By Chris Goldberg
TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 7/23/14

Kerrigan Miller said competing at The Ride by Nike for the past three days was “Like nothing I have ever seen before.”

“They literally treat you like royalty,” said the Bayport-Blue Point (N.Y.) 2016 midfielder, who was named the girls’ MVP at the event held at Nike’s Beaverton headquarters. “They thought of everything possible an athlete would want.”

The event featured 100 of the top hand-picked girls and boys in the Class of 2016. Players received top coaching, were trained in the SPARQ system, competed in an All-Star Game Tuesday (see story on final awards) and took home about as much posh gear as their home state would allow.

“I had a $200 budget; I wanted to take everything,” said Miller. “It was such unbelievable gear.”

The gear was great; so was the competition, Miller said.

“There were girls from so many different states and you got to play against different styles of play,” she said. “There would be something girls from Colorado did that girls from Long Island wouldn’t do or things we’d do differently so you were always picking up everyone’s style and putting it into your play.”

Miller – committed to USC – also enjoyed the SPARQ training, which featured strength and conditioning drills and testing in the shuttle run, a 20-yard dash, vertical leap and a power medicine ball throw. Nike developed the SPARQ to show how quick athletes are for their size and speed, and it also measures explosiveness, power and agility.

“The SPARQ training was something I have never seen before,” she said. “The colleges use it all the time and I am asking my high school coach to make us more athletic.

“Lacrosse-wise, our coaches taught us a lot of defensive skills I never even thought of doing. We were working on more defense. Offensively, everyone was really talented but this will force me to pick up my game and work more of stick skills.”

Miller said she worked on her defense in the All-Star Game Tuesday.

“I play midfield but we had three lines so it was tough getting into a rhythm so i told my coach to put me on defense for a couple runs and I played in the back of the defense,” she said. “The first play I took a charge and that set my tone for the rest of the game.

“I got pumped up and also took a couple runs at midfield. One time we had me and Brindi Griffin (of national champion McDonogh School) and Katie Hoeg (Mattituck, NY), my best friend, and with her all the time we keep working off each other.”