Trepins Makes Helping Kids Her Business
June 17, 2020
By Tom Lang
Special for Second Half
It’s not enough to recently-graduated Grandville High senior Brianna Trepins to play lacrosse well. She additionally wants to see the sport grow and prosper in west Michigan – and she knows that begins with young kids in the community.
She also knows too well, from personal experience, that coming from less financial means than most peers can keep young girls from giving the sport a try in the first place. Often, it’s as simple as the stigma of not having as nice of a stick as other players.
Trepins, who will continue her lacrosse career at Aquinas College, has helped coach youth in the community. Many times young girls are willing to try the sport but have to borrow a community center stick that’s – let’s say – not top-of-the-line equipment and well-used past its prime.
“Most of the pockets weren’t good, and the girls had to learn how to play with these sticks,” Trepins said. “When they see another girl playing with the brand new, greatest versions of these really cool sticks, that’s hard on them. I could relate. I didn’t have the best equipment growing up, so I sympathized, and I began taking sticks and restringing them – and it all went from there.”
Trepins’ discovery led to starting a business and online store last November – LaxZoo. She sells T-shirts and other lacrosse items to pay for materials to restring lacrosse sticks that people donate. She also repairs sticks of teammates and other players, and the profits from her small fees go to string material for more donated sticks – and in the short term some of the profits have gone to COVID-19 relief efforts.
“I have a ton of respect for entrepreneurs in general, because I think that takes a certain type of bravery – and the fact that she has done that at such a young age; it shows me how much she loves lacrosse and wants to incorporate it into her life moving forward,” said her Grandville coach, Alexandra Vanden Bosch. “And to do all that, she’s taking a big personal risk to start her own business. That’s so huge.”
Trepins first attempted lacrosse in 8th grade, later than most teammates.
“When I first tried lacrosse, I didn’t like it that much,” Trepins said. “I had to wear a skirt, which I thought was weird.”
But she made some good friends and tried out again as a freshman, and made the varsity team. Before the end of the season, she became a starter on defense.
“Throughout the year my coach kept giving me some opportunities to go out on the field and show what I could do as a player, and I really didn’t have that before,” she added. “To have someone really believe in me and believe in my abilities was kind of life-changing. So, going on the field and actually feeling confident playing a sport was an amazing feeling that I never wanted to end. The program at Grandville is great, and my teammates were so supportive.”
Vanden Bosch made it clear Trepins earned it all.
“She just blossomed so quickly and got that opportunity to start on defense, and that was her natural athleticism,” the coach said. “Then when she became passionate about lacrosse because of that, she made the most improvement in between offseasons that I’ve ever seen in a player. Through that she developed leadership, and we named her as a captain her junior year. When I say hardest worker in the room, that is her.”
With the cancellation of her senior lacrosse season after all MHSAA spring sports shut down because of COVID-19, Trepins shifted gears to prepare for college, which had begun over the winter with applying for scholarships. A significant award came from the local Community Choice Credit Union’s Foundation, a $5,000 grant as part of a statewide $100,000 annual program the credit union started 11 years ago that has grown to $1.2 million in educational support for students who are focused on supporting their Michigan communities.
She plans to study pre-dental at Aquinas College – in part because she respects the work of a cousin who is a dental hygienist, but mostly because she has had her own issues growing up with teeth complications that still cause her pain in her jaw on a fairly regular basis. She is missing an adult tooth under a baby tooth that has remained in place as the family cannot afford dental insurance.
“If you looked inside my mouth, my teeth are a little weird on one side (looks concaved),” she said. “My family could never afford to fix it when I was growing up, so I want to be able to fix things like that for other people. I guess it’s quite common, and I want to help other kids when they’re growing up. There are a few options to fix it, but they are all so costly. … I just kind of have to deal with it.”
As to what Trepins has learned from starting and running a small business:
“It feels almost like a reality check at some points but also unreal in all honesty. You always see people with their businesses and think, ‘Wow, I could do that too.’ But the truth is running a business takes a lot of time and hard work for it to really start to get off the ground. But at the same time, every time you have an order that gets placed or you see someone using something that you've made – for example getting to see the little girls run around with the sticks I've strung for them – it feels a little bit unreal, and like all the work that you've put into it is actually paying off.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grandville's Brianna Trepins, left, maintains possession of the ball during a game earlier in her career; her senior season was canceled due to COVID-19. (Middle) Trepins strings and shows off a restrung lacrosse stick. (Photos courtesy of Brianna Trepins.)
Preview: Epic 2022 Finals Set to Play Out Again in Title-Deciding Rematches
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 8, 2023
Surprises will be hard to come by Saturday at Rockford High School, as both MHSAA Girls Lacrosse Finals are repeats of last season’s championship games and rematches from earlier this spring.
In Division 1, Brighton defeated Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern 12-11 in overtime to close last season, but FHNE opened this one with an 11-6 win over the Bulldogs on March 23 before the teams tied 6-6 in an April 29 rematch.
In Division 2, East Grand Rapids also clinched last year’s title with a 12-11 overtime win, over Detroit Country Day. The Yellowjackets dominated this season’s matchup, however, 18-5 on May 12.
Below is a glance at all four teams playing at Rockford. Statistics are through Regional Finals except for Brighton’s, which include the Semifinal . Rankings are based on the Michigan Power Rating formula used to seed at the Regional level. The Division 2 Final is set for 2 p.m., with Division 1 following at 4:30. Tickets cost $11 and are good for both games, and may be purchased online only at GoFan.
Both games will be broadcast and available with subscription from MHSAA.tv, with free audio broadcasts on the MHSAA Network.
Division 1
BRIGHTON
Record/ranking: 16-8-1, No. 6
League finish: Tied for second in Kensington Lakes Activities Association West
Coach: Ashton Peters, fifth season (57-23-3)
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2022 and 2011, four runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 13-10 (Semifinal) and 7-6 over No. 2 Bloomfield Hills, 12-11 over No. 4 Hartland, 12-10 over No. 10 White Lake Lakeland.
Players to watch: Cecelia Mainhardt, jr. M (74 goals, 16 assists, 34 ground balls); Ella Toth, soph. A (46 goals, 25 assists, 33 ground balls); Gabrielle Buckenberger, jr. G (8.1 goals-against average, 166 saves); Ashleigh Toth, sr. D (4 goals, 1 assist, 33 ground balls).
Outlook: Brighton will be playing in its fifth-straight Division 1 Final but for the first time with a chance to repeat. The Bulldogs rebounded from a 2-4 start this spring and have won eight straight with their only loss over the last month to Division 2 finalist East Grand Rapids, 13-10. Ashleigh Toth, Buckenberger and Mainhardt have been named to the all-state first team, while Ella Toth has made the second and junior attack Georgia Gill (82 goals, 20 assists) and sophomore defender Keelin Ehman (37 ground balls) made the third team. Mainhardt, Ashleigh Toth and Kaia Malachino are the team’s lone senior starters, and Malachino has 18 goals and 10 assists over just seven games.
GRAND RAPIDS FOREST HILLS NORTHERN/EASTERN
Record/ranking: 20-2-1, No. 1
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Joe Curcuru, third season (51-9-1)
Championship history: Division 1 runner-up 2023.
Best wins: 10-2 (Semifinal) and 12-11 over No. 4 Hartland, 14-11 (Regional Final) and 10-8 over No. 3 Rockford, 10-4 over No. 2 Bloomfield Hills, 11-6 over No. 6 Brighton, 18-11 and 16-7 over Division 2 No. 6 East Grand Rapids, 12-2 over Division 2 No. 4 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 11-5 over Division 2 No. 1 Detroit Country Day, 13-12 over Division 2 No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.
Players to watch: Alayna Davis, sr. A (72 goals, 70 assists); Sommer-Jo Grieser, sr. G (6.45 goals-against average, 132 saves); Lila Fus, soph. D (2 goals, 5 assists); Mia Dye, jr. A (68 goals, 21 assists).
Outlook: After coming so close to a championship last season in its first as a program, Northern/Eastern has steamrolled through this spring with its only losses to Division 2 finalist Detroit Country Day – after defeating the Yellowjackets six days earlier – and rival Forest Hills Central, which the BirdDogs avenged three weeks later. Davis, Grieser, Fus and Dye all have been named to the all-state first team, with junior midfielder Isabella Bainbridge (49 goals/19 assists) making the second team and senior attack Alexandra Slywka (37/22) making the third. Davis has more than 160 goals combined over just the last two seasons.
Division 2
DETROIT COUNTRY DAY
Record/ranking: 17-1, No. 1
League finish: Does not play in a conference.
Coach: Emma Kuehl, fifth season (65-7)
Championship history: Division 2 runner-up 2022 and 2005.
Best wins: 21-4 (Regional Final) and 7-5 over No. 4 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 18-5 over No. 6 East Grand Rapids, 15-6 over Division 1 No. 1 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern, 11-7 and 16-7 over Division 1 No. 6 Brighton.
Players to watch: Hadley Keating, jr. A (88 goals, 18 assists); Brooke Winowich, soph. M (4 goals); Emma Arico, jr. M (41 goals, 22 assists, 118 draw controls); Sadie Rifkin, jr. M (15 goals, 3 assists).
Outlook: The Yellowjackets’ only loss was to Division 1 top-ranked Forest Hills Northern/Eastern, which they avenged less than a week later. Otherwise, only Cranbrook and Brighton got closer than nine goals. And most impressive of all: Country Day has only one senior. Keating has a combined 160 goals over the last two seasons and has been named to the all-state first team with Brooke Winowich, Arico and Rifkin. Sophomore attack Georgia Pavlou (47 goals/53 assists) and freshman goalie Campbell Linder (3.9 goals-against average/5 shutouts) have made the second team, sophomore mid Olivia Winowich (42 goals/8 assists) and junior defender Alessia Sessa the third and sophomore attack Mary Pavlou (44/10) earned honorable mention.
EAST GRAND RAPIDS
Record/ranking: 16-9, No. 6
League finish: Tied for fourth in O-K Tier 1
Coach: Meggan Loyd, second season (35-11)
Championship history: Eight Division 2 championships (most recent 2022), runner-up in 2017.
Best wins: 15-7 over No. 2 Haslett/Williamston in Semifinal, 9-6 and 10-8 over Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 12-6 over No. 7 Grand Rapids Northview in Regional Quarterfinal, 18-11 over No. 8 Caledonia in Regional Semifinal, 13-10 over Division 1 No. 6 Brighton.
Players to watch: Vivian LaMange, jr. A (94 goals, 41 assists); Olivia Shaw, jr. A (61 goals, 12 assists); MC Millman, soph. M (21 goals, 8 assists); Elizabeth Grin, sr. D (29 ground balls).
Outlook: East Grand Rapids has won three straight Division 2 championships (not counting the canceled 2020 season) and put together a six-game winning streak to earn an opportunity to win a fourth title in a row. The Pioneers have held their opponents to single-digit goals in five of those six recent wins. All but one loss this season came to opponents that finished the regular season among the top three in MPR in either Division 1 or 2. LaMange has been selected for the all-state first team, Shaw for the second, Millman and Grin to the third and senior attack Brecken Winkel (21 goals/9 assists) received an honorable mention.
PHOTO Detroit Country Day’s Alessia Sessa (1) defends during Wednesday's Semifinal win over Ann Arbor Skyline and Lilly Shannon (17). (Photo by Terry Lyons.)