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Ryan Conrad had captured the attention of the youth lacrosse community by the time he was 6 years old. The future Virginia All-American hit his growth spurt much earlier than his peers. Opposing defenders couldn’t stop him from imposing his will.
Then Koby Smith delivered the hit heard ’round Baltimore County. Standing near midfield at Seminary Park, he saw a ground ball scrum developing 20 yards from the goal line and Conrad was in the middle of it.
“I just see [Koby] from the corner of my eye,” Conrad said. “I’m off-balance and so vulnerable and I know I’m about to get blown up.”
As cars whizzed by on nearby Interstate I-83, Smith transferred his full horsepower into the older and bigger Conrad, sending him straight to the grass below. No one had ever seen Conrad bodied like that.
“The ref threw a flag and I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’” said Wheeler, who was coaching. “He said, ‘I have to call something. I’ve never seen someone get hit like that.’”
No one will forget the day Koby Smith decked Ryan Conrad. Even now playing in the Premier Lacrosse League, Conrad still gets teased about the hit.
When he looks back on the moment, Smith can still laugh, but he also sees it as symptomatic of a child who had trouble handling his emotions on the field. Wheeler remembered a handful of instances of Smith crying as he sprinted up and down the field.
“He would come off the sidelines after wrecking somebody,” Wheeler said. “He wasn’t hurt, but he would come over crying. I’m like, ‘Dude, are you OK?’ He said he was fine. ‘Why are you crying?’”
Smith had to harness his emotions to succeed in lacrosse, and sports in general. The physical abilities were there — as a speedy, stocky pre-teen whose father starred in basketball and football — and coaches could see his potential.
After his father died, Smith had trouble hiding his anger and sadness. Those emotions manifested themselves in hard checks and a few penalties. However, as time passed, the rawness started to dissipate, and an extremely focused high schooler emerged.
By his freshman year of high school at Loyola Blakefield, Smith was still an unfinished product. He tried out for the junior varsity team in the spring of 2014, but was cut and sent to the freshman-sophomore squad. After dominating at that level, Smith spent the ensuing summer questioning his future in the game.
Would he play in college? Or was football a better option?
Smith joined FCA and flourished. He continued to grow and become more physically imposing, but he also developed stick skills and a lacrosse IQ superior to most of his classmates.
When it came time to try out for Loyola Blakefield’s varsity team in 2015, at the encouragement of Max Wheeler, Smith made sure he was ready. He wowed the coaching staff and emerged as a starter on defense his sophomore year, bypassing junior varsity entirely.
In three seasons at Loyola Blakefield, Smith was pitted against stars like Alex Roesner in practice and Spencer from Boys’ Latin in the competitive MIAA-A conference. He played close defense, but also helped the Dons with his speed in transition. Sometimes he wielded a short stick to stay on the field and play offense.
“The confidence came his sophomore year when he made varsity and then he really took off,” Max Wheeler said. “He was shooting from farther out. His fakes were getting better. His stickwork was off the charts.”
The short but strong “mini-Buddha” of a child that could not control his emotions found his stride in the sport.
“It was almost like in ‘Forrest Gump’ where the kid starts running and the things come off his legs and he becomes an all-world sprinter,” Steve Wheeler said. “He just became an unbelievable lacrosse player.”
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Smith still has his ups and downs emotionally. He’s still prone to occasional outbursts on the field. This past fall, he was kicked out of practice for angrily slashing a teammate. He sat and watched the rest of the session from the hill behind the field. After practice ended, he sat down on a metal bench with Nadelen and his assistants to talk about different strategies to cope with his emotions.
“It was an emotional reaction,” Nadelen said. “As a captain, you’re expected to hold yourself to a higher standard because you’re the one that’s leading the team at all times. We just got at the root of what transpired on the field and it bled into how he reacted.”
That was the day Smith fully embraced his role as team captain.
“From that point on, I’ve been pretty good with handling my emotions and staying positive on the field,” he said.
“He’s become the definition of a leader,” Stout said. “He used to be the person you pulled aside in practice. Now, he’s the one pulling guys aside to help them.”
Although Smith hopes to play in the PLL, he has his sights on coaching. He also has a year of college lacrosse eligibility left if he wants it.
Smith has enjoyed mentoring his brother, Cameron, who’s now a junior at Loyola Blakefield looking at a future in college basketball. He felt responsible for leading his brother through the struggles of adolescence — a role that would have been filled by their father.
While Smith was coping with his father’s death, he had more than a few mentors to which he could look — his uncle and cousin, then-Navy assistant Ryan Wellner and later Nadelen. He wants to guide others the way they did him.
“This sport has given me so much that I want to give back to it,” Smith said. “It’s always been an interest of mine, just seeing the positivity in little kids. It just brightens my day.”
“He’ll be an unreal player and reach the next level,” Steve Wheeler said. “He’ll be an even better coach if he chooses. He has a certain way of talking to kids and getting them to open up. To be able to recognize that and see how you can motivate people is a really good trait.”
Smith has his goals set on being the same man as his father — a giving, caring family man whose humility left an impression on everyone he encountered. At 21, the son is well on his way to becoming what his father wanted him to be, and much more.