Photos courtesy of Sydney Scales
By Lenny Strauss
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Hometown Weekly Reporter Lenny Strauss had the opportunity to interview Walpole’s own Sydney Scales. Scales has an impressive resume, as she is a former standout lacrosse defender at Boston College, current assistant coach at Harvard, and rising professional player, whose recent athletic achievement helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the inaugural Pan-American Women’s Lacrosse Championship in Auburndale, Florida. This resulted in U.S. Women’s qualifying for the 2026 World Championship in Tokyo, Japan, marking an important milestone for international women’s lacrosse and the sport as a whole.
Sydney’s ascension begins close-by: starting as a multi-sport varsity athlete (field hockey, basketball, lacrosse) at Walpole High School (Class of 2020) transitioning to team captain, two-time ACC Defender of the Year, Scholar Athlete of the Year, Most Outstanding Player of the ACC Tournament (just to name a few), at Boston College (Class of 2024), moving to professional play with Athletes Unlimited, and now representing the U.S. on the national stage. Sydney most recently played the inaugural WLL All-Star game in Kansas City, MO amongst the country’s top lacrosse players, allowing her to showcase her exceptional talent at a high level. Her work also extends off the field, where she recently launched a business focused on developing young female athletes: Sydney Scales Lacrosse.
Sydney’s continued successes have helped shine a bright light on women’s lacrosse, both on the field and through her commitment to growing the sport here in the community, for future stars.
We at the Hometown Weekly had the opportunity to speak to Sydney about her endeavors, her passion fueling her successes in lacrosse, and her views on the future of the sport!
LS: “Describe your lacrosse journey, from your initial interests to your successes as an all American and national title winner. Is there an accolade that means more to you?”
SS: “Yeah, I'd say the accolades that I go right to are like the team ones like the two national and Conference Championships, because those are the ones that are the hardest to achieve. It’s rare to obtain, and it takes an entire team in order to win one. Those two, along with my two ACC Championships are the highlights of my college career.”
LS: “How did your interest in lacrosse start?”
SS: “My dad is from Westwood, and lacrosse is a very big sport there. Their public high school team is so good. He got me into Westwood lacrosse camp when I was in the second or third grade; I didn’t love it at first, but my dad told me to keep playing, believing I would eventually like it. I was more into basketball growing up, and wanted to play in college, but when I got the opportunity to play Division 1 at one of the top colleges for lacrosse, and compete for a National Championship, I jumped in and chose lacrosse. I haven’t regretted it for a second since.”
LS: “Congrats on the qualification for the World Championship! What are your pregame routines like? Have your methods of preparation changed since high school, and college? Or do you keep familiar routines, especially in preparation for such a big event such as this one?”
SS: “I try to keep the same routine. think it changes a little just based on like the team you're on, like in college, we would have pregame meal three hours for the game and then be in a locker room for two hours, which was a lot of time, versus some of these U.S. games, we'd be doing like a mini practice before the game... I like to focus more on how I'm training overall versus just that, like couple hours before the game, and I think that's been pretty consistent through high school, through college, you know, strength training, conditioning, all that stuff gives me the confidence to know I’m ready for the game regardless of what I am doing an hour or two before.”
LS: “What was your experience playing for Walpole High School, did you grow up in town?” What is your favorite part about having grown up in Walpole?
SS: “I grew up in Walpole. I loved it! I had a great experience playing at Walpole High. I was able to play field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse, all were very competitive, I was lucky to have had awesome coaches, and I think having that well-rounded ability to play all those sports really helped me throughout the years, you know, being a multi-sport athlete really comes into play, especially at the college level, when you're able to, you know, see these different sports helped to improve my lacrosse ability. Being able to grow up with those sports was awesome, and I still love them all! One of my favorite things about growing up here is that while size wise it's not a small town, it still has that like community feel of you know, where people you don’t even know go out to support you.”
LS: “Congratulations on your new business and getting that started! Tell me more about your interest in developing the young athletes within the sport, what is your philosophy behind training and growth?”
SS: “Thank you! I think one of the great things about lacrosse is that it's probably one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. I think my philosophy is just being able to do my part in that locally, and obviously on the national scale too, but with my business being right down the road in Norwood, being able to help these local athletes, gives them not only guidance about X’s and O’s, but also just someone to look up to, and, be able to root for within this sport. I think that was something that I had growing up kind of rooting for the locals and emulating them and is ultimately my overall goal for my own work.”
“In my training lessons, the first thing is to instill the love for the game, I think, these days, there are so many camps and clinics and trainings that lead kids to burn out quickly. I want to make sure I am still keeping it light and fun, cause you're only going to play well if you like what you're doing so that's kind of my first priority. Fundamentals and getting that right are obviously a large part of it, but then also being able to give kids guidance on whatever specific aspect of the game: fueling, stretching, pregame routine, how to deal with nerves, any of that stuff, I just try to be an open book and help kids with whatever it might be that they need help.”
LS: “Where do you see the future of Women’s Lacrosse heading, and what do you hope your contributions will bring to the sport?”
SS: “I only think this sport is going to keep growing. Obviously with the WLL, we just had our All-Star game this summer, I think that the league hopefully will be up and running by next summer, and I think that's going to really just allow the sport to take off. You already see the numbers in college viewership growing every single year.”
“I hope I can play a small part in that, like I said, by just being a role model to younger kids, and inspiring them to want to get into the sport and inspiring them to want to help others with it as well.”
LS: “What advice would you give to aspiring All-Americans, and those looking to compete at the high school/collegiate level?”
SS: “I would just say, like I mentioned earlier, continue to have fun with it. As you get older the pressure can mount, and it can become more serious, you're trying to get into a college, you're trying to win at a high level, BUT ensure that you maintain a love for the game and still have fun with it. That is what’s going to bring out the best in you as a player and also a teammate, so just be able to keep that love for the game. Keeping everything in perspective is extremely important.”
