As junior Richard Zhang weaves his way through the lacrosse field, with defenders attacking him from multiple sides, it’s hard to tell that he only committed to the sport a few years ago. His skills now feel sharp, confident and fast: a stark contrast to the doubt he felt when he first stepped on to the field.

As athletes try new sports in high school, those who have not played the sport before high school are often expected to catch up quickly to teammates with more experience. Despite the challenges, many of these athletes who start a sport later in their lives say it is still possible to prove themselves as capable players. 

Zhang said he was initially introduced to lacrosse in elementary school but didn’t take the sport seriously until recently. 

“My mom signed me up for a lacrosse camp in fourth grade, but I never took interest in it,” Zhang said. “I only started playing again in the summer before my freshman year in high school, because I realized lacrosse was a sport where my size wasn’t a disadvantage.”

Because of this late start, Zhang said he encountered many challenges.

“I just don’t have as good of a feel for the game,” Zhang said. “Sometimes I make sloppy mistakes, and I think a huge part of the sport is just experience.”

Despite his later start, Zhang said he has worked hard to catch up to his teammates. 

“Sometimes I (see) the game differently than my teammates,” Zhang said. “I deal with that just by watching more lacrosse and learning more every day for my practices.”

Similarly, junior track and field athlete Luiza Teixeira, who started running track as a freshman, said entering the sport came with a steep learning curve. 

“Starting was definitely intimidating, and you do just feel like you’re really behind everyone else,” Teixeria said. “I felt behind because I had to learn certain techniques and how to use blocks, but other than that I felt like I was able to pick it up pretty quickly since I had done a lot of sprint training for soccer.”

Despite this ability to learn the technique quickly, Teixeira said not having any prior experience with track and field initially made her feel different from her teammates. 

“Starting in high school makes it feel like you’re behind, since a lot of other athletes have been doing club track, while I was treating track as just another school sport at first,” Teixeira said. 

To overcome these challenges, Teixeira said she has devoted more energy to the sport.

“I’ve been putting extra time and focus on it because being good at track will give me personal joy,” Teixeira said.

Despite the delayed beginning, junior varsity lacrosse coach Craig Griffin said late starters can still become heavy contributors. 

“Some of the best players on varsity started as freshmen without previous experience,” Griffin said.

While Griffin said it is important to have a good time at practice, he also stressed the value of hard work, regardless of initial skill level. 

“We try to have fun at practice, but there is a difference between primarily being there to have fun and primarily being there to develop yourself,” Griffin said. “When you get better because of hard work, that is a special kind of fun.”

Griffin also said consistent practice is key for helping new players catch up.

“We practice fundamentals every day at practice,” Griffin said. “It’s amazing to see the players improve from week to week.”

Because of this late start, Zhang said he works hard alone outside of practice to improve.

“I go to the field by myself a lot, and I just practice moves or shots that I do during games, and I like to just get 100 shots in every time that I go to the field,” Zhang said. “I think it’s a super helpful threshold that you should be reaching every day.”

But Zhang said starting late did not offer him any advantages.

“I don’t think starting late helped me in any way,” Zhang said. “I think the extra experience would always be helpful, but I do wish I started earlier because I think it’s a really fun and exciting sport.”

Even with the difficulties that may arise as a result of joining sports late, Teixeira said she encourages others to try new things.

She said, “Just do it. Make it a fun experience. It really isn’t the end of the world, and high school sports really don’t matter unless you want to play in college, but it helps build a community.”