A new era in the history of KSU women’s athletics began Wednesday May 30 as Kristina Llanes was introduced in the Convocation Center on KSU campus as the inaugural head coach for women’s lacrosse.
Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams is very excited about this new addition of women’s lacrosse and, according to Williams, Llanes seems to be the, “natural fit” for this program.
“Today is a historic day in our history here for athletics,” said Williams. “It is an amazing time to be an Owl and it is an amazing time to be at Kennesaw State.”
Llanes is looking forward to a fresh start at an institution like KSU and is eager to begin preparing for 2013.
“I am excited about the opportunity to be here at Kennesaw State and to grow and to learn about what makes Kennesaw so special,” said Llanes. “Kennesaw offers something special that most other places won’t be able to offer and that is the opportunity to build a program from the ground up.”
Llanes has seven years of coaching experience under her belt since coaching several schools around the country. One of her biggest strengths includes building programs from scratch with success, which she accomplished with the lacrosse program she coached for three seasons at Presbyterian College. “Building a program is a huge challenge in itself, but it’s not one that hasn’t been done successfully,” said Llanes.
According to Williams, he wanted someone who was not only passionate about the game, but a teacher and a student of the game, which was what he found in Llanes. While Llanes is passionate, she mentioned the importance of recognizing the responsibility of building new programs.
“The biggest thing to understand is the responsibility of building a program and it is not something to be taken lightly,” said Llanes. “What I’ve learned from being a coach is making sure your expectations are clear from the start and the standards are set.”
Despite just coming into the picture, Llanes is very optimistic about KSU women’s lacrosse and refuses to abide by the assumptions associated with having a new program.
“When you are new, everyone is expecting you to not come out very strong, and that is not a reputation I am willing to accept,” said Llanes. “I am very confident we can get a solid roster for the spring of 2013 and we can be competitive.”
Llanes is actively involved with lacrosse in the state of Georgia and the club community serving as the Director of Girl’s Lacrosse for Step Out Sports, LLC this past year. Llanes is also involved in the recruitment of players and has maintained solid coaching contacts throughout the southeast.
Most importantly, Llanes expects academics to come first and mentioned her philosophy is to set each student athlete up for success. As far as playing style goes, Llanes said it will consist of a, “blue collar defense” with aggressive goalkeeping. She expects her players to follow her system of unselfish play, but never lose their individuality on the field.
“The southeast is one of the new hotbeds of women’s lacrosse and I respect the talent and the skills those players bring in,” Llanes said. “We are set up for success here. We have the resources; the student athletes will be strong in the classroom and will be strong on the field.”
KSU is now the first DI women’s lacrosse team in the state of Georgia. The Owls’ season is set to take off against Coastal Carolina at Kennesaw Stadium on March 2, 2013.