For many years in Atlanta and across the United States lacrosse (or “lax”) has been the fastest growing competitive sport in North America. It seems like every year a handful of athletes looking for a spring sport to play flock to the storied game’s player base. Not only this but youth programs across the country are stealing more and more players away from sports like baseball, basketball, and football- for Atlanta in particular this would be the Surge organization. Naturally, the surge in popularity for lacrosse has inspired a bit more of an emphasis on the team at North Atlanta High School among essentially every other school in the nation. Since the upswing of interest, the NAHS program has seen a lot of good players, but one of the best, if not the best among them is current senior Brooks Newberry. Who is Newberry, where did he come from, and what led him to such success on the lax field?
A relatively new face in the halls of North Atlanta, Newberry arrived as a junior in the 2022-2023 school year after his departure from neighboring school Lovett. Like most other private schools in the area, Lovett is known for having a consistently good playoff lacrosse team and a general excess of talent. Even among the array of skilled players at the Northside drive private school, Newberry’s exit left them without one of their very best players. However, newly hired head coach Alex Haskins had no complaints. After the divergence of tenured figurehead coach Patrick Cheney and several crucial seniors, Haskins had found the first star player of his new regime. “When he came, we knew we got a dog, and the team is a lot better with him on it. We’re just so lucky to have him here,” said senior midfielder Will Burke.
As soon as the revered midfielder or “middie” arrived on campus it was known he was a force to be reckoned with when it came to lacrosse. As they say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. In his first campaign with the Warriors his junior year he immediately set himself apart from his peers even among a once again talented senior class that included now Georgia Tech middie DJ Louis. The team’s leading scorer over the last two years, Newberry has been outstanding leading the program to back-to-back playoff berths. One of his most representative games of the season, on senior night Newberry scored a very impressive 5 goals. “He’s been a breath of fresh air for this team both offensively and defensively. We leveled up when he joined the squad,” said Senior attacker Chase Hankin.
Though not yet the best team in the state, because of players like Newberry, NAHS Men’s Lacrosse is on the up and up in gaining more consideration from top players.
