Team Chile’s Big Debut in Philly
I mentioned last week that I was going to write about my time in Philadelphia over Memorial Day Weekend. I intend to do just that. I want to give a little bit of background on how I even ended up there in the first place…
Let’s go all the way back to the beginning. In the late 1980’s at the end of the Pinochet dictatorship, the South American Country of Chile underwent a wave of outside adoptions of Chilean born babies. Enter me. Born in the Capitol city of Santiago, I was adopted at 4 months of age by the Burst’s of Syracuse, NY and the rest they say is history. I had an amazing American upbringing and fell in love with the sport of Lacrosse, which has in some way been a part of my life, as a player and coach, for the last 29 years. Though I have never been back to my mother country, lived in America my entire life, and can’t speak Spanish all that great, I have always been proud of my Chilean heritage.
So fast forward about a quarter century. It was circa 2014. I was in grad school and remember watching the world lacrosse championships. I remember this year in particular. If my memory serves me correctly I believe Canada beat the US in the finals. Anyway, it was around this time, when in my mid-twenties, I was interested in still possibly playing. This all the hoopla surrounding world lacrosse championships, I thought it would be cool to play for some of these other nations that sponsored the sport. I knew I wasn’t good enough to play for team USA (I don’t think many are). But as a Chilean citizen, I figured I had a shot to play on a roster that might have a demand for a guy with my skill set. All I needed to see now is if Chile had a national team. I went to the old FIL website. It had all the sponsored nations listed, like the US, Canada, and Australia. Further down I scrolled. Ah yes, the affiliated nations list. Mexico, China, Philippines, etc. Even farther down, now we are at the emerging nations list that don’t have team membership yet, but are working towards acceptance. This had a lot of South American nations such Peru, Colombia, Argentina, etc. Chile was nowhere to be found. I was SOL as they say. I did a primitive google search of “Chile Lacrosse.” I remember there was a website that mentioned that lacrosse in Chile was underway, but were looking for equipment and donations to get started. I knew I wanted to help, but I had no clue how or where to begin. I emailed the site, looking to just see if there was any information at all. I remember getting an email back from a man named Vincente. He mentioned how fledgling lacrosse was in Chile, and really was mainly interested in getting equipment down to Chile for the time being in order to help grow the game.
A little while later circa 2018 we came in contact with another founder named Trent, who was living down in Chile trying to help grow lacrosse. His communication was more consistent and he was really great about trying to actively move Chile Lacrosse forward. I have old emails with Trent dating back 6 years ago and including some coaches who must’ve all reached out with similar goals in mind, to advance lacrosse in Chile. Makes sense looking back, because 2018 would’ve been the next world lacrosse championships which in all likelihood, invigorated everyone’s excitement about Lacrosse being on the world stage and thus the status of team Chile. On the thread we had the “Big 4” as I refer to us in my head. The “Big 4,” consists of myself, Joe Connor who I went to college with at Mount Saint Mary’s, Angelica Gero HC of Kenyon College Women’s Lacrosse, and Panchito Ojeda Head coach at Virginia Tech. All of us experienced lacrosse coaches in America and all with Chilean Heritage. Our small committee had one goal in mind, to help find a way to contribute to Chile Lacrosse becoming more than just a pipe dream. Enter Victor. If there is a Mount Rushmore for Chile Lacrosse, Victor is the only head that would adorn the fabled rock. We were introduced to Victor by Trent around this point. Victor most definitely had the vision of what Chile Lacrosse should look like. He was also the most determined “boots on the ground” type in Chile pushing lacrosse forward. With many restrictions based on local politics and Chilean culture surrounding sports, Victor was able to get a large contingent of players practicing and training on a consistent basis down in Chile.
In every great startup, obstacles are sure to manifest. COVID put a hold on a lot of people’s hopes and dreams the world over. After COVID, Chile’s number of lacrosse participates plummeted. Our communication here in the states also took a hit. Around this time I got married, bought a house, and had the birth of my daughter taking major precedence over everything else. The ole proverbial “life getting in the way,” gave heed to our periodic zoom calls. The big 4 was scattered for a bit. Life, jobs, and moves halted our communication. Angelica was really the only one keeping in contact with Victor down in Chile. Through her, we were able to find our way again.
This essentially brings us to May of this year. Angelica had reached out asking if I wanted to coach the men’s team in the Heritage Cup in Philly. Immediately I had this whole experience fly through my head at once. I had longed to play for a Chilean national team when this whole thing started. At the ripe old age of 36 though, I knew my strengths would probably best serve in an off-the-field capacity. And just to be asked was such an honor. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to do whatever I could to make it happen. I just needed to check with headquarters first (my wife). I spoke to her later that night. To say it was last minute was the understatement of the century. We had just spoke about potentially going up north to see my in-laws to get some time with Nana and Papa (my daughter’s grandparental titles on her mother’s side). And my own mother was just about to get knee surgery which I needed to take a couple days off for as well. I was actually staying with my mom at her house 5 days post surgery just in order to help her around and drive her wherever she needed to go. This trip could not have come at a worse time for the Burst Household. I was fully preparing for my wife to remind me of all these items. But like the rock star that she is, she told me that I had to do it, and if I didn’t, I would regret it. That’s when I told her that there is no way they could pay me and I would have to pay my own way there and back. Once she heard this, the first thing she did was break out the laptop and started looking for flights. Ah hah! $59 round trip from Chicago to Philly on good ole frontier? Booked! Remember in a past article when I asked as a Coach if you knew you married the right person? This is just another one of many examples on how I know I did exactly that. It was a good thing that my mom was in the top 5% of knee surgery, recovery patients, because exactly one week post-op, I was on a plane to Philly.
My flight took off on Wednesday morning at 5am. So I read my daughter a couple books, and tried to pass out by 8:30 Tuesday night. At 11:30 (PM), my alarm went off. Yep, that’s right. I was in my car driving to Chicago at midnight. I got to O’hare around 3am. My flight took off as scheduled and I was in Philly at like 8:30 in the morning. A couple of the guys got in the previous night from New York. This is where I should mention that I have never met any of the Chilenos in person prior to this moment. I literally took an uber from the airport to a part of Philly that I feel like I could only describe as something from a scene in “Rocky” (I’m talking like the first Rocky, before he was rich if you catch my drift). And at 9am I was about to walk into an Airbnb with a bunch of guys that I have never met before, and can’t even speak their language. Here goes nothing.
In our gorgeous Airbnb (it really was a great set up) were 4 men, all speaking Spanish. I quickly introduced myself. I met Piloto first. Piloto was the only player that traveled all the way from Chile to compete. I didn’t know this at the time. He was easily the most interesting looking person in the house. He had long dark hair flowing down to the middle of his back, thick rimmed glasses, and was covered in tattoos. I have never been back to Chile, like I previously mentioned, but Piloto just absolutely embodied the spirit of what I would think Chile represents. I can’t even put it into words, but just everything about his screamed to ‘Chilean Man,’ at least in my mind anyway. Then I got to meet Victor, who speaks very little English. It was great to finally get to meet him in person. The third man I met was Charlie. Charlie is Victor’s right hand man, though they are most definitely equals. If I had to describe Charlie, the best analogy I can come up with is he is ‘Wozniak’ to Victor’s ‘Jobs.’ Charlie is another boots on the ground guy down in Chile, but his role cannot be overstated. Victor is the big picture guy that has a clear vision of what Chile Lacrosse should and will be someday. Charlie is the implementer. He is the engineer helping Chile Lacrosse carve its path. The two of them together are symbiotic. Charlie lived in the US and moved to Chile as a teen, so he understands what the culture looks like in America from an athletic standpoint. He has experience in other non-traditional Chilean sports, such as American football. The last guy in the house was Cesar. Cesar and I bonded immediately. He grew up in Chile and then moved with his parents to the US when he was seven years old. Similarly, he settled in Long Island, another massive hotbed for lacrosse. Cesar and I are one year apart in age. We actually played against each other in college. He went to Lafayette in Allentown, PA. After playing the name game for quite a bit, it was evident we had a lot of mutual friends, acquaintances, and colleagues in common. He was the first player other than Piloto that I met.
Our Airbnb was essentially one townhouse connected to at least two or three others, all sharing the same building. It was impressive and looked as though it was recently renovated. The twin townhouse directly next to us housed the women’s players. There were 4 members of the women’s team who traveled all the way from Chile. Two of them were staying in the Airbnb next door and came up with Victor and the group, Fernanda and Karma. Rounding out the women’s side was Cesar’s cousin Luna, and Mar and Isa, who play competitively in the states. Last but not least on the ladies side, was Victor’s sister, Daniela. She was documenting the entire trip with her camera and video equipment. There was nothing that she missed. I am really looking forward to seeing the footage of the week at some point, because I know it is going to be incredible.
That was the core group for a least the time being. Later Angelica would arrive with her fiancé Chris, who I also played with in college. I know lacrosse is a small community, as are all sports, but I am amazed how many links we all had. Chris is also a college coach. He was full time assistant this week, helping me, and most importantly, supporting his bride to be. Rounding out the Airbnb crew was Francisco that arrived later that day as well. Francisco, like Cesar, spent his childhood years in Chile before moving to Long Island. He is the same age as me, and played at D2 Dominican and D3 Western Connecticut back in the late 2000’s.
We had more players arriving on Friday before our first game. I think we were all hoping for some team practices on Wednesday and Thursday prior to create some chemistry and shake the rust off. With only 5 women and 3 men for those couple of days, we had a very primitive style training camp. We couldn’t do much obviously, mainly stickwork and shooting drills. But what we gained was more valuable than 6v6, man up/man down, and organized scrimmaging. We gained a closeness and comradery that would set the tone for the entire week. I mean it was as grass roots as it gets. We were literally going to a public park a couple times a day to shoot around. But it was essential to establishing us a team, as Chile Lacrosse. By 9pm I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t asleep yet. I had been awake for almost 24 hours at this point. I enjoyed some time with my good friends Angelica and Chris up on the rooftop of the Airbnb. There was a great hot top set up on the roof overlooking the Philadelphia skyline. After the trip I had, it was nice to kick back, relax, and enjoy a beverage for a bit with my friends.
The next day was more of the same, with some shopping sprinkled in. The Chileans were excited about some of our prices in the US. They could bring a lot of stuff back home with them. And of course, a Pennsylvania staple, Wawa. That was a welcome sight to me as well. A few more makeshift practices, some good home cooking, and another hot tub sesh, and it was finally Friday. We moved out of the Airbnb and were headed to Haverford College to check in. But not before making a stop at the sight of the fabled Rocky Steps/statue. It was a great view that I had never personally seen before and just one more thing for us all to bond over. We got to Haverford around 2pm for our Friday practice slot. Our first game was at 5pm, so we weren’t going to reinvent the wheel. Just get out on the field together for the first time. We had a great team; I’ll be the first to say. Our defensemen were 2 former Albright standouts, Christian and Austin. Our goalie was Jason Connor, former Division II product, and the brother of the previously mentioned Joe Connor. The youngest Connor brother, Justin, would round out our defense. He played at Cleveland state a few years ago, and would not be arriving until Saturday unfortunately, so we’d have to make due with only 2 long poles for game 1. We had 40 year old CJ down at attack alongside Francisco. Cesar would be our Swiss army workhorse, taking faceoffs, playing d-mid, and just grinding in the middle of the field. The rest of our offense was pretty well oiled. We had Christian Z, who played at W&L back in the day, Adrian from Division II Newberry, and Aiden from the resent NCAA tournament team and DIII juggernaut, Swarthmore. Piloto was going to be another Swiss army, plug and play type athlete. Finally, the straw that stirred the drink as they say were a trio of brothers. The Reyes’ brothers consisting of oldest, and DII standout at St. Michael’s, Cristian, middle brother and Cornell commit, Sebastian, and youngest, fourteen year old Mateo. The Reyes bros represented not only family, but commitment to the cause. It was so amazing to see young Mateo out there with his older brothers doing what he could for Chile Lacrosse. We did not have a lot of depth. We never had more than 3 subs on any singular day of competition. But our lack of depth almost helped us in a way with the international rules. We were close, and everyone knew their role and carried it out to the best of their ability. We were tough and courageous.
First game vs Colombia was an emotional game. First time Chile Lacrosse has ever taken the field in any sort of international competition. The first Chile goal was scored only a few minutes into the game. We ended up losing by 1 in overtime. We had to do a Braveheart style sudden death period in order to keep the games moving on the hour. Our next game was 9am the next day vs Sweden. Sweden played Colombia at 7am that morning, so I decided to get up early and go scout out the competition. Sweden looked really good. They had a couple dangerous attackmen and a lights out fogo. They scored in transition quite a bit. They beat Colombia by a convincing 9-7 margin. I was a little nervous for us, but we had some nice moments the day before, and we would be getting a 3rd long pole this game which I was excited about. We didn’t win a single faceoff vs Sweden. It didn’t matter. We had a triumphant 8-4 victory over them. Our offense was capitalizing, and our defense held it down. Goalie play was the difference in that game for sure, with ours out playing his counterpart in net. Before we knew what hit us, not only did Chile win their first game, but we had won our pool with goals allowed being the determining factor. Just like that, we were going to the quarterfinals on Sunday playing the number 1 seeded team Israel. It was time to rest, and support our women who had 3 games that day.
Sunday was probably the most memorable day I would say. Our 9am faceoff vs the number 1 seed Team Israel was most definitely the game of the tournament for us. We got up to a 6-4 lead on them and were able to stall ball the game away to an unbelievable first round victory. Next up we were set to play US Virgin Islands in the semifinals at 2pm. This is where our winning streak came to an end. They gave us a 15-6 beat down. I don’t want to come off as ‘sour grapes,’ and I understand that what I am about to say is running the risk of doing so, but whatever, it’s my blog and I can say what I want. I didn’t feel like USVI had a lot of heritage on their roster, to put it mildly. I’m not sure if that is possible anyway, considering it’s just a territory. But they definitely put off the ‘mercenary’ or ‘gun for hire’ type vibe at the event. I was very proud of the fact that out of all 15 of our players, all but one has real Chilean heritage. For me that is what made the event so special. We know our roster is small, but it felt more real that way to me. We could’ve taken that route and brought on a bunch of studs from wherever, but we didn’t and I feel good about that. That’s it, I said my piece. It didn’t change the fact that they were a loaded team with a ton of talent. Team Ireland got them in the end which I wasn’t too upset about.
Monday morning rolled around and our last game of the event was vs Team France for 3rd place. We ended up losing, in overtime again. I think at this point of the weekend, the low numbers finally started to play a factor. But it didn’t spoil the weekend in the slightest. I had 0 expectations going into the week. I knew we were going to be light on guys, but when I started researching our team and learned we had high level college players on board, I thought we would be able to hold our own. Even with my pregame scouting (I’m a coach, that’s what I do) I still never would’ve thought that in our first ever international tournament, we would finish 4th out of 24 teams and be 2 OT goals away from a 4-1 record. It was truly amazing in every sense of the word.
The weekend wrapped up with some last words from the coaches, wrapping up with Victor and Charlie, and grabbing a bite to eat with Cesar before he had to hit the road. We bonded over fatherhood, as he has 2 little girls, one who’s my daughter’s age, and an 11 month old. I don’t know how he manages all that, I’ll be honest. But we stopped at a bar in hopes to see the DI championship game. With the weather delay, we said our goodbyes as Cesar had to get home to be with his family. My flight wasn’t leaving until the next morning, so I had nowhere to be. I said screw it, and ubered down to Lincoln Financial field. I fortuitously got there right as they were starting to open the gates back up. I bought a ticket for $36 and got to enjoy a DI game in person for the first time in a very long time. After the game, I made sure to get a cheesesteak at Pat’s, and found a hotel I could crash in. And I mean crash. I think my eyes were closed by 8pm no joke. I can’t imagine how the players must’ve felt.
All in all, it was a very emotional and cathartic weekend, for not only myself, but for everyone. Especially Victor. You could see that this was 10 years in the making for him, and for him to finally see the fruits of his relentless efforts; I think it was almost too much for him to bear. It was incredibly sobering to see how important this was for everyone. But it was a truly revelatory event for me in my life. For others, it might not seem like much, but getting an opportunity to coach for your homeland, that is honestly indescribable. It might not have been the Olympics, or World Lacrosse Championships, but that didn’t matter. And I honestly hope it isn’t, but even if this was the only opportunity I have to coach Team Chile, it would still be one of the greatest honors and privileges I have had in my life and career as a lacrosse coach. I don’t know that I have been able to remember feeling that attached to something. Getting a chance to meet all these fellow countrymen, it was such a joyful experience. The pride that you feel is so immense; I understand now why so many love events like the Olympics, or the World Cup, because you are playing for more than just a victory or championship. You get a chance to represent an entire nation of people, which is the most humbling and honorable quest I can think of.
I’d like to thank everyone who helped made this possible. I know I didn’t spend much time talking about our women’s team, because I was trying to focus through my specific lens, but they were amazing as well. The parents and fans were so supportive and uplifting. There were many sacrifices made by all those that worked to get there, especially those who flew 10 hours from Santiago, and drove another 2 hours down from NYC. People don’t realize how much it takes to get everyone there, and it comes and goes too quickly. There wasn’t a dull moment the entire trip. Chris actually made a joke that throughout the duration for the trip, there wasn’t a single gap of 10 minutes where anyone was bored. It was just that kind of a whirlwind. I’d like to give Victor another shoutout. Even with all he does, I didn’t mention his uniform design skills. We were easily the best looking team at the event, and our white uniforms were clean! The gear was great and everyone knew who we were the entire weekend. That was cool to see. This trip has most definitely inspired me to work on my Spanish. I’m taking daily duolingo lessons now (thanks Angelica for the tip). And I’m really look forward to seeing everyone again, hopefully in the not too distant future. Sometimes it just takes a spark to get something lit. But when it’s lit, you don’t want to let it die. I think this past Memorial Day weekend was the spark for Chile Lacrosse. Now that it’s real, we can’t let the fire burn out. If you are interested in learning more about Chile Lacrosse, I have put some links down below. Feel free to reach out if you are interested in helping promote the growth of Lacrosse in Chile. Victor’s dream is to be able to put Chile Lacrosse on the world stage, and to have a strong contingent of athletes playing the game in Chile. With your help, we can make that happen. Don’t be afraid to get involved. And if you know of anyone who has Chilean Heritage and loves Lacrosse, please feel free to reach out to them and let them know that Chile Lacrosse is real, and we can compete!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chilelacrosse?igsh=bXdrbW10ZGQzenlo (@ChileLacrosse) - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lacrossechile?mibextid=LQQJ4d - Patreon: https://patreon.com/ChileLacrosse?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan&utm_content=join_link
KASEY BURST
The HC at the University of Dubuque, Kasey brings all things college lacrosse to your inbox.