Alumni Update - Mark Petrone

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Alumni Update: Mark Petrone
1992 Graduate / Midfield / Face-off
College – Gettysburg

Q: Give us a little update about yourself (What have you been up to):

A: I have been coaching boy’s lacrosse and teaching at The Haverford School for 17 years.
I founded the Philadelphia Fever Lacrosse Club in 2006, which became Mesa Lacrosse in
2014. I have been married for 10 years and live in Villanova, PA with my wife Roisin and
our three sons.

Q: When did you first start playing lacrosse and who got you started?

A: I started playing lacrosse in 1985 when I was in the 5th grade at Grace Park Elementary.
Luckily, Coach Ellers was our librarian at Grace Park Elementary and the head varsity
coach at Ridley. Coach Ellers used to send home fliers and sign up information for Ridley
Youth Lacrosse. He was very persistent and would ask you if you had delivered the
information to your parents. Everyone said lacrosse was similar to hockey and I was a
street hockey player so it seemed like a good idea to try. The day I started playing was the
first time I had ever seen lacrosse and I was not very good. However; I really loved playing
and practiced on my own all the time. It took about two years before I showed any promise
but eventually I started to improve and then lacrosse became even more fun.

Q: What was your experience like while playing for Ridley?

A: It was fun and rewarding, you had to work hard in practice to play in the games and to
stay in the starting lineup you had to fly around and play with toughness. Coach Ellers
always closely monitored your effort level, so you always had to give your best. The varsity
teams I played on didn’t achieve much success in terms of championships, but we practiced
and played as hard as we could and always improved as the season progressed.

Q: What is your favorite memory (or memories) while playing for Ridley?

A: I loved playing in the night games under the lights at Ridley. We always played better
at night, in the spotlight.

Q: Are you still involved in the game? When is the last time you played lacrosse?
A: I am still heavily involved in lacrosse, I coached at the college level for four years and
then moved to the high school level in 2002 with The Haverford School. I enjoy all the
aspects of high school lacrosse; offense, defense, planning practice, practicing, player
development, watching film, strategizing, scouting and especially gameday. A modern day
high school program requires constant attention and year-round dedication, there is always
a job to do. I also run the Mesa Lacrosse Club, we have youth and high school teams that
play year-round.

The last lacrosse game I played in was a Ridley / Milmont Inn summer league game in
2001. So, my playing career started in Ridley and ended in Ridley!

Q: Looking back, what’s one thing you took with you that you learned from playing Ridley
Lacrosse?
A: Resiliency, persistence, relentlessness; taking the next step forward no matter what
happens. Trying your best to get better and improve every day.

Q: What advice would you give to a future or current Ridley Lacrosse player or parent?
A: Set a goal for yourself and wake up every day to achieve that goal. Your goal doesn’t
have to be involved with lacrosse, just something positive that you want to do. Invest all
your time, effort and focus into attaining that goal. Don’t waste time on video games or
social media or anything that takes away from you achieving your goal.