Hall of Fame inductee: Jennifer Dunbar

Five members will be inducted into the Michigan Lacrosse Hall of Fame at a ceremony held Oct. 26. GLS will publish their bios, courtesy of U.S. Lacrosse, over the next five days.

Jennifer Dunbar

Jen picked up lacrosse in college at Ohio Wesleyan University during her Sophomore year after wanting to transfer somewhere to play softball. Her basketball and soccer coach told her they would find something for her to play in the spring season. They choose lacrosse, and from the moment she first stepped on the field she was hooked.

After graduation she was working in a gym in Grosse Pointe. It was there that she met US Lacrosse Hall of Fame member Debbe Pavle who convinced her to give coaching a try. In her first year of coaching, Jen had 31 players on the Grosse Pointe South High School (South) junior varsity team. Needless to say Jen would tell you that she has learned a lot about coaching and teaching since then. Whether learning a new attack, defense, drill, skill or just how to motivate and teach she finds herself growing and getting better every year. This was recently evidenced by her decision to pull her goalie late in the 2012 State Championship game to provide an extra field player. This tactic completely changed the dynamics of the game and allowed her team the opportunity to win.

After 4 years at South she moved to the already very strong Birmingham Women’s Lacrosse program. Jen has been with this program for the past 11 years. During this time Jen started the Detroit Lacrosse Club (DLC). DLC was started to try and get girls in Michigan more exposure to playing higher level lacrosse. Additionally, during these eleven years, Jen coached both the Birmingham junior varsity and varsity teams for for 4 years, coached the University of Michigan Women’s Club Varsity lacrosse team for 4 years, coached the Great Lakes National Tournament Team 2 times and currently have started coaching the Birmingham Girls Lacrosse Middle School teams. Like many present and past US Lacrosse-Michigan Hall of Fame inductees, Jen is very busy in the spring lacrosse season.

Jen has coached a number of other sports, including, but not limited to, tennis, basketball and soccer, as well as training numerous middle school through college athletes, Jen feels blessed to have been given the opportunity to be a small part of the lives of so many kids simply through participation in athletics.

The above described time commitments have been substantial, but Jen has been able to manage them with the help from a large and varied support group. Jen is thankful to all of these individuals and groups. These supporters include, the parent boosters who have organized the programs and fundraising so she can focus on coaching; the other coaches in the league who have been there to help me, support me and challenge me to get better; my friends who I have been fortunate to coach along-side, for without these individuals and groups Jen would not be in the position she is today. Furthermore, Jen would like to thank the kids who have actually bought into the system, worked above and beyond, trusted Jen’s leadership and allowed Jen to be a part of their lacrosse and life experiences. To all of those people, Jen says thank you.

Anyone involved in girls’ lacrosse in Michigan will tell you that Jen Dunbar is special, as a coach, mentor, ally and even more important as a person. She is one of a kind.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the bio of Michael Mehall.