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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

Kaylee Styers is a senior on the West Forsyth girls lacrosse team and has signed to play in college at Ferrum but is a relative novice to the sport.  

Styers, an only child and native of Mooresville, moved to Clemmons when she was about 10 years old because her father Gary received a job here. Styers knew nothing about lacrosse until her freshman year at West Forsyth.

“I was at freshman orientation and a girl named Brooklyn Fox was handing out papers to play lacrosse, like interest forms,” Styers said. “And she gave me one, and I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never even heard of lacrosse. I’ll try it out.’” 

According to Styers, Fox came around three times to gauge player interest with the Titans’ girls lacrosse team.

“It just really stuck with me,” Styers said. “And I pinned it on my board because I wanted to play track or softball that year. I thought I could try something different, so I did.”

After making the decision to play lacrosse as a freshman at West Forsyth, Styers had to go through the arduous task of familiarizing herself with the sport.

“We had really good JV coaches, so that really helps,” she said. “They really explained the sport well. I watched a lot of YouTube videos.” 

A funny thing happened as practice commenced that spring. 

“On the first day of tryouts, I did bring a men’s lacrosse stick, but it still worked out,” Styers said.  

It wasn’t just a wrong stick that Styers brought to the first practice, she was a fish out of water that spring. 

“I knew nothing. I was a blank canvas,” she said. “I bought the wrong stick. I did buy the right goggles.” 

Despite having the wrong stick, Styers decided to improvise. 

“The stick was still usable. It’s just it was a men’s stick, so it was illegal to use in a game,” she said. “But it still works. But I did end up getting a girl’s stick. It worked out fine.” 

To add to being a novice to the sport, Styers said it took her a while to get her physical right. 

“I was way behind even the beginner players,” she said. “So, they did separate us. They put people who never played before, and the people who’ve been playing before, they separated us. So, that really helped. 

“And the first day of practice I was so confused. And everybody would try to explain all kinds of things to me. And I would try to listen to everybody. But eventually I got it. I got the basics down pretty quick and all the steps right.”

It took some time before Styers, who started playing defense, was stress-free about playing high school lacrosse.

“At first, I wasn’t really comfortable because a lot of them were so much better, and I felt like I was so far behind,” she said. “But I just kept sticking with it and kept playing and kept practicing, and some games I wouldn’t even touch the field. I kept practicing, and the next game I’d be playing. The next game I’d start. The next game I’d be in a better position. So, I just progressively got better as time went on.” 

She also continued to play more as her freshman season progressed. 

“I played on the JV team. And everybody knew what I was doing, and I was the only one who didn’t know,” Styers said. “So, we were all kind of in the same boat. We were all kind of confused sometimes. But since it was a JV game it was a great learning opportunity.

“It was a really good chance to learn the game. And everybody was learning, so it wasn’t so overpowering like with so many great skills.” 

There was just one kink in the season for Styers. 

“I broke my leg at the end of freshman year,” she said. “I was running up the field and a girl ran smack into me and broke my (left) fibula.”

Breaking her leg meant a long recovery and rehab. 

“It took a while,” Styers said. “I was able to be cleared right before the spring season of my sophomore year.”

Styers recovered, and like many other lacrosse players, Styers started playing club lacrosse. She first played with Fusion then the Triad Honeybees, playing in the fall of her sophomore and junior years at West Forsyth.  

“I had a really good JV coach (sophomore year). She helped me so much,” Styers said. “And every time I did something wrong, she’d immediately tell me and that’d help me improve. And I just kept getting better and better, and then after my sophomore year I went to play fall club lacrosse at Fusion. And that really helped me, too, as well.”

All that work and perseverance paid off last spring. She made the Titans’ varsity team. 

“I was really excited,” Styers said. “It was a really big deal to me, and I was really happy to be able to play on varsity.”

Part of Styers’ development as a player is her mindset as a positional player. 

“I play defense, and I’ve always played defense,” she said. “I really like playing defense. I’m fine with not (scoring) any goals. I like making sure the ball doesn’t get in the goal, I guess. And it’s just my favorite position to play. I think I’m a lot better at it than I’d ever be at attack.”

Styers also had a chance to learn as a junior last season from a team that had six seniors and finished 17-2 overall and 12-0 in the Central Piedmont 4-A. 

“I loved playing last year,” she said. “We won a lot. That’s not what matters, but it was great.” 

Styers, who is 18, is now a senior. As of Monday afternoon, West Forsyth is 4-3 overall and 1-0 in the conference.

“I’m just in awe of it because I’m a senior now. I’m supposed to be the one who offers good advice,” Styers said. “I like it. I’m just happy to be able to play.”

Her coach with the Titans has seen how quickly Styers has grasped the sport of lacrosse. 

“Kaylee is still new to the game of lacrosse having just started her freshman year of high school playing on the junior varsity team. An injury prevented her from playing her sophomore year, but she did return her junior year with a great deal of passion and enthusiasm,” coach Doug Brawley said.

That hard work has paid dividends for both Styers and the team.

“You have to put in the work to improve your own individual game,” Brawley said. “And this year when she returned, you could definitely tell she’d spent a lot of time preparing for her senior year.” 

Not only is Styers playing lacrosse at West Forsyth, she is in her first year as the sports editor at The Zephyr, the student newspaper at West Forsyth. She has been with the paper for three years.

She said she has four other student reporters “go out and find stories.” 

“At first it was a little uneasy because some sports (football, golf) I don’t really know about, but I quickly learned about them,” Styers said. “I was able to do good with it and understand it and lead everybody else on sports.” 

Working at The Zephyr has opened many other avenues for Styers.

“I really enjoy it. I love writing,” she said. “I love writing for the newspaper. Sports isn’t my favorite thing to write about unless I know 100 percent know what I’m talking about. I like writing a lot of opinion and features.” 

If playing lacrosse and working as the sports editor at The Zephyr weren’t enough, she does even more in her free time.

“I’m in the (Clemmons) volunteer fire department,” Styers said. “My dad does it.” 

Styers is a cadet. Although she doesn’t want to pursue firefighting as a career, she might consider continuing as a volunteer. 

She doesn’t want to jump too quickly into her senior season, but the regular season is scheduled to end May 2 with a home game against East Forsyth.  

“It’s going to be really sad because without lacrosse I wouldn’t have these opportunities I have for college or anything,” Styers said. “And it’s going to be really sad because I’ve learned everything about lacrosse at West Forsyth. So, it’s going to be really sad to leave. But it’s helped me so much.”

No matter how this season ends, Styers isn’t done with lacrosse. She has signed to play in college at NCAA Division II Ferrum in Virginia. 

“I laid out all my options and I kind of just decided what college was best for me,” she said. “And Ferrum was definitely my best choice.”

Signing to play in college shows the leaps and bounds that Styers has made a little over three years. 

“I think it says a lot,” she said. “I think I played as hard as I could, practiced as hard as I could. And I’m so grateful for all the coaches and my resources that I have with club and school. I am so grateful to be able to play in college.” 

The meteoric rise that Styers has made is clear. 

“On her level, she definitely is night and day,” Brawley said. “A first-year player playing lacrosse, someone who has never played before, you’re obviously not thinking that this person is going to develop into a college-level athlete without a lot of hard work. And she has definitely put in the work to help further her career with an opportunity to play at Ferrum next year.”

While at Ferrum, Styers, who has a 3.9 GPA at West Forsyth, wants to get into nursing with an emphasis in emergency department services. She has gone through Davidson-Davie Community College to receive her CNA and plans on taking some anatomy classes this summer at Forsyth Tech.

“I really like the healthcare environment,” she said. “I really love learning about healthcare stuff like anatomy. And I like helping people. I’ve always wanted to do that, so that’s kind of why I chose it.”