Menlo News December 02, 2021

Knights announce Sage as girls’ lacrosse coach

Lacrosse club director of operations and coach takes reins
Ryan Sage

Menlo School welcomes collegiate assistant and area club director Ryan Sage as girls’ lacrosse coach.

The breadth of Sage’s coaching and playing experience is extensive, and includes coaching a large youth program, running the offense of a collegiate program, as well as playing at the international level.

Since 2017, he has served as Director of Operations for the Firehawks Lacrosse Club. Sage oversaw all aspects of the program, then also took on the role of Boys’ Director for the club the past season. During his tenure, he managed a pool of more than 250 players from ag es 4 to 14 years old from around the Peninsula and beyond.

“We are thrilled to have Ryan lead our girls’ team. He brings a wealth of lacrosse knowledge and coaching experience,” Menlo Director of Athletics Earl Koberlein said. “He is passionate, energetic and competitive on the field, but more importantly, Ryan will be a great teacher of important life skills. As a top student and high-level athlete himself, he can provide exemplary leadership and help develop the strength and confidence of our student-athletes on and off the field.”

For a couple years, Sage concurrently was a lacrosse offensive coordinator and strength coach at Notre Dame de Namur, creating the playbook, running practices and scouting.

A native of British Columbia, he learned lacrosse as a box player and soon transitioned to field lacrosse. He studied and played at Mars Hill University in North Carolina, where he was conference leader in goals, two-time Academic All American, 2015 conference champion, and received the Male Scholar-Athlete Award for achieving the highest GPA of all senior athletes. Before graduating with a bachelors in biology, Sage also served as an assistant coach for the women’s volleyball team.

“Ryan also has the skills and expertise to provide coaching assistance with volleyball as well as strength & conditioning,” Koberlein added. “We look forward to him providing coaching experience in those areas as well.”

Since 2014, Sage has been competing internationally as a member of the Scottish National Team. He has played in two World Championships, and one European Championship with the Scotland side and remains active on their roster preparing for the 2023 World Championships.

For now, Sage turns his attention to the high school arena as he takes over a program which has been a dominating force in the West Bay Athletic League for over a decade, and looks to re-emerge in its first full season since 2019.

“I hope to bring continued success to the program by creating an environment where the girls are excited to be there every day, and happy to work hard,” Sage said. “My coaching philosophy is simple in that if everyone works as hard as they can, and as selflessly as they can, success will soon follow,” Sage said. “If every player’s goal is to make their teammates better, the team will have the best chance to consistently play at their best.”