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.) 

Rockford Holds Off Brighton Charge to Add to Title Streak

By Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com

June 12, 2021

NOVI – Overcoming a canceled season in 2020, Rockford made it eight straight Division 1 lacrosse titles with a 19-16 victory over Brighton on Saturday at Novi High School.

Only last’s year break due to COVID-19 has interrupted the Rams’ near decade-long dominance – although the Bulldogs made a strong attempt as the teams met in the championship game for the third-straight season.

“This is just a special group of young ladies,’’ said Rockford coach Mike Emery. “They’ve been through so much with the off-field stuff, COVID and the protocols. We lost our season last year. To be able to finish our season this year is just incredible.

"We’ve had a lot of great teams, and this team stacks right up there with them. This is one of my most rewarding seasons.”

Rockford (14-4) also had defeated Brighton (18-6-1) during the regular season 19-5.

“We had a lot of players under quarantine back then,’’ said Brighton coach Ashton Peters.

“I think they started to get a run on us in the beginning (this time). We came back and made it close, we just didn’t have enough time. I truly believe we could have won, but they scored five straight points and we couldn’t get back in it.’’

Rockford got on the board early on a goal by Chloe Dunham, who scored six goals total, with an assist from Mackenzie Delacher. Seconds later Isabelle Osborn, who tallied five goals, scored for the Rams to make it 2-0.

Osborn made it 3-0 less than one minute later with her second goal.

Brighton lacrosseBrighton finally got on the board with a goal by Gabby Mainhardt. But Sydney Walsh made it 4-1 for the Rams, and seconds later Chloe Holmes tacked on another to make it 5-1.

Mainhardt scored her second to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Holmes scored her second for Rockford to make it 6-2. Ella Boose became the second player to score for Brighton to trim the deficit to 6-3.

Osborn scored her third goal of the game to make it 7-3, and Katherine Rodriguez scored seconds later to make it 8-3.

Sophie Mondro ended the streak for Brighton to reduce the lead to 8-4. Rodriguez scored her second for Rockford for a 9-4 lead.

Dunham scored her second as Rockford reached double figures, 10-5.

“We didn’t really know what to expect this year, and it kind of gave us a new perspective as far as what a privilege it is to be out here, and we love the game,’’ Dunham said. “We played that way today. We have a lot of balance and we trusted each other.’’

Mainhardt scored her third for the Bulldogs to make it 10-6. Osborn’s fourth gave Rockford an 11-6 lead, but Kaia Malachino closed the first half with a goal for Brighton.

After trailing 11-7 at halftime, Amanda Granader scored her second goal of the game to get Brighton within 11-8 early in the second half.

Walsh helped stem the tide with her second goal to make it 12-8.

Rodriguez scored her third to increase the Rams lead to 13-8. Dunham made it three straight goals for the Rams to extend the lead to 14-8.

Dunham’s fourth made 15-8 as Brighton’s offense wilted until Mainhardt scored back-to-back goals to make it 15-10. She finished with five goals. Dunham added her fifth with an assist from Osborn to put Rockford up six.

Dunham tacked on her sixth to increase the lead to 17-10 and Osborn’s fifth made it 18-10.

Two goals by Amaria Whitby got the Bulldogs to within five goals, 15-13.

With 1:09 left, the Bulldogs had cut the lead to 19-16 on Boose’s second goal as Rockford’s offense became turnover prone. But the Rams were able to hang on for the final minute-plus to close out the championship.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: (Top) Rockford’s Isabelle Osborn (15) considers her next move Saturday while Brighton’s Olivia Groce guards her. (Middle) Abbie Chaka (15) and Kelley Elizabeth (26) defend the Bulldogs’ goal.