Lacrosse Leader
Some people call them “foxhole guys” — the type of people you would want by your side in a life-or-death situation. High school sports aren’t life-and-death, but you wouldn’t know it from watching a foxhole guy play.
Brooks van Esselstyn is a foxhole guy.
“I’m an incredibly competitive human, probably too much,” says van Esselstyn, a senior lacrosse star and fan favorite on the basketball team at May River High School. “I hate losing.”
The irony, of course, is that those who despise defeat the most also relish challenges and competition, making coming up short despite giving your all a nearly inevitable byproduct.
Unsurprisingly, van Esselstyn sought a challenge at the next level, recently signing to continue his lacrosse career at Florida Tech and try to help the Panthers ascend to the top of the ultra-competitive Sunshine State Athletic Conference, which perennially boasts several top-25 teams, including defending NCAA Division II national champion Tampa.
“My goal going in was to go play a good level of lacrosse and go to a good school,” van Esselstyn says, and when he zeroed in on studying engineering, it helped narrow the focus considerably and brought Florida Tech to the forefront.
After having the opportunity to practice with the team, van Esselstyn was able to see the coaching staff in action and envision where he would fit into the program. And any coach can easily see how to fit him into their plans. A humble, hard-working leader who isn’t afraid to do the dirty work, van Esselstyn says his experience playing multiple sports — some of which were outside his comfort zone — was pivotal in his development.
“It’s everything,” he says. “I’m not the athlete or the person I am today without having those different roles in different sports. I’ve been the worst guy on teams, and I’ve been the best guy on teams. It’s so valuable to have those different perspectives — to see different styles of leadership and how they work.”
Brooks grew up in southern Maryland, a hotbed for lacrosse, so he had a stick in his hand from an early age, but basketball was his first love, and he gave up lacrosse for two years to focus on hoops. When the family moved to the Lowcountry six years ago, he reversed course.
“I realized I really wasn’t that good at basketball,” Brooks laughs. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to be that tall. Maybe this isn’t the sport for me.’ ”
Good call. While he continues to be an effective player and team leader for the May River basketball team, outfoxing defenders as an undersized post player and drawing charges nearly every game, Van Esselstyn found his home when he returned to the lacrosse field, where his rock-solid 6-foot frame and deceptive speed make him a star who can dominate a game at attacker or in the midfield.
His basketball background helped hone his footwork and allowed him to apply many of the same offensive and defensive concepts that carried over from the court. After playing on May River’s junior varsity team as an eighth-grader, he collected 17 goals and 10 assists in just six games as a freshman in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and earned an invitation to the Under Armour Underclass Games.
Eager to pick up where he left off, Brooks hit another setback during his sophomore year, missing the basketball season and the first eight games of the lacrosse campaign while recovering from orthopedic surgery on both hips due to femoroacetabular impingement or FAI, a condition in which extra bone growth occurred on the head of both femurs and damaged the labrum in Brooks’ right hip.
He returned for the final month of the season and racked up 29 goals and 11 assists in nine games, but it was during that year-long period that he couldn’t compete that he became the leader his teammates turn to today.
“My philosophy kind of shifted when I got injured my sophomore year. I realized it really sucks to not play sports,” he recalls. “It brought a newfound appreciation to play every minute as hard as I can play. I like to play with high-energy guys who always give their all, so I always wanted to be one of those players.”
In his first full high school lacrosse season, Brooks broke out in a big way. In 17 games last spring, he scored an incredible 67 goals and added 42 assists for an average of 6.4 points per game. He is already the program’s career leader for goals, and that’s with only one full season under his belt and one full season to come. His individual accolades only serve to further the team’s goals, though, because that’s his nature.
“We’ve made it to the state quarterfinals twice, and I want to go farther than that and continue laying the foundation for the years to come,” Brooks says. “You want to go out every night and dominate. You want to have a purpose every game.”
You want Brooks van Esselstyn in your foxhole.
