Senior Leads by Example On and Off the Field

The sun beats down on a dirt-covered Ben Smith and several of his exhausted-looking Harvard lacrosse teammates. Sundays are normally a day off for most college sports teams; a day for each player to rest, recover, and think only about himself. But this is not the case for the Crimson—a team whose goal is to be more than average.

These guys are workhorses, physically fit and trained to carry out a specific task—play together to win. But today they have traded their sticks in for hammers and wrenches to help build a house with Habitat for Humanity.

A handful of sweaty guys stand in front of a 30-ft. ladder at a house construction site in Lynn, Mass. They exchange blank stares, each one hoping someone else is going to volunteer first to climb up and finish nailing down the side paneling.

When Crimson coach John Tillman told his team that he was going to work to help give each of them the opportunity to meet their full potential as a person, the Harvard men probably didn’t think reaching literal new heights would be part of that. No one, perhaps, except the senior defenseman Smith, who coordinated the multitude of community service events the team has participated in this year.

In the past two seasons, while the Crimson has excelled on the lacrosse field, it has also found a knack for community service. Sam Slaughter ’09 was integral to getting the team involved with service events last season. Currently, Slaughter is in Africa working with communities in need.

“Last year’s seniors definitely lit the torch that Ben is now passing,” said senior Jason Duboe, Smith’s roommate.

Community outreach has become just one more way in which the Crimson can grow into a more cohesive, goal-oriented unit. And Smith has become the unofficial coordinator of these events.

“Ben was pretty much in charge of the whole thing,” sophomore Paul Pate said. “He reaches out and coordinates with Phillips Brooks House. He sets us up into our teams for the projects. It’s basically his thing that he has really taken charge of. He leads the effort and makes everything happen.”

The Harvard lacrosse team has participated in projects with Habitat for Humanity and MetroLacrosse, a Boston-based non-profit organization providing underprivileged kids with opportunities for athletic and academic success.

“If not for Ben,” Duboe explained, “I’m not sure how organized this tradition of giving back would be. He has really paved the road for us to follow this year and for guys to follow in the future.”

Smith is from Longmeadow, Mass., a typical New England town with a great tradition of lacrosse. He was introduced to the sport in third grade but didn’t start taking it seriously until just before entering high school. At Tabor Academy, Smith made a name for himself first on the ice and then on the field.

“I was actually more of a hockey player,” Smith laughed. “I didn’t even consider playing college lacrosse until junior year, when I got a letter from Coach Anderson at Harvard. And then I thought, well, this is a possibility.”

At the time though, Smith couldn’t foresee that halfway through his college career, he’d be introduced to a new coach who would help cultivate an entirely new passion for Smith—community outreach.

“We tell guys straight up that we’re going to push and challenge them here, and that we’re going to ask them to do community service,” said Tillman, now in his third season with the Crimson. “But we also tell them that they’re going to have a lot of fun.”

In the fall, players worked through MetroLacrosse to teach lacrosse clinics in urban areas and tutor those same kids for the SSAT that is a requirement for admission to private high schools like Tabor.

“I think what really got me going the past couple years was noticing how excited it got the guys and how much closer it brought everyone together,” Smith said. “There were just so many positives that I realized, ‘Let’s just do this as much as possible.’ It teaches us something about ourselves as individuals and brings us closer together.”

On the lacrosse field, Smith helps coordinate and run a team-oriented style of defense. He came to Harvard knowing that playing time was not necessarily going to be easy to come by, but he embraced the challenge and climbed his way to a starting position.

“Ben has been a guy that has honestly worked his way up to his position,” Duboe said. “He didn’t get a lot of playing time as a freshman, but he willed it to happen. He watches more film than anybody and gets in extra lifts—he’s very disciplined.”

Last season, Smith picked up a total of 14 ground balls and caused two turnovers. His commitment to his teammates and to forming a strong connection with them will be crucial to rebuilding this season’s defense after losing a number of seniors last year.

The Crimson will look to Smith to continue to step up his game on the lacrosse field in order to fill the big shoes left by last year’s graduating class.

If his leadership through community outreach is any indication of how willing he is to assume responsibility, then coaches, fans and opponents can expect to see great things from Smith’s game this year.

“We want [an athlete] to meet his full potential as a person first, a student second, and a player third,” Tillman said. “We’re going to do our best to set a guy up to be successful in all of those areas. [And] we know that if we’re talking about leadership, discipline, honesty, and being tough, it’s going to help in every aspect of his life.”

Back on the ground in Lynn, a couple of guys tentatively step forward from the circle. For them, it will be a long ascent up the ladder to the remaining patch of siding that needs to be secured to the house. Down below, their teammates cheer them on and watch in awe—or perhaps horror—as they balance on nothing but a thin piece of scaffolding.

At the end of the day, the siding gets nailed up, and just as they have been taught to do, the players have accomplished their objective. In the process, they saw glimpses of bravery and teamwork that they can carry onto the lacrosse field.

“At the end of the season, our goal isn’t just to have a perfect record,” Smith said. “We want to have grown as individuals into better-equipped leaders on and off the field. If we have done this, then we’ll win games too.”

—Staff writer Jessica L. Flakne can be reached at jflakne@fas.harvard.edu.