Becoming a Tewaaraton winner and a gold medalist isn’t easy. Being the first-ever three-time Tewaaraton winner and winning two gold medals in just one summer seems near impossible.

But midfielder Taylor Cummings did just that with Maryland and Team USA.

How?

Being relentless.

Three of her trainers from elementary school to the U.S. women’s national team – youth trainer Dave Kellner from Axis Sport Performance, Maryland trainer Mike Szemborski and Team USA trainer Jay Dyer – all spoke of her persistence to succeed. Her work ethic and humble approach to training gave her the competitive edge. 

“That’s just Taylor,” Szemborski said. “She wants to be the best and she’ll do whatever it takes to get there. I could never tire her out. … She’s the first to do a lot of things and I think a big part of that is her relentless training.”

At each stage of her training, Cummings learned how to move her body efficiently.

At 9 years old, Cummings focused on the basic mechanics of running, understanding the proper form and coordination of her arms and legs.

At age 12, she slowly incorporated Olympic lifts into her workout routine under Kellner’s supervision – again just form and technique-based.

“We’re not trying to make her into a body builder,” Kellner said. “We could care less how much she lifted.”

Cummings then progressed to plyometric workouts in conjunction with weight lifting, increasing the level of intensity throughout high school as a three-sport athlete in soccer, basketball and lacrosse.

But it wasn’t about reinventing the wheel, according to Kellner. Everything was designed with injury prevention in mind, focusing on becoming an all-around athlete with all muscles firing effectively.

When she arrived at Maryland, Cummings entered a structured student-athlete environment, with limited time for strength and conditioning per NCAA rules while balancing lacrosse and academics.

Team workouts consisted of circuit training and explosive movements with an emphasis on developing hip and leg power through a variety of squats, for example.

“The basis of being a really successful lacrosse player is having powerful hips and powerful legs,” Szemborski said.

According to Szemborski, Cummings’ best training cycle was following her freshman season because she finally understood how to utilize that power correctly – “you can’t be full speed ahead at all times.”

Adding in specialized workouts to dominate the draw, focusing on forearm, wrist and finger strengthening with plates or barbells, as well as resisted jumping work through weight box jumps, she won her first Tewaaraton Award her sophomore season.

Two Tewaaraton trophies later, she entered the professional and U.S. ranks as one of the greatest all-time lacrosse players. Cummings continued training with Szemborski in preparation for the FIL World Cup and IWGA World Games, sometimes at 6 a.m. in the middle of winter, and while she wasn’t a perfectionist, she never gave up.

“I could never show that I was tired,” Szemborski recalled Cummings telling him.

“As I’ve grown older,” Cummings said, “I’ve definitely become more of a workout junkie and gym rat. I usually get antsy throughout the day if I haven’t gotten a sweat on in the morning.”

As Dyer trained Team USA at each practice, stressing core strength, vertical power for draw specialists and interval training for the fast-paced U.S. system, he immediately saw similar traits in Cummings – her self-motivation and discipline.

“Going back to our training weekend at Yale, we were scheduled to depart Sunday morning,” Dyer said. “Bright and early, I ran into Taylor leaving the hotel fitness center after a workout. Keep in mind the team had practiced and scrimmaged Canada the previous day. 

This would qualify Taylor for gym rat status.”