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Maddy Baxter finished with either an orange or green belt after two years of karate, her father Damon said.

Taking lessons on the weekends, Baxter would spend the rest of her week stationed in her room, furiously training for the next session. She practiced an arrangement of Katas — specific patterns of movements concentrated on perfecting form — among other techniques.

During Baxter’s first karate tournament, she earned a gold medal. Damon doesn’t remember many times where she didn’t earn at least a silver.

“It taught her about focus, patience and determination,” Damon said. “It taught her to be disciplined in her training.”

The same discipline, determination and obsession for perfection at the dojo stuck with Baxter throughout her lacrosse career. It’s the same work ethic that helped her score 12 goals in her first year at Syracuse — a total she’s now surpassed just halfway into her junior season. It’s the same mentality that earned her second place as a member of Team Canada at the 2022 Lacrosse World Championships. A two-way midfielder, Baxter’s unwavering dedication has helped put SU in prime position to continue its undefeated start.

Baxter played several sports before taking to the field, competing in hockey, box lacrosse and cross country. At the time, the school Baxter attended didn’t prioritize athletics, only holding practices before major meets, so Baxter found ways to improve on her own.

“She took it on herself,” said Baxter’s mother, Roberta. “She didn’t need a teacher to tell her what to do.”

Baxter spent her lunchtimes running around the school track. Her training regimen was seasonal — the fall was reserved to up her endurance, and in the spring, she’d pick up a stick.

In Baxter’s first-ever cross-country race, she placed 26th. Damon said she refused to place that low again. Afterward, she either finished first or second. Back when she would compete in sprints or shorter distance competitions, Baxter pushed herself so hard that after just about every race she would puke.

“If someone was beating her, she’d give everything she had to stay with that girl until the very end,” Damon said. “Then, she’d try to catch her again and again.”

At 12, Baxter first picked up field lacrosse. She held some prior knowledge about the structure of the game, having played box, but otherwise walked into the tryouts for the Oshawa Lady Blue Knights inexperienced. Hoping to make the U15 roster, the club’s coaches agreed Baxter had the skills and physicality to compete a couple of grades above. But, they recommended she start at the U13 level.

Going into high school, Baxter enrolled at Everest Academy. There, she was pitted against better competition to help jumpstart a potential collegiate career. Although it took Baxter a couple of weeks to settle in, her tenacity on the field gained respect from her teammates.

“She was very quiet but did all of her speaking on the field,” Roberta said. “It was like she transformed.”

After her sophomore year, Baxter transferred to The Hill Academy in Vaughan, Ontario. The school, which concentrates on hockey and lacrosse, had recruited Baxter because of her play with the Lady Blue Knights.

“She was someone that was always on our radar,” said Hill Academy assistant coach, Tory Merrill. “Obviously for her athletic ability but also because of her competitiveness.”

For the first time, Baxter faced off against Division-I talent every day during practice. Training began at 8 a.m., and classes followed. Then, more training. Head coach Carly Quinn said none of her players could ever afford to take days off, simply because their teammates were too good.

“When things got tough, Maddy didn’t succumb to that,” Quinn said. “She was never out of the fight, and she led the charge.”

In the Ontario lacrosse scene, private schools like The Hill were independent and not a part of any local league or conference. Therefore, Quinn and Merrill constructed their own regular season, hand-picking tournaments and games in the United States to create a competitive schedule. Every March, The Hill went on a week-long tour around the U.S., playing against as many schools as possible. But, in one of the teams’ final training sessions before the trip her senior year, Baxter tore her ACL.

Damon and Roberta did all they could to find experts around their area before a doctor confirmed that she wouldn’t play for eight months. Damon told Baxter that it wasn’t the end of the world and that the tear was a common lacrosse injury. But deep down, he had his doubts too.

“We didn’t know whether this would be something that ended her career or something that made her more determined,” Damon said.

Baxter’s world changed. Every morning, the family drove an hour away for physical therapy before school. Right before the injury, Baxter attended one of two tryouts for the U19 Team Canada squad. She had been promised a spot, but now couldn’t compete. Up until that point, it was her life’s goal to make the roster, Damon and Roberta said.

Quinn and Merrill remembered Baxter’s first practice after the injury. She had been cleared to run and pivot, but couldn’t participate in scrimmages. The coaches had lined everyone up for the yo-yo test — a modern version of the traditional beep test, Merrill said — where players have to run between two points, 20 meters apart. As the test goes on, the speed increases and the last one standing wins. Baxter finished first. Everyone was stunned.

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“It was a pretty emotional moment,” Merrill said.

Throughout her recovery, Baxter’s hard work and dedication never faltered. She took a postgraduate year, which was almost immediately scrapped because of COVID-19. Gyms and parks closed while both schools and practice transitioned online. But Baxter didn’t stop practicing. She and her teammates trained together, through their phones, providing proof to each other that they were playing wall-ball or navigating cone drills.

A couple of years removed from finishing her final two high school seasons without a single on-field appearance, Baxter was finally called up for Team Canada. This time, it was the 2022 Women’s World Lacrosse Championships.

In the gold medal game, which was Syracuse head coach Kayla Treanor’s final game, Nicole Perroni drew a foul just beyond midfield near the halfway mark of the second quarter. Canada trailed the United States 6-2 as Baxter was positioned at the left side of the crease, unmarked.

Perroni ran towards the 12-meter and sent a pass across her body to Baxter. She received the ball high before converting a point-blank opportunity.

Roberta remembers watching. At one point, she saw Baxter suddenly run off toward the sideline to throw up in a nearby trash can. Immediately afterward, Baxter bounded back onto the field and returned to her position near the 12-meter, waving off the Canadian coaching staff who were equally as puzzled as Roberta.

For Baxter, it could’ve been the pressure of the moment. Or, she just needed a quick break before continuing to cover every blade of grass. But regardless, playing for Team Canada, Baxter had achieved a lifelong dream that had once been taken away.

“It was an experience I won’t forget,” Baxter said.

Published on March 29, 2023 at 11:02 pm

Contact Tyler: trschiff@syr.edu | @theTylerSchiff