School: Council Rock South
Field Hockey, Basketball, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Diana Taurasi – Previously of the UConn Huskies now on the Phoenix Mercury
Favorite team: UConn Huskies
Favorite memory competing in sports: “My favorite memories for basketball would include winning the Wildwood Tournament two years in a row, beating Abington for the first time in my career, and most importantly reaching states and winning our first round game. It was an unbelievable experience, and it is truly something I will remember for the rest of my life. I was part of the team that turned South’s program around and I will certainly never forget the ’09-‘10 season.”
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: “Sophomore year I received a bloody nose playing against Hatboro, and the trainer had to put a gauze strip up my nose. It hurt really badly and I looked like a complete idiot too. Thank goodness there were only a couple of minutes left in the game, so I couldn’t embarrass myself anymore in front of my teammates.”
Music on iPod: “I listen to all types of music, ranging anywhere from my favorite band, The Fray to pump up music with Pitbull or Akon.”
Future plans: Attend Temple University on a lacrosse scholarship and major in kinesiology.
Words to live by: “Be what you are and become what you are capable of becoming.”
One goal before turning 30: “I have always wanted to go backpacking through Europe. I think it would be such a cool experience because it is completely different from a typical vacation with hotels and all the normal stuff you think of with vacations. I also would love to become a coach, either a lacrosse or basketball coach. I would love to help give back to other teenagers who like myself have a strong passion for the game.”
One thing people don’t know about me: “I used to play the drums in the band at school. I loved playing and I really miss being involved in music.”
Lea Britton is a coach’s dream.
The Council Rock South senior –captain of her field hockey, basketball and lacrosse teams – is not only the consummate leader, she’s also selfless.
Consider only the fact that Britton had been the starting point guard for the Golden Hawks since she was a freshman and was a captain since she was a sophomore.
This year, she was asked to move to the two guard spot to allow freshman Alexis Hofstaedter fill the role she had occupied for three years.
Britton could have been angry, and it would have been easy to understand if she had been upset.
But she wasn’t.
“She handled it – no problem at all,” coach Monica Young said. “She was like her big sister.
“Lea is such a caring person, and she puts everything aside for the team.”
That’s not to say the move wasn’t hard for Britton. It was.
“But I knew she had what it took to get us to states,” the senior captain said of Hofstaedter. “And if me not being the starting point guard was what it was going to take, I was okay with that.
“This turnaround with the new coaching staff and the new outlook is ‘team first.’ That’s what it was all about. I decided I needed to put my ego aside and let Alexis do her thing. Look how it turned out.”
It ‘turned out’ that a Golden Hawk squad that had won just five games two years ago and 15 last year won 21 games, finished fifth in the District One Class AAAA Tournament and advanced to the second round of the state tournament.
Not surprisingly, Britton tips her hat to the player who inherited her job.
“She did an amazing job,” Britton said of Hofstaedter. “I always wanted to be there for the younger players, setting an example.
“I always had that growing up and going to camps and having counselors you looked up to so much. I’m just glad I was there for her like that.”
Britton – who also excels in the classroom -will leave Rock South with 10 varsity letters, and while those numbers alone set the Rock South senior apart, it is about much more than numbers where Britton is concerned.
“There are a lot of kids out there that are good athletes, but they don’t have that something special,” Rock South lacrosse coach Kara DiMarco said. “Lea has that. What exactly is it? I don’t know.
“If I could put it in every single kid out there, I would. If I could sell it, it would be (sold) out. She’s just such a hard worker, and it always comes back to the team – what’s best for the team? What can I do to help the team? Can I be a leader? Can I step aside? Can I push harder? Can I push everyone else harder? It’s all about what she can do for the team. It’s not about her stats or what she can do to get college coaches to look at her. It’s all about the team, and that’s what made her so great.”
Although Britton might not put up the big numbers of some of her peers, she caught the eye of college coaches, and she has accepted a scholarship to play lacrosse at Temple University next year.
The only down side of that storybook ending for Britton is that her days of playing three sports will be over.
“I was actually thinking about it the other day – it will be really hard focusing on just one sport,” she said.
“I don’t regret picking just one sport obviously, but being able to do three sports has allowed me to meet so many people and have so many experiences. I’m so thankful I’ve done it. I can’t even explain how much it’s meant to play three sports for four years. It’s been awesome.”
Playing lacrosse at the collegiate level is not an ending Britton could have imagined when – as a youngster – she threw herself into soccer and basketball.
“Growing up, I was always a soccer player, and I always admired Mia Hamm and things like that,” she said.
Then it was basketball and heroes like UConn’s Diana Taurasi taking precedence.
“I had big dreams of going to UConn and playing in the WNBA,” Britton said. “Then I picked up lacrosse in fourth grade.”
That’s when soccer left the picture, and Britton threw herself into lacrosse and basketball. When she was in ninth grade, Britton opted to fill her schedule by playing volleyball in the fall. That experiment lasted two years when – at the encouragement of then coach Pat Toner – she went out for field hockey as a junior.
“I knew a lot of the girls, and I knew it was going to be a positive experience, so I decided to go for it,” she said.
It turned out to be a perfect fit.
Britton traveled to ODU for hockey camp with her new team, and she found a home in the defensive backfield.
Last fall, she was the center back on a hockey team that advanced to the second round of districts where it fell in overtime to top-seeded Wissahickon.
“That was an unbelievable experience, and I’m so glad I had it,” Britton said.
Britton earned third team all-league status in just her second year of playing the sport.
“Lea is an outstanding athlete and leader,” Rock South hockey coach Lisa DeFeo said. “Not only is she talented, but she also works to her fullest potential regardless of whether it is practice, a game or even an off-season workout.
“Lea is an excellent role model for the younger players, and she is extremely coachable. She is the type of athlete that a coach wishes she had 10 of.”
Last fall’s successful hockey season was followed by an even more successful basketball season, but it ended in heartbreaking fashion when the Golden Hawks fell to Red Lion 37-33 in a second round state tournament game both players and coaches believed they should have won.
“I think everyone, especially the seniors, is still kind of in depression from it,” Britton said. “It was literally like a part of you died.
“We were with those girls for four months, and especially losing to a team we knew we had the capability to beat – it wasn’t them that beat us. It was us. That was a shame, but you have to let it go.
“I went to lacrosse the next day, and it started to take my mind off of it. Even though it’s not the same, I’m more than glad that our season went the way it did, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Young credits Britton for her role in the team’s success.
“Just her leadership - even at practice, she’s so intense,” the Hawks’ second-year coach said. “She brings such leadership qualities to the team.
“She’s like a coach on the floor.”
Although Britton was capable of putting up big numbers – she had 15 points and eight rebounds in a mid-season loss to Central Bucks East, the senior captain didn’t need to score to be effective.
“She would do anything to help the team,” Young said. “She would go through a wall for you.
“She hustles, and she’ll dive on the floor for a ball. We’re going to miss her a lot because of her leadership, what she brings to every day of practice, not just the games. I could say, ‘Lea, I need you to do this,’ and she got it done. She’s just very responsible. She’s such a great kid.”
Britton actually aspired to play both basketball and lacrosse in college at the Division 3 level. Until the summer prior to her junior year when – through her long-time community lacrosse coach Dave Hurwitz – she began playing club lacrosse.
“Basically from there, it was hit and run,” she said. “I did five club tournaments, and I participated in the National Tournament.
“That was the only opportunity for coaches to see me, and it worked out for the best. Temple recruited me really hard in June and July. Things were settled by the first of December. It was a mad dash, but it all worked out perfectly.”
DiMarco will look for Britton – who plays center – to lead the Golden Hawks at both ends of the field.
“I can’t imagine putting her anywhere else,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “I feel as though the center position does it all, and I need her everywhere because she is that type of player.”
Britton was the recipient of the ‘most hustle’ award as a freshman, and nothing has changed since that then.
“She fights like a dog,” DiMarco said. “She really does. She just gets in there and fights like a dog.
“It doesn’t matter if she messes up or if she nails it – she just fights to the very end. She’s one of the hardest workers, and she’s such a funny, loveable kid. She knows when it’s time to work hard and push the team and when it’s okay to be silly and have fun with her teammates. She’s such a strong leader on and off the field.”
And it is those leadership qualities that make Britton such a natural choice for captain – a role she has held for five teams.
“It’s a position I’ve held in high esteem,” she said.
Britton takes her academics every bit as seriously as she takes her athletics, and she is in the top five percent of her senior class. She is a member of the National Honor Society, the French National Honor Society and the Math National Honor Society.
“Academics have always been important to me,” she said. “That’s just been engrained in me from the time I was young. My mom is a teacher, and academics are always first.
“In basketball, I was actually the dork of the team next to Alex Wheatley and Chelsea Allen. I’m always doing work every minute I have. Actually, ‘Wheaties’ is the number one dork. She’s brilliant and so is Chelsea. We try and do work here and there, on the bus and things like that.”
Britton still is the object of good-natured ribbing from her teammates about the time she was making vocab cards during a Friday night jayvee game when she was a sophomore.
“I had time, so I was going to use it,” she said with a laugh. “They never let me live that down – it was actually (teammate) Emily Nowicke.”
Next year at Temple, Britton plans to major in kinesiology.
“You can actually go anywhere from there,” she said. “You can do PT or be a strength and conditioning coach. I know I want to be in the sports field when I get older. I know I want to be a coach.
“You never know. You go into college with something you want to do, and you come out with something else, so we’ll see about that. I’m 18 years old. I don’t really know what I want to do with the rest of my life, but I’m not real worried about it now.”
For now, Britton just plans to enjoy her final high school lacrosse season, hustling and leading – a coach’s dream.
