Joel White: One Last Ride

Joel White first wore a medal over his USA jersey when he helped the 2008 U.S. U19 team win the world championship in British Columbia, Canada. He won another gold medal a decade later with the U.S. senior team in 2018 in Israel..

The longtime pro star also won bronze medals in 2015 and 2019 with the U.S. box team and retired from professional lacrosse in 2022.

But he couldn’t resist the chance for one more time to wear red, white and blue, so he pursued a spot on the 2024 U.S. box team and ultimately made the final roster.

He shares his thoughts on why he played again and his experience, as told to Brian Logue.

It starts with Regy Thorpe. He’s a guy I just love playing for with his passion. He’s the one that introduced me to box lacrosse when I was at Syracuse, driving me back and forth to Six Nations.

I’m always honored and appreciative of the opportunity to represent the U.S., but this was a different role than I’ve had in the past coming out of retirement. I was just letting these talented young guys do what they do best and hopefully being a leader and calming presence on the bench. That was my mindset going in, but obviously the fire was still there to do something that the U.S. has never done.

Ultimately, we fell short, but we had a heck of a run and moved USA box lacrosse forward. There’s more to be done.

Beating the Haudenosaunee for the first time was a big step forward, but also how we handled it. You looked around at the guys and it wasn’t a big surprise. That was a turning point.

I went back and watched the last semifinal before traveling to Utica. When we were down in the fourth quarter, there was a little bit of panic. This time, when we went down two goals, there was a mindset from what we learned four years ago. Stay the course. It’s a testament to the coaching staff and the players to be able to overcome that, get over the hump and into the gold medal game.

It never really dawned on me that there would be an opportunity to wear a Team USA jersey. To have that opportunity starting in 2008 (with the U.S. U19 team) and beyond (with the 2018 U.S. senior team and box teams in 2015, 2019 and 2024) is something I never took for granted — whether it was a practice, training event or the real thing. It’s something I’ll never forget, to be a part of multiple groups and have those experiences.

This one was emotional to have my two boys (Macklin and Austin) and wife (Kelsey) there. To have them come down on the floor puts the whole thing in perspective. It’s a great honor to play this game and share it with them. I was at a loss for words. It put a huge smile on my face. It’s something I’ll hang on to for the rest of my life.