VC’s Starr never gave up

By Mike Zummo
Posted 7/1/20

 

Aidan Starr has battled health issues since he was 3 years old and eventually an ongoing battle with Crohn’s disease forced him to give up football as the other players were getting …

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VC’s Starr never gave up

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Aidan Starr has battled health issues since he was 3 years old and eventually an ongoing battle with Crohn’s disease forced him to give up football as the other players were getting bigger and he wasn’t.

“I figured I would take myself out of the sport before someone 150 pounds heavier than me took me out of it,” said Starr, a recent graduate of Valley Central High School.

That’s when he found lacrosse.

He’s been playing the sport for 5 years and despite there not being a season during his recent senior year, he has committed to playing men’s lacrosse at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh.

“The coach was very nice, and the team seems like a more family environment than anywhere else I’ve looked,” Starr said. “That’s the kind of environment I’ve been looking for.”

Starr is primarily a midfielder and he took face offs for three years until he broke the growth plate in his wrist, which took him out of that role. He played a few more games after that with the broken wrist.

“I liked taking faceoffs because the only guy you have to beat is the guy in front of you,” Starr said. “It’s that one-on-one battle, but now I would usually be on the wing so I’m still a part of the faceoff, but I’m just not the guy taking it.”

After recovering from the broken wrist during his sophomore year, he returned his junior year and played in the midfield.

“I would consider myself not necessarily a defensive or offensive middie, but a scrappy middie that tries to be aggressive,” Starr said. “I can run both ways depending on what the situation calls for.”

Next spring he’s going to join a Mount Saint Mary team that had its season cut short in 2019 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic that was off to a 1-4 start before the season was canceled.

They had edged out an 11-10 win against Bard College, before losing their next four.

The Golden Knights are led by ninth-year coach Eric Seideman, who has ushered the Knights to their most successful stretch in the program’s brief history. He has won 54 games and has led them to their only two 10-plus win seasons and set a single-season wins record twice, winning 10 in 2016 and then 12 and 2018.

In 2018, Seideman led the Knights to their first ever Skyline Conference championship final.

“It was a choice to stay close to home,” Starr said. “It wasn’t based on where the college was located. It was based on the team and how the current players treated me and how the players were to each other. The head coach is very understanding.”

He also said the team culture encompasses volunteer work and studying. Starr has previously volunteered with the Montgomery Fire Dept. and other local charities.

“It’s more comfortable for me having him go there because he’s going be taken care of and there will be positive influences,” his mother, Erin Starr, said. “The coach is very motivating.”

He also plans to study criminology and already has been accepted into the Mount’s program. He said he wants to enter law enforcement or go into the Dept. of Environmental Conservation.

Despite the COVID-19 closures, Starr has had Zoom meetings with coaches and all the incoming players, going over some of the team policies and written and unwritten rules.

“I’m looking forward to a new environment and the change,” Starr said. “I am definitely ready to learn and grow more.”