By Caley Breese
Hockey has been a huge part of Sam Homick's life for as long as he can remember. At just six years old, he was inspired to play by his older cousin and immediately became hooked on the sport.
For the past four years, he has played high-level ice hockey, competing for the Washington Little Capitals, a Tier I hockey program for elite players which practices at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia. He also recently finished playing with the Tri-City Eagles, a Tier II club organization that made it to nationals earlier this year.
Since he played hockey for so long at an intense level, Homick, an Annapolis native, says that he was starting to become a little burned out from the sport. That prompted him, during his junior year at Indian Creek, to concentrate more on lacrosse. Although his competitive club hockey has come to an end, he looks forward to pursuing lacrosse collegiately.
Homick started playing lacrosse between fourth and fifth grade. He played on the Annapolis Youth Lacrosse Association (AYLA) club team from grades fifth through eighth, as well as a season with Rockfish Lacrosse in the summer of 2017.
“I just liked the style of the game because it's so similar to hockey,” Homick says of lacrosse. “I just picked up a stick and played rec. One of my best friends was playing, and his dad got me my first stick because he was the coach, and I just went from there.”
Homick, a 6-foot-2 midfielder, has been a four-year key contributor to Indian Creek's lacrosse team. During his freshman season, Indian Creek won the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference championship and Homick earned MVP honors in that game by scoring three goals. He received MIAA All-Conference honors as a freshman in 2015 and again as a junior in 2017; he scored 40 goals, had 24 assists, and picked up 100 ground balls in 2017; and he was a team captain in 2017.
Homick also was a finalist for the C. Markland Kelly Award, which honors the best high school lacrosse player in the state of Maryland, and he earned Capital-Gazette Second Team All-County in 2017. On top of all that, he maintained a 3.8 grade point average.
“It's been pretty cool to be a part of all of this,” Homick says with a smile. “Lacrosse has really been my main focus and all of the awards I've [received] has been pretty cool.”
This fall, Homick will attend Bridgewater College in Virginia. There, he will play lacrosse for the Division III Eagles, who compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). While Homick had opportunities from other colleges, such as Randolph College and Davis & Elkins College, he chose Bridgewater because of its small school environment.
“Bridgewater offers small classes, close connections with the teachers, and I really liked that,” he explains. “On the first visit, I fell in love with it.”
With his freshman year of college quickly approaching, Homick is excited to
start lacrosse at the next level.
“I'm looking forward to the faster-paced game,” he says. “It's going to be a lot different from high school. It'll be a lot faster, more physical, and a more talented game.”
