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 It's
All about Perseverance and Determination
By Brad Tarr
November 2002
Getting cut by your high school team is not the end of
the world, although at the time, it sure does feel like it. During the
spring of 1998, my junior year of high school, Joe McFadden (then head
coach at Loyola) informed me that I had not earned one of the three
goalie vacancies on the varsity squad. It would be the first spring
since 1983 that I wouldn't be a part of a team, and I was crushed.
Rather than quit the sport for good, I stayed with it
and earned a spot on the varsity for my senior year of high school.
I was fortunate enough to be a part of a special squad that season,
although our hopes of a conference championship would never materialize.
The sense of jubilation that I felt (and still feel to this day) when
I was told that I had made the team was an honor in and of itself. The
fact that I was able to make it as a walk-on with a Division I team
the following year was icing on the cake.
My point in telling you this is to illustrate how a lacrosse
player who simply loves to play the game and is willing to work hard,
can reach a level that, at least at one moment in time, looked impossible
to reach. You may not be a high school star who moves on to start for
a major Division I program, but the important thing is to understand
your roll and to work hard to make a difference. It's all about perseverance
and determination in this sport.
A Glance at Our Guest: Brad Tarr
- Born and raised in Baltimore County (MD)
- Started playing lacrosse in the Overlea Fullerton Recreation Council
at the age of five
- Alternated between the positions of attack and goalie until the
7th grade when I started playing goalie full time
- Played high school lacrosse at Loyola in Baltimore (graduated in
1995)
- Played college lacrosse at Fairfield University (Division I; CT;
graduated in 1999)
- Started and played whole game in Fairfield's first-ever win over
a top-25 team (Harvard - 1999)
- Despite a two-goal loss, recorded five saves in the only minute
I played against UMBC in 1999 (starting goalie got a penalty)
- Teams at Fairfield won the MAAC championship for three consecutive
years (1996, 1997, 1998; didn't lose a game in conference over that
span)
- Teams at Fairfield won the ECAC championship in 1998 and 1999
- Helped as a volunteer coach with Fairfield's women's team in 1998
- worked primarily with the goalies
- Worked for Elite Sports Properties, a marketing firm in New Jersey,
right after college
- I have been the Marketing Director for Inside Lacrosse since February
2001
- Tried out for the Washington Power as a goalie in September 2001
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