Master Motivator

The women's lacrosse team has won three national championships during head coach Chris Sailer's 19 year tenure. Eleven of her teams have reached the Final Four. So what did she do when she felt this year's team was relying a little too much on that storied history and less on its own desire? Simple: take every piece of school-issued gear away from her players, and give it back to them, one by one, with every deserving performance. Make the team earn its Princeton name.

It's such motivation that has enabled Sailer to perpetuate the Princeton lacrosse tradition. Rachael Becker '03, one of the best defenders to pass through the program, remembers a similar experience during her junior year. After a sloppy first game, Becker said Sailer gave a fiery speech and told everyone that the next day's practice would be a second tryout — each and every position was up for grabs.

"We actually practiced for a half hour and then she took us all to Chuck E. Cheese," Becker said. But the message had been sent. "We didn't lose any games for the rest of the season."

Then again, most of Sailer's strategies have worked. She entered a Princeton lacrosse program in 1987 that hadn't seen much success. During that first year, the team won only three games. The next year it won seven. By 1989, it was in the Final Four for the first time.

"I really think '89 was the breakthrough year for us," Sailer said. "It was our first time in the Final Four. We actually lost to Harvard that year, but it was huge for us because Princeton had not done well through the mid-80s."

Sailer captured her first national title in 1994. Since then, the expectations have been high, and Sailer has continually sought new methods to ensure that no one is disappointed. After a three-year stint between 1997 and 1999 in which the Tigers failed to reach a Final Four, Sailer decided a sports psychologist might do the trick.

"We were just looking for that extra edge, something that we could to do get us over that hump and to get the kids to be more confident and mentally tougher," Sailer said.

Gimmicks aside, Sailer recognizes that it is not a clever ploy offered here and there that breeds champions. Consistent work and discipline are most likely to produce the desired results, a concept that guides Sailer in the recruiting process. The players, she says, have to want to perform.

"We look for kids who hustle, who have a good attitude, who really have all those [traits]," Sailer said. "We're looking for kids who are team players, we don't look for prima donnas."

But getting talent is one thing — molding it is something else entirely. During practices, players are routinely put in pressure-packed, competitive situations, so that habits — of excellence — are formed.

"The key thing for everybody to understand is that [the entire year] is important. If you want to be great in anything, you can't slack off for 'x' number of months for the year and think you're going to do well come the spring," she said.

Once the spring does arrive, Sailer becomes a master tactician, thoroughly preparing her team for each and every game. Over the years, Sailer has adapted her system to different teams with different talents and shortcomings.

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"She just knows the game better than any other coach," senior goalie and co-captain Kolodner said.

And when the planning is done, it's Sailer's motivational skills, perhaps her greatest talent of all, that shine.

"She is the absolute greatest at pre-game and halftime speeches," Becker said. "You can't really explain how good she is at motivating you. Her speeches are incredible."

As Sailer sees it, though, the speeches are just the icing on the cake.

"It's all about really getting the athletes and setting the right atmosphere and the right tone and helping to build a team that's cohesive and an atmosphere where the team comes first above any individual," Sailer said.

The plan will be put to the test Thursday night against Maryland in Sailer's 323rd game as head coach of the Tigers. And while her players will be playing for a piece of equipment, Sailer will merely attempt to replicate what she has already done 246 times as the Tigers' head coach — keep the dynasty moving forward.