Experienced England goalie, William Baxter, has travelled overseas to the USA to hone his coaching skills at his former university, Limestone, during their 2024 season.
Baxter has almost 10 years’ experience playing lacrosse at international level and over the past couple of years has turned his hand to coaching alongside playing as he looks towards the future of his career, leading to a stint as a goalie/defence coach at his alma mater.
“It’s very different”, Baxter says of coaching, “but it allows me to not overthink like I do as a player.
“Coaching is a lot more relaxed for me because, at the end of the day, it’s about the players on the field and not the coach.
“Most of the hard work for a coach is at the training sessions and planning for games and a cycle so when it comes to game day everything should fall into place with the coach worrying about bench management, timeouts, tactical changes, and motivation.”
After joining the England set-up in 2015, Baxter quickly established himself as one of the most talented up-and-coming young stars, helping England to a European Championship title in 2016, a competition which also earned him the tournament MVP award.
Two years later in 2018, Baxter secured his place on the plane to Israel for that year’s World Lacrosse Men’s Championship where he played five times as England finished fifth.
2018 turned out to be a bumper year for Baxter as his Poynton team won the Senior Northern Flags, NEMLA Premier Division, Iroquois Cup, and European Club Championship titles.
Another successful season in 2019 that yielded yet another Senior Northern Flags title with Poynton, the last before the pandemic, caught the attention of Limestone University in South Carolina, USA.
Having studied his undergraduate degree at Manchester Metropolitan University, Baxter enrolled on the Limestone Masters of Business Administration (MBA) course and, of course, joined the hugely successful lacrosse programme there.
In just two years at Limestone, Baxter was awarded South Atlantic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, 2022 Limestone Lacrosse Player of the Year, USILA South Region Third Team All-American, USILA All-American Honourable Mention, and made the South Atlantic Conference First Team All-Conference.
Back in England in 2022, Baxter made his first foray into the world of school lacrosse coaching as he took charge of Bolton School, leading them at the 2023 National Schools Lacrosse Championships.
Continuing to excel on the international stage as a player, Baxter featured for the first ever British Lacrosse men’s team to play at The World Games in 2022, finishing fourth.
Then, just last year, Baxter transferred from Bolton to coach at Moreton Hall where he continues to teach PE and coach lacrosse.
But when the offer to coach at Limestone came up, Baxter knew he had to jump at the opportunity.
“After being offered an opportunity that not many other UK-based lacrosse players or coaches get, I knew it was a brilliant chance to learn from some of the best in the game.
“I want to be able to give back to the game. I’ve had a lot of coaches give up time for me to improve throughout my career so I want to be able to do the same.
“I also feel I have a lot of experience playing and have been coached by many great coaches so want to be able to offer my experience to the next generation.”
Baxter has an impeccable record as a coach at Limestone with his side winning 16 out of their previous 17 games so far as they prepare for the annual national tournament.
Back to playing and after a sixth place finish with England at last year’s World Lacrosse World Championship in San Diego, USA, Baxter now has his sights firmly on British Lacrosse and the journey to the LA 2028 Olympic Games in four years.
In coaching terms, once his stint as a coach at Limestone is complete, Baxter will head back to Moreton Hall to imbibe some of the knowledge he’s learned overseas.
He is also preparing for the ELF Men’s Championship this summer with the Wales senior women’s team where he is Assistant Coach while also running local clinics and coaching sessions for young goalies throughout the summer.
With all his experience, Baxter’s message for the next generation of coaches is simple.
“You never stop learning whether the lessons you learn are good or bad. You learn a lot about the game while coaching but also so much about yourself. Be open to feedback and don’t be afraid to ask others for help because there’s no right or wrong way of coaching so back yourself.”
