A group of fifteen girls huddled together at UC Irvine’s ARC sports field on a chilly Monday evening. The girls were telling jokes and giggling under the bright field lights. A man’s silhouette appeared, briskly walking through the moist grass. He was dressed in shorts and a windbreaker, and made his way over to the girls. Bob Mezeul, a medium-build man with a head of thick, graying hair and a short scruff, had a whistle hanging around his neck and twisted a lacrosse stick in his hands.
The girls had just let out another burst of laughter. Mezeul cut them short. “Alright, alright, let’s get out there and practice now.” His tone was stern.
Over the weekend, the UC Irvine women’s club lacrosse team had participated in a tournament in Santa Barbara, and Coach Mezeul was not happy with their performance.
“What happened on the field at the tournament on Sunday wasn’t the team I know. Tonight you’re gonna catch the ball 1,500 times, and I’m gonna yell a lot,” said Mezeul, in his slight New York accent.
This was just the beginning of the brutal practice in store for the UC Irvine women’s club lacrosse team. At the tournament, the girls did well the first day, but lost both games the following day. Head Coach Mezeul and his assistant coach, Cujo Jordan, were going to have an in-depth practice to focus on the weaknesses shown in the past few games.
Women’s lacrosse at UC Irvine is a club sport, and just this year, they gained enough players to form two teams consisting of an A-team and a B-team. Mezeul and Jordan coach the A-team and together. They create a unique dynamic, which nicely compliments the way they train the girls. As head coach, Mezeul perfects the skill of lacrosse in a strict way, as Jordan focuses on their overall athleticism. Between the two of them, Jordan is the more nurturing figure to the girls.
Mezeul started coaching girls after being inspired by the birth of his three daughters many years ago, which for him, highlighted the lack of funding for women’s lacrosse programs at the schools in his community. He started a nonprofit to fund programs at high schools in Northern California before he moved to Southern California. He has been coaching the girls at UC Irvine for two years now, while Jordan had been here for several years prior. Both of them have other day jobs, but find a passion to work with these girls in particular. Just recently, the team was ranked 13th in the nation, and worked hard to earn such a distinction.
Mezeul’s coaching philosophy is a unique one. He calls it a “duel-goal” technique. This entails that he trains his athletes in the “sporty” aspect of the game, but also provides them with life lessons. This is very crucial to the way club teams work at UC Irvine, where the players are expected to run the team with assistance from the coaches.
Within UC Irvine’s club sports department, every single action is required to be linked back to the girls, and Mezeul mainly serves as a guide to them. This supports his coaching philosophy of giving his athletes life lessons, for which he mentors them through skills they’re going to need in their adult lives.
“How I see it, I’m just here to make sure they’re doing everything right,” said Mezeul. “The girls each have their own responsibility. The girls hired me themselves, the treasurer is the one that pays me, and I’m just here to help the girls along the way.” Throughout practice, he often reminds them that this practice is ultimately for them.
Other positions within the team include the president of the club, the captain of the team, the social chair who hosts exchanges with the men’s lacrosse team as well as other club sports and organizations on campus, and also the marketing chair who operates all the social media. The girls who take on the positions are voted on by the entire team.
Team captain and club President Alicia Garcia greatly appreciates Mezeul’s efforts, and such gratitude is reflected in the entire team.
“Coach Bob is 110 % committed to our program. He knows that we’re only a club team and we can only do so much but he coaches us and respects us like we’re an NCAA team,” said Garcia.
Mezeul’s dedication clearly shows, as he takes time to improve the team in many aspects. He often holds free, one-on-one coaching sessions with the goalie, and even voluntarily re-strings lacrosse sticks—a process which takes hours to do—for the girls.
Aside from the executive positions the girls have within the club, they also have “bigs” and “littles,” similar to sororities and fraternities in college. These relationships help form mentorships between players, and form a sisterhood in its own way. It also emphasizes the fact that this team is ultimately run by them.
From the individuals on the team to the club executive board and finally to the assistant and head coach, the support, respect, and guidance given on each level is clearly understood. But the foundation of the team remains to be lacrosse, the sport. And that’s what Mezeul is there for.
“Working with these young kids keeps me young,” said Mezeul. “After a long, tough day, it’s a nice way to kind of relax from the adult world.