As tryouts approached for Varsity Lacrosse, everyone thought that their All-State Midfielder Eli Gebhart would be in attendance. Why wouldn’t he be? However, for the team’s opening game on February 27, he wasn’t on the field. What happened?

“He decided at the beginning of the year that he didn’t want to be a part of the team, and we kind- for reasons that stay between him and I, parted ways for a little while,”  said the head lacrosse coach, Max Schmidt.

Gebhart said his distance from the team was because he “needed space and time”, but he came back as soon as he “got everything right and fixed everything.”

“Eli quit originally a few weeks ago due to some personal things going on, which he told to the team,” said senior varsity captain, Marcello Blanco.

These “personal things” have stayed inside the lacrosse locker room, but, an off camera interview informed us that the team voted to have him back through a forum. Lead by the captains, an anonymous vote took place on whether the guys wanted him back on the team. The vote ended up being a majority yes, so he was let back on the team, but with some parameters.

“It’s one of those things that it’s not just going to be ‘Hey you’re back! Here is your spot,” said Schmidt.

These parameters included a 3 week period in which he couldn’t play in any games (the same amount of time he missed during his absence from the team). Also, he had to come to practice with energy and 100 percent effort every single day, and if he complained, he would be back off the team.

Despite all of this, the team seems overjoyed to have him back. “We are happy to have him back, obviously, he is a phenomenal athlete,” said coach Schmidt. His teammates all said that they were, “very happy to have him back on the team.”

Blanco hopes that his return will even “propel them to win state this year.”  

When asked how he anticipated the season going now that he was back, Eli was very clear. “We are going to win,” the star said. Will they really win?

Come out to the lacrosse game vs. Palo Verde this Friday night at Faith to see for yourself April 5.