Listen Here
By: Collin Frazier
Twitter: @Collin_53
The University of Findlay is looking forward to Women’s Lacrosse team this season, with a new face taking the helm. Former UF Graduate, as well as a former Graduate Assistant for the Lady Oiler Lacrosse Team, Allison Kelly, has been hired as Interim Head Coach for the Lacrosse Team. It took Kelly by surprise, but she is grateful and excited to coach the team.
“I was very excited to be offered that position [interim head coach]” Kelly said. “I didn’t really expect it to happen, so it was a big surprise when Brandi [Laurita] approached me and asked me if I wanted to take over the program for the time being. I’m very, very proud to do it because it’s the team I played for.”
Kelly will be bringing experience from playing for the Lady Oilers from 2014 to 2018, which she believes will help her work with the team.
“My time playing here will help me because I already know the whole campus,” Kelly commented. “I know the ins and outs of both academics and athletics. I know, very well, the athletic department staff. I worked last year as a GA [Graduate Assistant] when I was finishing my last year at grad school. I got to know the insides of how the athletic department works so I think that really helps with the transition from someone that worked under that athletic department staff, to someone working with them now… There’s no ‘transitional period’ of being comfortable, I’m already comfortable.”
Along with being both a player and GA for UF, Kelly will also bring experiences outside of Findlay that will help her lead the team to victory, including working as a club coach, which she says taught her different ideas that working as a GA did not.
“When I was a Sophomore here, Coach Duffy helped me find a club team in Michigan, which is where I’m originally from, and I worked there for a couple years. I coached out in Massachusetts for a year,” said Kelly “Coaching with the younger kids that are getting older and then coaching with high school kids, it really helps you see different areas of coaching fundamentals of breaking down lacrosse and then building it up from there. Working as a college coach, it’s kind of a lot easier because you have a lot more to work with because the girls already have those fundamentals down, for the most part. Being able to with a club team is a huge advantage for me because I have those skills of coaching starting to build already and I can go off of that with these older girls.”
Coach Kelly is very thankful for the opportunity and can’t say enough about the opportunity to coach her alma mater.
“I want to thank Brandi and the Athletic Department [for] trusting me with the girls and believing in me. I really, really appreciate the opportunity and I couldn’t ask for a better place to work. I love the university [that] I’ve been at for 7 years now,” said Kelly “It’s been a really long run, but I really couldn’t imagine starting off where I am with coaching than here, so I’m really, really grateful for the opportunity.”
The women’s team is already in play this season in what Kelly says is the “pre-competition season”, as the team is currently participating in tournaments and exhibition-style matches. However, their real season will begin in the spring.
