CGA’s LaForte is expanding his mind
Men’s lacrosse coach is finding ways to fill the void left without sports
A whole new world has opened up to Ray LaForte.
With tons of free time on his hands, LaForte, the Coast Guard Academy men's lacrosse coach, is finding ways to fill the void left by the absence of spring sports.
For example, LaForte is astounded at the number of books that he's interested in reading.
"I'm finding it odd that there are actually things that I like to do that I just never do, because I'm so engrossed with sports," LaForte said. "I would clearly have a hobby in wood-working if I didn't put all these hours of each day and all this time and thought into sports.
"When the thing went down, I went over to the Book Barn and bought three Jack Reacher books and I bought the history of the Porsche 911 and I bought how to fix your BMW 36 manual. I spent 50 bucks on books that I would never buy, or I might buy one of these books a summer and now I just picked off five of them."
While LaForte would obviously prefer to be coaching his lacrosse team, he's trying to make the best of an extremely difficult situation. He's also a long-time assistant football coach at the academy.
He's treating the break as sort of a sabbatical. Some college professors go on sabbaticals to write books on spanish poems, he's using what he calls his "mental free space" to be creative while stuck at home.
"Almost like the author who has a log cabin with no electricity and he can't wait to get up there and let the mind go free," LaForte said. "I'll say it like it is: The creative spaces in our life are clearly not in our office."
LaForte hasn't put his coaching job on the shelf.
His altered daily routine includes
trying to improve his team and expand his coaching knowledge.
He's studying video of the Monmouth University program. His friend, Dan Lawrence, is a defensive coordinator there. Lawrence also coached LaForte's son, Mason, in summer lacrosse. Monmouth was one of the nation's top defensive teams in 2019.
"I've been studying his season from a year ago," LaForte said. "I have access to all his film. And I've never had this time to study someone like this so I'm watching and taking notes on one half of a game each day, breaking a game up into two days. I'll text Dan at night and ask questions."
Before the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of Coast Guard's spring season after six games, LaForte had the opportunity to coach against his son Michael's college team, Grove City, on March 7 in Maryland. Michael finished with a goal and three assists in a 16-15 double overtime win.
"My wife said, 'It's more than ironic that your last lacrosse game of the year is against your kid,' " LaForte said.
Given developments at the time, LaForte believed that it could be the final game for the Bears. And it was, ending the careers of six seniors. LaForte misses the daily grind. "As a coach, you don't realize how much you enjoy the struggle — win or lose — and the ramp-up, the planning, the emotion and the passion that you're going to pour into the struggle," LaForte said. "And now there's no struggle.
"Stay six feet away from (assistant athletic director for media relations) Jason Southard as best as you can is the game plan of the day. That's odd to me. You don't realize how much you miss the struggle. The struggle is what keeps us sharp. The struggle is what keeps the flame in our belly lit."
The situation really hits home in the LaForte household. They're a diehard lacrosse family. Michael still has another two years left at Grove City while Mason is a senior member of the Waterford High School team.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has put the start of the spring high school season on indefinite hold, so there's still hope Mason will finish his final high school season on the field instead of the sidelines.
"The most lucky thing for me, as a coach, is that I have time," LaForte said. "I can wait this out and I can get back to doing what is the pulse of my life.
"But the shocking thing is watching my son Mason. He's had, in some way, shape or form, a lifetime buildup to his senior year. And now to not even go out and practice, the pulse of his life, he's not getting that back. He's going off to college next year. So that's like a void." g.keefe@theday.com
Editor's note: This is the second of three stories about how local college coaches are dealing with the canceling or disruptions of the spring sports season. Up next is reaction from Connecticut College women's track and field coach Ned Bishop.