Turtle and lacrosse: Introducing the young Steve Pappas
It didn't take long for Steve Pappas to realize the difference between coaching and playing lacrosse.
The soft-spoken and polite 24-year-old Worcester Prep grad and Stephen Decatur defensive assistant had his passion for lacrosse boil over two games into last season.
The Seahawks had just lost 10-9 to eventual 3A/2A state champion Kent Island.
Pappas, who brought a vibrant smile and energy to the staff in his first year, was anything but happy when he saw players cheering at their one-goal loss.
Winners don't cheer after they lose a game, Pappas thought.
And he ripped into the team.
"That's not a win," Pappas said to them. " 'You still lost by one goal. You should have beat that team.'
"That was the thing — they were all cheering and happy and I remember going into the locker room and screaming at them."
The Seahawks heard Pappas loud and clear, not allowing 10 goals in a game again until Kent Island in the Bayside Championship game.
Filling a void
Pappas' lacrosse career was over.
The close defender and long pole midfielder graduated from Washington College in 2014 with a degree in business management, heading back to Ocean City and priming himself to take a larger role in one of his father's restaurants, the original Greene Turtle, with his siblings.
But sitting on the couch, watching Washington College games online and reading text from players who were running through the snow to prepare for the season, made Pappas realize how much he missed the game.
"As much as I hated it in college, I was like, 'Aw man, I wish I was back doing it again,' " he said.
Then he got the phone call from Stephen Decatur head coach Scott Lathroum, who had played lacrosse with his father, Steve Pappas, during their days at Salisbury University.
And just like that, the younger Pappas was back in the fold of the lacrosse world.
"The kids love him," Lathroum said. "He's young, and they can relate to him and he can relate to them."
Pappas' Washington College coach Jeff Shirk said he followed his former player this season and was glad to see him succeed.
Shirk said not everyone can relate to players like Pappas can.
"I think to he's got that infectious personality where he was a very good defender and his teammates rallied around him," Shirk said. "I can see that carrying over to the coaching realm."
A friend or coach
It was a surreal experience, too.
Pappas was coaching guys not much younger than himself.
The players viewed him as a friend and coach, and Pappas was the staffer jumping up and down on the sidelines whenever there was a big play this season.
"Being a younger coach, I really think I could really get into those kids' minds a little bit easier," Pappas said. "Being my first year, it was kind of easier to simulate with them. I've known most of their brothers. I've played with them, know their families."
It was strange but comforting during games, looking over his shoulder and seeing family and friends, he said. It felt just like he was coaching a friend, which took some of the pressure off.
But it still wasn't the same as being a player. It was a much different approach.
"You see the field differently," Pappas said. "You look at the big picture instead of just myself. As a defensive player, I only had to worry about me, the guy next to me on both sides. I didn't have to worry about the offense or motivating the whole team. As a coach, I have to make sure every kid's head is where it's supposed to be."
Aside from bringing his youthful exuberance to the staff, Pappas implemented a new defense for Decatur with Lathroum.
It was very similar to the defense at Washington, and they had to revamp everything: slide packages, where they slid from, new subs and new positions.
"These guys picked up as fast as they could," Pappas said. "It took me four years to learn this defense playing in college, and these guys learned it in one season."
But that's just a credit to how Pappas taught them, Shirk said.
"Players love to be around him," he said. "He just brings that smile to practice every day."
Plenty of mentors
Pappas almost didn't play lacrosse his first season.
After transferring to Washington, Shirk, a first-year coach at the time, gave Pappas one week to try out for the team.
"Watching him for that week, it was pretty easy to see that he had some ability and was going to be able to help us," Shirk said.
That opportunity opened a relationship between Shirk and Pappas that means a lot to the Ocean City native.
"He really made me want to be a better person and coach after — kind of like him and my father," Pappas said. "(I've had) so many role models — my dad, Coach Cottle (Dave Cottle, coach of the Chesapeake Bayhawks), just so many great guys."
His father, of course, was the one that got him and his younger brother, Jason, involved in lacrosse at a young age, playing at Beach Lax, the Greene Turtle club team and at Worcester Prep.
Pappas really appreciated the time he spent traveling to places like Gettysburg and University of Notre Dame for tournaments.
He's taken that appreciation into his adult life, thankful for all of his opportunities, even though nothing was handed to him.
He always had to work for it, and it showed on the field and in the business world.
"That makes me more proud than anything," Steve Pappas said. "All my kids, all three of them, Steven being the oldest, they work their butts off. They don't want any special treatment, and they don't get any special treatment."
As his responsibilities grow at the Greene Turtle, the younger Pappas will have less time for lacrosse.
It's not something he's ready to call quits on yet, having loved last season so much.
For now, Pappas is going to hold onto it as long as he can, he said.
Then again, lacrosse is never too far away from the Turtle.
"When I was a kid, as soon as I could walk, my dad put a stick in my hand — me and my brother both," Pappas said. "We grew up around it — loved it. The Turtle is basically a lacrosse bar. It's a sports bar, but it's all about lacrosse."
rmarshall@dmg.gannett.com
On Twitter/Instagram: @DTimes_Marshall