This year’s Chopticon girls lacrosse team was one for the books.
One highlight for head coach Cameron Beckner was watching his girls score 18 goals in an 18-16 comeback win against North Point on April 1. Another was defeating Great Mills later on that month.
Beckner will be adding these experiences to his résumé now as he accepted a physical education teaching job at Tuscarora High School in Frederick.
“There was a lot of them, a lot of highs and lows. You remember most of the ones you lose more,” Beckner said. “We have had some close overtime losses and some dagger ones, but what I liked most was we were always willing to learn, grow and develop. It was awesome to be able to work with wonderful students.”
Beckner, originally from Flint, Michigan, played NCAA Division II golf at Shepherd University in West Virginia, before helping coach the Rams women’s lacrosse team as an assistant to win the Mountain East Conference championship in 2014 and 2015.
“Through a connection I heard about St. Mary’s County and interviewed for the job,” he said. “I’m headed to Tuscarora, and met Chris Berry, and we had a good connection. I’m hoping to take a year off from coaching and get my feet wet. I’m going be a teacher in the meantime.”
Beckner looks back on his time coaching at Chopticon with a lot of good memories.
“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “I’ve had a great time connecting with the athletic director and Principal at Chopticon and the community. I’ve loved the staff and you think family and friends are more important. I want to find what fits me best. I can’t say anything bad about it.”
Beckner coached at Chopticon in addition to being a physical education and health teacher. He led girls lacrosse for four years, girls soccer for one year and golf for three years in addition to leading and assisting St. Mary’s Ryken ice hockey varsity programs.
“My first year was 2015, I was the head coach for girls soccer and then girls lacrosse at Chopticon,” Beckner said. “I was also the golf coach and also at Ryken while coaching ice hockey in the wintertime. I did that same schedule. I was the head Varsity II coach and assistant Varsity II coach at Ryken when we won the WCAC and MAPHL, beating Gonzaga and coming in number two at states.”
He added: “There’s a lot of different things about all of them. With golf, I have more knowledge behind it from playing myself. Ice hockey, I also played growing up in Michigan. I played for the Flint Junior Generals for two years. Girls lacrosse is something I picked up, coaching them is a big joy because there is a lot of strategy behind It. I have more control than I thought I did.”
Beckner was not afraid to jump right into to learning to coach a sport that he had never played.
“It was fun to have new players come out as freshmen and develop the game over time,” he said. “I had a few girls go to college because of what I taught them. I have more of a passion for girls lacrosse. It’s like your baby, you take it over and I had a great group of girls and coaching staff. We handpicked girls at tryouts and got lucky enough to have that the next few years.”
Learning to coach girls was no easy task, but Beckner was up for the challenge with the help of longtime Chopticon head field hockey coach Anne Vallandingham.
“I worked with Anne and coached both of her daughters,” Beckner said. “I picked her brain about what to do. It’s always good to talk to other coaches to see what they know about a sport. Dealing with girls is tough and she understands how to grow and develop players and how to motivate them and get them focused.
Vallandingham said: “He has done a phenomenal job, along with the coaches that have worked with him into bringing that program along. He brought consistency and a game plan. We share a lot of the same girls, but lacrosse is different and he coached both of my daughters.”
According to Vallandingham, coaching girls is a skill in itself.
“Yes, it’s harder to coach girls,” she said. “I find that it’s harder for men to coach girls, watching a lot of male coaches. They, in my opinion, tend to tiptoe around females when they need to challenge them and hold them accountable.”
In return, Beckner was able to teach Vallandingham and her daughters her more about the sport of lacrosse.
“He schooled me in the game of lacrosse that he loved,” she said. “Prior to his coming, I was like, ‘Why do you even have a defense? They can’t do anything.’ He taught me the finer nuances of defense and midfield.”
Chopticon was up against some stiff competition in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference as Beckner arrived.
“It wasn’t that it wasn’t good,” Vallandingham said. “There were a number of solid players that I shared that also played lacrosse. It just needed consistency. You have a number of solid programs in the Chesapeake Division, Huntingtown and Leonardtown. To be competitive you have to have consistency and have fundamental skills.”
According to Vallandingham, Beckner’s departure will leave a new gap in the program.
“He’s going to be missed,” she said. “I don’t know anything about who will be the coach. I don’t know how he does it. He’s been coaching three sports, ice hockey, soccer and lacrosse and teaching. That keeps you busy. Beckner did exceptional jobs of making them his own.”
Vallandingham said that she won’t be the one taking over the girls lacrosse program because she is satisfied with coaching field hockey.
“He did a stellar job of challenging the girls that played for him,” she said, “and growing them in different ways that often they might not realize at that time that they may need. He challenged my girls and any girl that he selected to wear that jersey.”
Twitter: @Colin_SoMDSport
