Winning a state championship is not easy, even though the Lady Rams at La Salle Academy in Providence, RI make it look that way. They have won 28 state titles in just four years!
Soccer Coach Joe Avila, who coached two championship teams, thinks the school’s winning reputation helps motivate the continued success. “Everybody seems to want to do this for their school,” Avila said. “They put a lot of work into it, they have a lot of pride and they try to be perfect.”
This year, the girls’ teams won championships in soccer, cross country, swimming, indoor track, gymnastics, ice hockey, and outdoor track.
“It is the best feeling knowing that your months of hard work have paid off in the end,” said Sophomore Emily Papazian, a Cross Country and Track team member.
So many of these young athletes know that feeling—and they know how much work and sacrifice go into achieving it. “We do it all for our school, our coaches, our families and most of all each other,” said Junior Carly McCabe, a soccer player. “At practice we witness the amount of effort everybody puts out and we feel responsible to play hard to give our teammates the results they deserve.”
While success is sweet and victories are cherished, many of these athletes run, swim, dribble, skate, flip, and block—whatever it takes to compete in their sport—for a bigger reason. As Siobahn Kelly puts it, “We step on the track as La Salle Academy, and we run not just for ourselves, but to give the Lasallian community something to be proud of.”