School is back in session across the Southern Section. When it comes to athletes, summer break consists of preparing to dominate the field, course, court or pool for the upcoming year.
For Oak Park High School senior Micah DeCloedt, summer was spent practicing the game he loves, but in a whole other country. The 16-year-old has grown up playing a variety of sports, but a few years ago one sport in specific really won him over. That sport was lacrosse.
Micah cut his junior year one day short to move to Canada for two months to play lacrosse for the Delta Islanders.
The opportunity came about after Micah met Vancouver Warriors player Tyrell Hamer Jackson last year at a lacrosse event in San Diego.
“Him (Tyrell) and Micah started talking and next thing you know we are on a plane going to Vancouver for tryouts and training camp.” explained Micah’s father, Shawn Decloedt.
“When I went out there for their tryouts, I met with the guy I was living with, who is the president of the team, and he introduced himself to me, and I talked to him about it. They’ve been hosting billet families there for a while,” said Micah, “so they took me in, and they treated me as their own, basically, so it was pretty fun.”
The host family Micah stayed with had a son around the same age as Micah and on the same team, but he was still in school when Micah made the move. So to pass time until school got out, Micah’s day would consist of practice, practice and more practice.
CIF Southern Section teams play field lacrosse, but in Canada, Micah was playing box lacrosse. According to laxcamps.com, “The most general difference between the two games is the rougher and more physical play of box lacrosse.” This was something Micah said he really felt the difference with and had to adjust and meet the physicality of the box players.
In addition to a cultural change and different playing rules, the 16-year-old had to adjust to being away from home. This was something that was hard for both Micah and his family.
“It was hard for me because I wasn’t around my family,” explained Micah.
“At the beginning. It wasn’t so bad, because I flew up, I dropped him off, got to watch a game,” said his father Shawn, “I was okay until the games weren’t televised. That was a rough night, you know, walking around waiting for the text messages, the updates, the scores, it was tough.”
Upon returning home from Canada, Micah got right on another plane and to head to his next lacrosse adventure – the 16U Combine in Maryland
After an impactful summer, Micah is looking forward to his last season with his high school team
“Last year, we only graduated one senior, so we’ve been playing with the same team for two years now. So I think we have a very tight bond,” said Micah.
“The coaching staff here at Oak Park has really taken to Micah,” said Shawn, “The school has been amazing and seeing the growth in him from one year to the next.”