Baking and lacrosse don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand, but the objective of being in a kitchen with a roller and whisk can be comparable to being a pro athlete on the floor with a stick in your hand.
Both strive for perfection. Both hope they’ve learned enough to have success in their setting. Both have a goal in mind. That’s how Rochester Knighthawks captain Dan Coates sees it.
“Every year you have all these ingredients and you’re trying to make the best cake,” said Coates. “That’s the goal that you work towards throughout every offseason to have you ready for the start of a new year.”
Coates re-signed with the Knighthawks and will be here for a fourth season. The veteran defender enters his 13th NLL season this winter. That number is synonymous with bad luck, but the Knighthawks captain has dealt with his fair share of that lately and hopes for good fortune instead.
“I’ve had two tough years in a row. I had a concussion (in 2022) and then last year I went through long COVID. That’s part of the game and these things happen, but I’m extremely motivated and I’ve been training really hard this offseason. I just want to be healthy so I can be there for my teammates. You miss being in the trenches with the guys. It gives you that kind of anxiety and vulnerability with your teammates that you ultimately miss the most when you’re not healthy.”
The St. Catharines, Ontario, native was forced to being a spectator for much of Rochester’s 2023-24 campaign. Coates missed eight games while battling long COVID. Over that stretch, his team went 2-6. That span of games at one point saw Rochester near the bottom of the National Lacrosse League standings, but Coates is a believer of the process; a never-ending chain of events that can help one if channeled the right way.
“Losses can give you so much to learn from. No one is going to go out there and just win right away. That’s an anomaly. I think for us we need to go through these growing pains. It’s how you use those losses to better yourself. I think that’s what separates the best teams and makes them stand out.”
Those losses would go on to benefit the ‘Hawks. In the moment, it was damaging, but the team would learn from them and through all the adversity. Rochester found its way into the playoffs for a second straight season, despite yielding odds of less than four percent less than a week before the end of the regular season. A young Knighthawks roster went through a maturation process along the way, but the process isn’t over, and Coates knows they’re not the only group hoping for more later this year.
“At the end of the day, we’re all competitors. There are 14 other teams that are doing the exact thing we’re doing right now. They’re all asking themselves ‘how can we get better?’ Ultimately, you’re chasing to win that last game of the year. We’re always asking how we can get better. What can we do individually to better ourselves for the collective of the group? I think for us, we showed spurts of being a very good team, but then we went on that six-game losing streak and it was tough to get out of. You see the really great teams lose a game and they get right back into it and compete for a win the following weekend. I’ve been here for three years and I’ve seen continued growth. Every year we’re continuing to get better and adding pieces to the puzzle to better our team. That’s the exciting part.”
Getting better as a team starts with individual efforts. Some Knighthawks are playing lacrosse elsewhere in various summer leagues, much like Coates had done for Six Nations in Major Series Lacrosse for much of the 2010s. Nowadays, the 37-year-old finds ways to escape the game while remaining active and training for the next NLL season. Lacrosse has often been viewed as a sport on the rise in the United States, but this summer, Coates has found himself playing another sport gaining rapid popularity: pickleball.
“There’s a pretty cool facility in Fairport that was built recently. I’ve poked my head in there and seen some pickleball tournaments and thought it was just awesome. I’ve always been intrigued by tennis, but you need to play a lot and understand the wrist action just to get a good rally going. With pickleball, anyone can play at all ages. The rally kind of just keeps going. The ball never dies. I was kind of screwing around at the beginning of the summer with it and then I went to Fairport and they were teaching me the rules and it’s just awesome. I could play it nonstop.”
Coates credits pickleball as a good hand-eye exercise that can apply to the stick and ball hand-eye needed for lacrosse. While Rochester’s captain isn’t playing the medicine game in the summer, he remains active in the sport coaching youth teams while doing some homework of his own.
“I’m a student of the game. I’m always giving it a peek and seeing what other teams are doing. I love it. I could see myself being in a coaching capacity in this league once my playing days are over.”
With 167 games, 103 points, and over 700 loose balls since entering the league in 2012, odds are Coates’ resume would garner lots of attention whenever it lands on the desk of a prospective NLL team looking for a coach, but that day isn’t today.
Today, Coates is a Knighthawk, just as he’s been for the last three years.
“I’ve really enjoyed being here from day one. I enjoy playing for the organization and playing for these fans. I look at our team and I think we’re right there. The young core of guys are hitting their mark. It’s exciting to be a part of. Those younger guys energize you and we have a great leader in the front office in Dan Carey (general manager and vice president of lacrosse operations) and on the bench with Mike Hasen (head coach). This just feels like the best fit for me. It’s a place I’ve called home and I really enjoy my time here.”
“I truly love the game and I love the process of it. My motivation is to win, and I’ve got a lot of hunger to compete. I’m grateful to have been able to play this long. I still have goals and that’s what keeps me motivated to train every day and watch film and do what I’ve got to do to be my best. I know it’s not going to last forever so I’m grateful to be in the position I’m in.”