Story Links
A Little Bit of Luck Leads to a Storied Career
By Michael Colley
Recruiting for college athletes is an inexact undertaking. Perhaps there’s some science to it; but that implies some amount of logic and predictability. There’s a lot of hard work and a certain amount of good fortune involved to unearth the gems.
Such is the case of senior attackman Garrett Billings. His journey to Charlottesville from his native Langley, British Columbia in western Canada, is one that proves the maxim that luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
Following the Cavaliers’ national championship season in 2003, the 2004 squad struggled and finished with the only losing record of the Dom Starsia era. As the recruiting process was winding down for the class entering in the fall of 2005, Starsia was faced with the prospect of having one spot to fill when he called Jamie Munro, one of the captains of Starsia’s 1989 Brown team, and the coach at the University of Denver. One of the western most programs in Division I, Munro recruited the West Coast and western Canada with great success and has built the Pioneers into a nationally ranked program.
“(Munro) would always call me up knowing we were almost done with recruiting and say, okay, Dom, who else is out there? Who do you like out there?’” said Starsia of the calls the two had each year.
After the struggles of 2004, Starsia turned the tables on his former player turned coach.
“I said, Jamie, for God’s sakes just once, you give me a name. I’ve got a spot here.’ He hesitated on the phone and I said, Aha, you’ve got one!’”
“Give me the name, Jamie,” continued Starsia, “and he said, all I will tell you is Garrett Billings.’”
Starsia did an internet search and used his West Coast connections to learn that Billings was one of the best players on the best team in Canada’s Junior A level, a classification for club players 17-21 years old playing box (indoor) lacrosse, the primary version of the game played in Canada. A prolific scorer for the Burnaby Lakers, Billings won the 2004 scoring championship with 29 goals and 46 assists and was named the most sportsmanlike player and to the first all-star team. The following season he again won the scoring title with 52 goals and 52 assists and 104 points and was named to the first all-star team for the second time. Both years the Lakers won the prestigious Minto Cup as the national champions of Canada.
“It’s a little bit unorthodox how we get recruited,” said Billings. “It’s all word of mouth and a little bit of luck…I had no idea (about the recruiting process).”
Billings knew little about college lacrosse in the United States and even less about Starsia’s Virginia program.
Once armed with a phone number, Starsia called the soft spoken Canadian, who expressed an interest in playing in college.
“I didn’t know that much about the school but I asked a friend of mine who went to school in North Carolina and he said it’s a good school,” continued Billings. “So I committed before I ever visited.”
He wanted to come east to play the field game and had no apprehension about going so far to school. “I’m pretty easily adaptable,” he said. “I was more excited about the opportunity and I thought it would be a lot of fun.”
The skills honed from box lacrossepassing and shooting in tight spaces at a much smaller goalserved Billings well as a freshman three years ago.
“If you can score goals indoor and you come outside and you see the big net and the little goalie, you know you’re going to be able to put a couple in the net,” he said.
“I think that most of the guys that get recruited here are used to being the go-to guys on their team and when I was coming in, that’s what I wanted to be.”
On a team loaded with offensive talent, Billings didn’t have to assume much of the scoring responsibilities his first year in 2006. He scored 30 goals as the Cavaliers rolled to an undefeated 17-0 record and a national championship.
Billings moved into the starting line-up his sophomore season and struggled as he adapted to being regularly guarded by a long stick defenseman for the first time in his lacrosse-playing career. His scoring dropped to 21 goals as the Cavaliers were defeated by Delaware in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The season was not without its breakthroughs though. Starsia characterized Billings’ first year as a starter as a work in progress. But on a cold Saturday night in April against North Carolina, things started to change.
“There were days when he could be very frustrated by having a pole on him and things were kind of bogged down for him a little bit,” said Starsia.
Against the Tar Heels, he tallied the game-winner in overtime to send UVa to its 10th win in a row.
“He stepped up and made that shot,” Starsia said. “I think the players around him began to truly appreciate what he could do for us. It was a big moment in a big game and I think that was really the beginning of him assuming the mental responsibility and leadership that would be guiding him over these last couple of years.”
It took Billings a couple of years to become the go-to guy he wanted to be, but the goals have continued to pour in. Earlier this season he tied the school record by scoring eight times against Stony Brook. In that same game he became only the 11th in the storied history of the program to score 100 in a career.
Every Thursday before a game one of the team’s seniors gives a talk to the team called the “Last Word.” The player is free to talk about any subject he pleases. When it was his turn earlier this season, Billings talked about how lucky he was to have had this opportunity at UVa.
“We were lucky to have found him,” Starsia said. “He’s just a great kid and somebody that has just been a real pleasure to have worked with over these past four years.”