Robinson, Sea Hawks' Program Grew Quickly

Skip Robinson noticed something missing when he moved to California nearly 30 years ago. It was lacrosse, the sport he loved playing while growing up in New Jersey.

So years later, after marrying and helping his wife raise their children, Robinson long had gotten lacrosse out of his mind.

"When I came out here and didn't see anyone playing lacrosse, I had given up any hope of any of my kids ever playing,'' Robinson said.

That was until his daughter, Meesha, came home one day and told her dad that she was joining a lacrosse team that was being formed at her school.

Four years have passed since Meesha delivered that news and in that time she has helped Redondo Union High evolve from a novice, non-sanctioned CIF team, into a legitimate Southern California lacrosse power. Redondo Union finished 16-2 last year. Heading into Wednesday's game at home against rival Palos Verdes, the Sea Hawks are 11-0 in league play, 14-2 overall, and seeking a No. 1 seed for the upcoming playoffs.

There is a close bond among the girls that have been a part of the program since its beginning, back in the days when they often had to practice without a coach present and when the boys' team routinely kicked them off the practice field so that they could work out.

"The dedication that these girls have shown is amazing,'' Skip Robinson said. "At first, they were losing all of their games. Yet, the other team and their parents would look on amazed because our girls would be cheering at the end of the game. They were just happy to be playing.''

Now, Redondo Union is a force to be reckoned with. Meesha Robinson is a major cog in her team's success. As a starting midfielder, she leads the team in goals scored, with 39. More importantly, she is the player her teammates look for during critical game situations. Robinson's high scoring game this season came against Mira Costa, when she tallied six goals. Teams have taken to marking her with two defenders and occasionally three.

"It's literally like having an assistant coach on the field,'' Redondo Union co-head coach Tom Borgia said. "She's a lacrosse gym rat. She carries her stick with her everywhere she goes. To me, she has the determination of five USC football players. She's been our team MVP the last three years. She was the league MVP last year and she's a mentor to all the young girls on our team.''

Unlike boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse only has modified checking, which minimizes physical contact. The emphasis is placed on the fundamentals of the game which are passing, catching, footwork, positioning, (defensive) marking and stick checking.

Prior to being introduced to lacrosse, Meesha Robinson played basketball. She was a member of Redondo's junior varsity team as a freshman. At 5-foot-2 and 110 pounds, Robinson possesses lots of quickness but she felt that her height eventually would become a deterrent in advancing to the higher levels in basketball.

"I started playing lacrosse because my best friend, Tully, played it,'' Robinson said. "I didn't have anything else to do after basketball practice, so she asked me to come out and I did. I didn't realize that my dad had played lacrosse in high school and in college.''

Robinson admits that she misses playing basketball but said dropping that sport meant that she could devote more time and energy into playing lacrosse. In addition to playing on her high school team, Robinson has played on a couple of advanced club lacrosse teams, where the competition is much stiffer.

"I knew back when I was a sophomore that if I wanted to go farther in lacrosse that I'd have to play on a club team,'' Robinson said.

It was while playing club lacrosse when Robinson was spotted by the coaching staff from New York's Mercy College. She will attend Mercy College in the fall and play on the lacrosse team.

"I love lacrosse because it's fast pace and it's a sport where you have to pay attention at all times,'' she said. "I feel like I picked it up pretty quickly, once I started playing and it's fit for me. I'm not really tall and in lacrosse you don't really need a lot of height, although it can be an advantage.''

To state that Skip Robinson was surprised and elated to find out that his daughter was interested in playing lacrosse is putting it mildly. That was as exciting to him as a chance moment back when he was 8 years old, living in Cherry Hills, N.J., and the town's most famous citizen showed up at the local Woolworth's.

"I remember seeing this huge Cadillac drive up and Muhammad Ali got out of the car,'' Robinsons said. "My eyes got big and I looked up and said, 'Hi, champ.' And he patted me on the head and said, 'Hi, son.' Besides him, the only other famous people that we had in town were Mafia people.''

Once he discovered how passionate his daughter was about playing lacrosse, Skip Robinson began taking her out on weekend for extra practice. They would go to the high school and play catch. He would have the right-handed Meesha shoot with her left hand. They often would end the workouts by playing one-on-one.

"We'd run drills for 2-3 hours,'' Skip Robinson said. "We'd do offensive drills and defensive drills and I taught her what I knew. But Meesha has taken her game to a much higher level than I ever played. Meesha uses a lot of the skills she picked up in basketball in lacrosse, like driving to the goal, stopping, spinning and shooting. It's like poetry in motion when I see her drive through three defenders.''