At 18, Lindsay Doxtator discovered her love for lacrosse at a later age than most. But just because she has graduated university and landed a full-time job, it doesn’t mean Doxtator, now 28, has hung up her lacrosse stick – or ever will.
Instead, after a long day at work, Doxtator heads back to her second home, the lacrosse fields at The University of Western Ontario. Her goal is to be a role model for the women who play the sport.
Once a player on the team, she now watches on the sidelines as the assistant coach for the varsity women’s lacrosse team.
“I can’t leave the field,” she says. “I’m always told I’m the last one to leave and I like to live up to that.”
Last weekend, Doxtator was part of the team who won the 2011 OUA Women’s Lacrosse title in Guelph after defeating the Guelph Gryphons 12-6. The Mustangs finished their season undefeated.
“Winning the OUA title was the result of a tremendous amount of hard work and effort by all. This is a talented group of young women and having them all on one team was very exciting for myself as well as the other coaches,” she says. “I’m very proud of their efforts and commitment to themselves, the program, and their fellow teammates.”
Last February, Doxtator graduated from Western with a health science degree. Prior to that, she earned a photojournalism degree from Loyalist College.
Born in London, but raised in the Oneida Nation of the Thames, she says a lot of her support comes from her family of “sports-minded people.” And although Doxtator grew up playing a variety of sports, she was quickly convinced to strap on a white and purple lacrosse jersey by her second year of university.
“It’s a part of my community and part of our culture. I grew up playing hockey, but for some reason I was just drawn to this game. I played for the varsity hockey team in first year, but by second year I was playing both, and then later just lacrosse,” she says.
Since, Doxtator, or ‘Dox’ as her teammates call her, has been involved with many other lacrosse teams, including the Six Nations Senior Girls Field Lacrosse team and the Haudenosaunee Nation Women’s Lacrosse team.
Now working for Oneida Employment and Training as the employment support worker, Doxtator is sharing her passion for the sport throughout the Western team and her own community in her spare time. “I’m done playing on the summer team in late August and there’s nothing else, so this is part of staying with the game and keeping with it, teaching these girls what I’ve learned,” she says.
So she comes back to the lacrosse field for the Western women’s dinnertime practice, where there is nothing but the sound of laughter and cheering roaring from the players as Doxtator joins in with their training.
“You can tell that she knows what she is talking about,” says Jesse Porter, a rookie midfielder and first-year kinesiology student. “She always offers advice for the girls and she’s never critical. She will always help you.”
And head coach David Hastings, who has seen Doxtator both as a player and now as a colleague, appreciates her experience, consistency and the inspiration she brings to the team. “Dox understands what it takes to compete at an extremely high level and it translates into our program,” he says. “She also brings excellent technical knowledge, which has contributed to our success.”
Doxtator tries to guide the women to find their own love of the game. “I push creativity,” she says with a chuckle. “A lot of these girls grew up playing just the fundamentals. But I push their boundaries. I want to see what they can do. I know they’re talented and I want to see it.”
She hopes she can motivate young players to see the world of sports as she sees it – a gateway to opportunities. Essentially, her lacrosse stick is her compass.
“Whatever stick you’ve got in your hand, that’s your tool to get you places,” she says.
