As she competed in professional lacrosse and with the U.S. national team under former coach Jenny Levy, Waters remained confident in herself and her teammates. The positivity instilled from her parents at an early age was paying dividends — she just needed to be Caylee Waters, and the rest would sort itself out.
“I asked her all the time, ‘Do you still love playing?’” Cappy Waters said. “‘Just make sure of that.’ You don't have to do something you don’t like to do. She was like, ‘Mom. I really do. I love it. She even said, ‘I wish there was a way I could wake up and truly make it my career.’”
The past calendar year has provided a glimpse at a potential future career as a lacrosse player. Living in Chapel Hill, Waters trained with McCool, Emily Garrity Parros and other U.S. national team members that came from the Tar Heels program. She also prepared for a U.S. tryout process that has reached its third year.
By June, Waters was ready for a future that includes the U.S. women’s senior team, a potential U.S. women’s Sixes team and a new role with Athletes Unlimited. She was one of three players to compete in all three disciplines this summer.
She provided levity during an intense U.S. women’s tryout process, smiling through her helmet while halting shots from the best players in the world. Weeks later, she took up a leadership role during the Sixes evaluation camp, where she was one of the most experienced players on the roster.
Then, Waters and more than 50 other women’s lacrosse players took the spotlight during the five-week Athletes Unlimited season. She and her teammates were excited for the opportunity but unsure what to expect when playing multiple games each weekend.
Through a largely unknown process, Waters leaned on the experiences that shaped her. She wasn’t scared when the likes of Cummings, Sam Apuzzo or Kayla Treanor charged toward the cage. She knew when her teammates needed support, and she’d be the first to voice it.
Most importantly, she knew when it was best to let someone else lead. Waters played through a mentally exhausting Week 1, when she played three straight games in the cage, including a noon game after a 7 p.m. game the night before.
She told her fellow goalie, Amber Hill, after the game that she should have taken herself out. She trusted Hill to do the job, and she needed to understand that when she wasn’t at her best, her teammate was there to step in.
“That’s where I think about what Megan Ward had done,” Waters said. “I was fighting myself at not taking that step and doing that. I had never done that before. After I spoke with Amber, it helped change my mindset to, ‘Hey, these games can be exhausting, but the field players take themselves off when they’re tired.’ It was a recharge. Once I did it once, and Britt Brown came in, it made it so much easier to do it again any time I needed it.”
The prevailing traits that describe Waters at this point in her career are the same that helped her become a professional lacrosse player — positivity, fearlessness and a passion for her teammates.
This summer, Waters’ personality shined brightly, and the game of lacrosse has benefitted. At halftime during a Week 4 game, Waters found McCool on the sideline. Both were wearing blue as part of Team Cummings, and Waters knew her friend needed a boost.
“You’re Marie McCool,” she said, putting her arm around her teammate’s shoulder. “You got this. Keep working hard. You don’t know how happy I am to be wearing this color with you again.”