 program and no D1 programs.
However, this didn’t stop her. Because of the lack of lacrosse programs in her college, her team was traveling out of state for each game.
This meant that the team got to bond during the long bus rides, and this made many memories for Frantz.
After college, Frantz got the chance to play abroad in other countries at the professional level with the Women’s USA All Stars Lacrosse Team.
For example, this summer her team got to travel to Peru to play.
“It’s just so cool being able to travel and play this sport still even though there aren’t that many opportunities to play,” Frantz said.
Frantz still plays at the professional level while teaching at SHS, as well as being the head coach of the girl’s lacrosse team.
Frantz’s coaching career has been going on about as long as her playing career has been.
Frantz started coaching her middle school’s team when she was in high school, then coached a high school team when she was in college.
Junior Sydney Hartman had Frantz in the classroom as well as a coach on the field.
“She is super encouraging and (motivational),” Hartman said. “She is always like, ‘if you make mistakes it’s totally okay,’ and she doesn’t let anyone ever say sorry.”
On top of everything she does, Frantz also gives one-on-one and group lessons with an organization named Crossroads Lacrosse. Her lessons range from middle school to high school girls.
Frantz says it hasn’t been easy to balance all of this, but it’s been a learning curve for her.
“It’s still in the starting phase, and I have faith that in a couple of months it will feel more normal,” Frantz said.
