A SPARTAN WITH PRIDE
Burnt Hill’s Manning heads to Springfield next fall to play lacrosse
Michael Manning has been a familiar name on the football and lacrosse teams at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake the past two years, thought it was lacrosse that he figured he’d play at the next level.
While he has committed to Springfield College, joining the Pride’s men’s lacrosse team, he was hoping to become a captain during his senior lacrosse season for BHBL.
Manning had some expectations for the team as well.
“As a team altogether, we were really pushing to make a run and finally beat Ballston Spa, which we hadn’t done in a few years,” Manning said. “We’ve been pretty good. Last year we made it to the Section 2 Championship game and lost to Ballston Spa. The year before we lost in the semi-finals to Ballston Spa.”
Unfortunately, Manning’s last chance to get to the top
of Section 2 lacrosse was blocked by a different foe, the coronavirus. For several weeks, spring sports had been up in the air. Manning spoke about the moment he found out the season would be officially cancelled.
“I found out from watching the Governor’s press conference. My initial reaction was just, ‘there goes the season.’ I kind of knew it was going to happen, but that didn’t make it feel any less devastating.” Manning continued. “Coach [Tom] Schwan called and just said to keep working and to stay in the weight room, your hard work isn’t for nothing. It will help us be contributors for our college teams.”
He is always going to remember playing in the Section II, Class B championship game last season.
“Something that stands out would be playing in the sectional championship game. Even though we lost, it was a competitive game. Playing at that high of a level is always the goal.”
IN the summer of 2019 Manning began talking to Springfield about the possibility of joining their lacrosse team.
“I want to play for a competitive program. The coaches there preach a family mentality. Being on campus, it really felt right,” he said of the college. “Everybody was saying ‘hi’ to each other and holding the doors for each other. I just felt like a family mentality and a home-away-from-home.”
Some of his other options were SUNY Potsdam and St. John Fisher.
“Springfield blew me away when I got there. It ended up being the best fit.”
After playing for the Albany Power over the summer, Manning was able to come to a decision on college. Currently he is planning on going in with an undecided major. He will be trying to get into the school’s physical education program.
Manning looked forward to the spring of 2020, which was poised to be an exciting one for the long pole.
“I would have gotten to play with my brother. He was going to be our goalie, so I was really looking forward to that. Overall, it’s just really disappointing to miss my senior season,” Manning said.
While Manning’s time playing on the high school field is over, he has every intention of returning at some point. He hopes to become a physical education teacher and a lacrosse, or football, coach on the side.
“I’ve always wanted to stick around. I have a pretty competitive nature and with high school coming to an end, I was really looking at what I’d want to do past college. I really thought that I’d love to coach. My dad was a coach, so pursuing that path seemed right,” he said.
He has already started to get accustomed to his college team, participating in his future team’s Zoom calls.
“I’m really just looking forward to getting out to Springfield, contributing and hopefully winning some titles out there,” he said.