HEADstrong Lacrosse: Virtual Players Talk Lead By Coach Dom Starsia

By: Jennifer Hoffman

Coach Dom Starsia, one of the most decorated collegiate lacrosse coaches, is bringing his words of wisdom and extensive experience to HEADstrong. His resume includes 4x National Championship titles with Virginia, NCAA DI Coach of the year at Brown and an inductee of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Over his 42 years in the sport, he has seen it all. 

HEADstrong Lacrosse is rolling out weekly webinars with players and coaches alike to share their experience to help build on preparation for the next level. Whether the dream is to continue college lacrosse or play professionally, the webinars are a great tool to learn from some of lacrosse’s most respected coaches and athletes. 

Starsia will be hosting a webinar on Thursday April 30th, at 7:30pm. All are encouraged to register and attend; HEADstrong lacrosse affiliated or not, the information shared during the webinar will resonate with athletes at all levels. 

Dom stepped away from lacrosse and semi-retired in 2016, but continued to journal his experience as he still had something to say and wasn’t done just yet. 

In 2018, he started a coaching gig in the PLL and had to create his first Twitter account. Little did he know that, that was the perfect platform for him to voice his opinions and say what he had to say. “I had no idea what a tweet is, but I said okay. Show me how to use it.” recalled Dom. People took to his twitter account and enjoyed the article excerpts that he was sharing.

One day he got a response from someone in reply to a tweet that said he should write a book. “I’ve had so many people tell me over the years that I should write a book. People have said it for a very long time.” he said. Dom decided that maybe he should finally give the people what they want. 

The man who replied to his tweet wasn’t just a regular guy on social media. He was a book publisher...Stephen King’s publisher. 

Starsia sent his collection of articles to the publisher, not knowing where it would lead. He called Dom back the next day and said he would love to publish his content. And from there Starsia’s book ,”I Hope You Will Be Very Happy” was born. The publisher took over 42 years of content and turned it into 50 chapters full of valuable lessons in leadership and personal observations of the sport. 

“I needed someone to do it for me that knew how to do it, and I needed to hear from someone outside of Brown and Virginia people that the material had larger value.” Dom stated. 

Since the book was published in October of 2019, Starsia has since written 10 additional articles. It’s also opened the door for former players over his 42 year tenure to feel connected. “I get texts from them all the time of pictures with the book. It helped me connect with guys over the years. It’s been a lot of fun.” he said. 

You can sign up for the webinar HERE.

An excerpt of his book can be found here, https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/college/men/dom-starsias-key-leadership-qualities-for-players