Name: Trevor Baptiste
- 4x USILA D1 First Team All-American
- NCAA Record for Career Faceoff Wins and Career Faceoff Winning Percentage
- 2x Tewaaraton Award Finalist
- NCAA National Champion
- 1st Overall Pick in MLL Draft
- 14th Overall Pick in NLL Draft
- Team USA Gold Medalist
Hometown: Denville, NJ
College: University of Denver
Favorite lacrosse memory so far: Tough Question… Top 3 are: National Championship in 2015 with DU, winning gold in Israel with Team USA 2018, chipping my tooth in my first NLL game
Q: Who is the toughest person you’ve ever faced off against?
A: I’ve had the opportunity to faceoff against a bunch of extremely talented players. I would say the toughest would have to be Greg Gurenlian.
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Q: Is it weird when adults or college aged kids “fangirl” you?
A: This is a funny question; I think at first it’s a little weird to think that other people find you to be really cool or look up to you. But it gives you an amazing opportunity to inspire others to reach their goals.
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Q: Is smack talk allowed during faceoffs?
A: Definitely allowed, although I feel like draw-men have a lot of mutual respect for each other.
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Q: How did you start your recruitment?
A: This is a very long story, but the short version is, I decided I wanted to play college lacrosse around my sophomore year of high school. I was already playing on a club team called Building Blocks Lacrosse, and I was just really getting into faceoffs. Throughout the recruitment process I always thought I missed the boat to go Division 1, so I looked at a good amount of Division 3 schools as well as a few Division 1 schools. I ended up committing to Franklin and Marshall during my junior year of high school, then (Denver) started recruiting me, kind of out of the blue, March of my senior year.
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Q: Who was your lacrosse idol growing up and why?
A: Kyle Harrison, obviously he’s an amazing player, and it was cool to see an African-American player that was so dominant on the field. Also when I was growing up I played attack and midfield, I never really started facing off until high school.
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Q: Are you an Eagles fan now (that you play NLL in Philadelphia)?
A: I do respect the Eagles, but I don’t know if I would call myself a diehard fan yet.
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Q: What is your favorite pregame meal?
A: If we’re talking the day before the game, chicken parm.
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Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: Love listening to music, kicking it with friends, I’ve also been trying to get back into the pool recently, great for low impact workouts and recovery. Of course, I dabble in Fortnite as well.
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Q: If you could have one superpower what would it be?
A: Probably be able to fly. Reason number one, traveling to games would be a lot easier, and also I just feel like it would be liberating.
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Q: If you were stuck on an island and only had three things what would they be?
A: I don’t know if this is cheating… but… a plane, gas and a pilot
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Q: What makes you driven to get keep being better?
A: I could answer this question with multiples reasons, but I’ll keep it to a couple. I would say the biggest reason is I’m very analytical about my game, and I feel like there is always room for improvement. Even in a perfect game, there are still imperfections you can point out, and I guess I’m very keen to those imperfections. Also I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to continue to play at the highest levels this sport has to offer which gives you space to keep growing as a player. Whether that’s indoor or outdoor lacrosse, when the level of competition increases, it keeps me hungry to have success at every level.
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Q: If you could do anything aside from being a professional lacrosse player, what would it be?
A: Would love to be a DJ. I love music, I’m a terrible singer, but I bring the hype for sure.
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Q: What is one piece of advice you would give to players who want to make it to the highest level?
A: I would say the road to the highest level isn’t straight, and a lot of times you can’t see the final destination along the way. I’m a big believer that effort is paramount. Reaching the highest level is all about only accepting the highest level out of yourself at all times. Anything less is a step backwards towards your destination.