Ishcah Browne knew she would chart a course towards becoming a successful lacrosse player.

In fact, long before she was aware that Jamaica had a lacrosse association, Browne told her parents that she was going to attend university on a lacrosse scholarship and graduate with first-class honours.

Those words have so far proven most prophetic, as Browne, having demonstrated a high level of ability in lacrosse, as well as a solid academic background, recently secured a scholarship to Alderson Broaddus, a private university in Philippi, West Virginia.

“I’ve always been active in sports; I did tennis, swimming and I’m also a black belt in karate, but to me, those were just activities that I excelled in. At the time, I hadn’t heard of lacrosse being played in Jamaica, so my mother researched and found that JLA (Jamaica Lacrosse Assocation) hosted camps every summer and winter. She took me there, and the moment I held a lacrosse stick for the first time, I knew that this sport was for me,” Browne told the Jamaica Observer.

Browne has so far represented Jamaica’s junior team in an historic appearance at the Under-19 Women’s Lacrosse World Championships in Canada last year, and the senior women’s team that secured qualification to the 2021 Women’s Lacrosse Championships.

While pursuing her dream to excel in lacrosse at the 88-year-old university, Browne, an Immaculate Conception alumna, who has 10 CSEC and two CAPE to her credentials, also intends to do a double major in cyber security and criminal justice.

She is preparing to sit pure math units one and two, physics unit two and chemistry unit one, before moving on to the next chapter.

“I’m aware that some universities in the United States are closing admissions for international students as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, so I was very fortunate and grateful to not only get accepted, but get accepted with a scholarship.

“That is an honour and it just showed me that anything can be achieved once I make a solid decision and work towards it,” said Browne, who was also accepted to Anderson University in Indiana and Webber International University in Florida.

“I am an introvert so the decision was easy because Alderson Broaddus is a small, private university where it feels very much like a family,” she added.

With the bar set high, the 17-year-old, who turns 18 in July, is determined to continue challenging herself both on and off the lacrosse field and her love and passion for the sport will no doubt make her an incredible asset to the Alderson Broaddus team and, by extension, the Jamaica team going forward.

“The standard has been set pretty high, so playing lacrosse in college gives me every opportunity to absorb more information about the sport so that I can come back and teach the upcoming generation what I’ve learnt and show them that they too can achieve their goals,” Browne noted.

Finally, the powerfully built player, who aspires to achieve great things, knows very well that it will take more than just words to lived up to that promise.

“I expect to be the female version of Myles Jones, being one of the top players on the team, representing both myself and my family well, making them very proud. My goal is to express my best self and become one of the greatest in Cyber security history,” she declared with an air of confidence.

“I have no doubt that it takes hard work to achieve what I intend to, so right now I’m doing endurance and speed training as well as honing in my stick skills and also mentally preparing myself for the next chapter of my life,” Browne ended.

— Sherdon Cowan