PLAISTOW, N.H. – Reality struck early for Lila Fitzgerald.
With each dribble, each shot, each defensive stop and each loose ball she fearlessly and furiously wrestles away from an opponent, the end creeps near.
Monday night’s Timberlane Regional girls basketball playoff opener at Windham High could be the last time the senior gets to compete with her dad, Kevin, coaching her.
“I think about it a lot. Even last year when I couldn’t play (because of her second ACL knee surgery), it was another year I don’t get to have him as a coach,” said Lila. “Looking ahead at Monday night, I’m excited I get to play another game with him as my coach. But in the back of my mind, I’m also thinking that this could be it. That’s upsetting for sure.”
Expect the best from her on Monday night, and for that matter however long the playoff run takes these Owls. Adapting, adjusting and overcoming are nothing new to Lila Fitzgerald.
A three-sport athlete and as fierce a competitor as you will find in each, Fitzgerald was part of Timberlane’s only girls soccer state champion.
She’s earned first-team all-state status in her No. 1 sport, lacrosse, as a sophomore, and she’s helped the Owls transition successfully up from Division II to D-I in hoops.
And she’s left that legacy while enduring ACL surgeries on both knees.
“She’s learned from it and grown from it. For a kid who loves to compete and play all three sports, to have that taken away was very frustrating,” said her dad, Kevin. “Not being out there with friends and teammates was killing her. It was sad for her.”
In basketball, for example, she’s basically been held to playing just two of her four years, due to the injuries.
Her return from the second, suffered last fall in soccer, was close to a medical miracle. Within seven months post-surgery, Fitzgerald was back on the field, helping the Owls in lacrosse.
“She set a goal to come back before the end of the season. She wanted to be back on the field with her teammates,” said Kevin. “She played the last couple games of the regular season and the playoffs. And as a high school coach, I was glad she wanted to do that. That was important to her.”
The “compete” gene is certainly a trait passed down from dad to daughter. If you’ve watched Kevin work the football sideline for his Owls, you see it. It leaps out, just like it does when Lila takes the court.
“He’s maybe the biggest competitor I know,” said Lila. “He’s the most intense person I know. He holds me to a high standard, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
When Lila talks about this winter on the basketball court, she does it with reverence.
“This year, I really just wanted to go out having a good season with my friends. Cherish the moments. I think we all have,” said Lila, who will head to UNH next year, studying education and hopefully playing club lacrosse
“We’ve had a lot of really high moments with the team. Our team chemistry has been great.”
And, of course, there has been the one final lap with dad.
“Having him as a coach is not the easiest, but it’s most rewarding. It will forever be something I am most grateful for,” said Lila. “It’s not something everyone gets to have.
“At practice, it’s an equal playing field. He doesn’t favor me at all, and he’s not tougher on me than anyone at all. He could take it easier on me because I’m his daughter or up the standard for me because I’m his daughter, but he doesn’t.”
Time is running out, though. At most, they have a couple more weeks of coach and player before it’s back to lax for daughter and dad.
“I enjoy getting to hang out with her for two hours every day with her and her friends. It’s something I am going to miss,” Kevin said. “I wish it could go on forever, but I’ve coached sports for a long time. Kids graduate and move on.
“I’m looking for her to get through this season and the spring healthy. She deserves that. Then she’ll be on to bigger and better things.”