Former Moorestown star returns from overseas to coach girls lax
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Colleen Hancox always expected to return to the United States to coach lacrosse, and it is the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South girls lacrosse team that stands to be the beneficiary.
The Pirates handed the reins of their struggling program to Hancox, who just returned from eight years of coaching in Scotland and England. The new head coach is enthusiastic about her new team after taking over for Kate Dobinson.
”I looked into their schedule last year, and what I see with this team is a lot of raw talent,” Hancox said. “So there’s a lot of potential there. They just need to be developed and nurtured and have confidence building to feel like they can improve as a team.”
The Pirates have struggled over the last three years. They won five games last year and eight the year before. They won seven games in 2012, the last year that Bryan Fisher coached them before moving to Notre Dame. But WW-P South is only four years removed from going 16-3.
”What drew me to West Windsor beside the potential,” Hancox said, “was the support of the administration, everyone is wanting the same goal for the students and how they support their coaches.”
Hancox began her own playing career in New Jersey at state power Moorestown. They were 67-0 in her final three seasons and she was named the state’s Player of the Year as a senior. She went on to play four years at William and Mary, where she graduated third in the program’s all-time points list while playing attack and taking the draw for the Tribe. She was a two-time first-team All-Colonial Athletic Association player and was named the Feffie Barnhill Award winner as a senior for excellence in leadership as well as the program’s President’s Award winner for sportsmanship, citizenship and leadership.
”I had a great lacrosse career and plenty of accolades,” said Hancox, nee Dalon. “I can’t remember all of them. I had some lovely awards.”
Upon graduation, she went abroad with the idea of staying for a year.
”I went straight to England,” she said. “I was supposed to be there for just a year and it turned into eight. I got bit by the coaching bug, the travel bug. I became passionate about coaching. I was a PE teacher. I was coaching the high school level, but also coaching the Scottish women’s national team. We went to two World Cups — the Prague Cup and the Canadian Cup in 2013. That was pretty awesome to experience the international scene of lacrosse. The Scottish team improved two places, from eighth to sixth, that’s pretty good in a short time.”
Hancox got all the experience that she needed and was able to pick up from being a player to being a coach immediately. She found a new calling in England.
”I was a business major, specifically in marketing, and the original design was I was going to go to England and travel around, then move back to New York City and get a marketing job,” Hancox said. “The school I was at the first year, St. Mary’s, we won the national small schools tournament. I took this little underdog team that didn’t amount to anything, and we were able to go and win this tournament. That was really cool. I thought, I’m enjoying this, I’m loving the coaching and the teaching. I moved to Guildford. They were of a higher standard within the UK. That was a bit more of what I was used to. As soon as I knew I could get in there and knew I could influence and mold these players, I just loved it. It was a place I was excited to go to work. I got my teaching certificate over there.”
In eight years as head coach at Guildford High School in Guildford, UK, her teams won four national championships. And being an assistant coach for six years with the Scotland women’s national team gave her a chance to work with even higher level players in an emerging lacrosse country. Her focus with Scottish was as offensive coordinator.
”The standard is improving,” Hancox said. “England is hosting the next World Cup. For high school girls it is getting bigger with the promotion of the World Cup. They bring Americans over and put them in boarding schools to teach the sport. To have enough coaches to keep the programs going, they bring former players over. It fills enough gaps so maybe British players that don’t want to go into teaching, that’s the gap where Americans fill in.”
Hancox filled it quite capably, but she also longed to return, something that made known to her English husband whom she met while coaching and teaching there. She comes back knowing that things are different and the game is more advanced and the competition particularly in New Jersey tougher.
”I don’t think you could bottle up what I was doing in England and just transplant it here,” Hancox said. “I knew high school is where I wanted to be when I came back. That particular age of players and dynamic of a high school and the lifestyle of a high school coach is what I knew I wanted to focus on. I was really keen to take over my own program, somewhere that was going to challenge my abilities as a coach and where I’d be able to share my experience and passion I have for the sport with players that maybe don’t necessarily feel that.”
In WW-P South, she sees that dynamic and the potential to start something big.
”It’s the challenge to me to build the program,” she said. “For me, that’s my carrot. It’s to take it from where it is now and build it to something better. How competitive that gets to, I don’t know. Some people would call me crazy, but I’m in general optimistic, maybe to a fault.”
Hancox has only known success in her lacrosse career, first as a player at Moorestown then at William and Mary, then in her first coaching positions at St. Mary’s and Guildford and with the improvements she saw in Scotland’s national team.
”I’m a very competitive person,” Hancox said. “So I want to get to the point where we can schedule Moorestown. I appreciate the team has to be ready and that’s going to take some time to get there.
”I think as a coach, it’s up to you to build the culture. Sometimes it’s going to take a long time to get to where you want it to get to. At anywhere, that’s possible. It just takes perseverance.”
Hancox traveled back to Mooretown last year with her Guildford team to play an exhibition against her old high school team. It gave her a look at what is still at the top of the state.
”When you have that type of program, the bones are the same and the expectations, the competitiveness, the key elements of a good program are still there,” Hancox said. “The game has evolved. The mixing of guy’s strategy and style has come in the game. The foundation that they’ve built is still predominantly obvious.”
Hancox’s focus now is on bringing a new level of expectation to WW-P South. She is preparing her young team to take on Hightstown in the season opener next Friday.
”It’s definitely a mix,” Hancox said. “There are a good number of returning juniors that have played before, whether JV or varsity. It’s going to be a pretty young team. I think there’s a number of girls players who it will be a fantastic experience for them, especially through the sophomores and juniors, and for the seniors and juniors it’ll be a good platform for building leadership.”
The Pirates are led by three senior captains and they play in different parts of the field. Amanda Easter and Dana Salerno are on the attack and midfield and Robin Slothower is a defender.
”I think with any new coach and change, you’re always going to have a drop of some players that don’t return,” Hancox said. “We have three strong seniors that are back. All three are captains. The leadership is fantastic for the team. Although it’s a small number, they want nothing more than a unified successful season.
”It’ll be disjointed at the start,” she said. “Hopefully as the season goes on, they start to fuse together.”
Hancox is looking to start building the success that she is accustomed to on the lacrosse field. She is looking to bring consistency to the WW-P South program as a longtime coach with the goal of creating a winning culture.
”I think that they are on board with what I’m trying to achieve, especially this year where we’re just trying to lay a foundation for a launch pad to the program,” Hancox said. “We’re trying to improve fundamentals, working on stickwork. West Windsor is a very academic school district and that’s something I want to hone in on, and get them using their lacrosse IQ, get them to understand if their stick skills improve, we could execute this strategy or do this.”