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Cassidy Weeks was ready to quit lacrosse on her first day as a 5-year-old after she got drilled in the head by a ball.
“I was like, ‘I never want to play again,’ ” the 26-year-old Bayport native told The Post.
It was only thanks to her twin sister, Courtney, who wanted to keep playing as a young child, that Cassidy stuck with the game despite the brutal start.
Now she’s a shoo-in for the U.S. Olympic roster in 2028, while Courtney is a high school state champion coach in Sayville — after the midfielders won a national title together at Boston College in 2021.
“We complement each other very well. We don’t overpower each other,” said Courtney, who is older by four minutes.
Cassidy says Courtney takes the cake when it comes to shooting, while Courtney says Cassidy is a workhorse of speed and endurance.
“It’s something different from others, especially since we play the same position,” added Cassidy, a member of Team USA playing pro with the Boston Guard of the Women’s Lacrosse League.
“We were also fighting each other for that same spot — I think that helped push us to that next level.”
Weeks to years
The twins were called up from JV to varsity at Bayport-Blue Point as eighth graders and quickly flourished.
College recruiting became a package deal. They would end up taking calls with coaches together, as the NCAA’s best teams wanted the internally competitive duo wearing the same uniforms.
“We pushed each other to be better pretty much every day,” Courtney said.
“Whether it was doing wall ball, seeing who would drop it first, little things like that.”
The same applied academically as the two neuroscience majors and aspiring physician’s assistants kept one another on course for near straight A’s.
“That’s another thing that we would just always fight each other over,” said Cassidy. “Who got the better test grade? Who’s going to show mom and dad first?”
But year one at BC was a worse nightmare than getting hit in the head as a little kid for Cassidy, as she tore her ACL at her first practice in 2019.
“First days,” she joked.
Head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein gave Cassidy “24 hours to cry” before acknowledging her season-ending injury was nothing more than a speed bump.
“She said, ‘After today, you are not going to cry at all,’ ” recalled Cassidy, who tells that story to motivate distraught rehabbing athletes at her physical therapy day job in Islip.
“You’re going to kick this in the butt. You are going to work as hard as you can to get back on that field.’”
Surely enough, she scored against Syracuse in the 2021 national title game while Courtney notched two goals in the 16-10 victory.
“Being on the field and turning to each other and being like ‘We did it — we did what we dreamed about for years,’ ” Courtney recalled. “I think that will be the No. 1 highlight that I’ll ever have with my sister, ever.”
Courtney decided to hang up the cleats after college — and five surgeries — to pursue coaching in 2024, when she joined Sayville as a varsity assistant.
Just as she helped Boston College to its first championship, Courtney did the same in Suffolk County, taking the Golden Flashes to their initial New York State title in her inaugural season.
“Being able to bring in some more of those technical skills, and being close in age to the girls, to be able to connect with them on a different level,” she said, “was something that really helped us get to that championship level.”
Golden goals
Meanwhile, Cassidy, who has dreamed of podium glory since idolizing Mia Hamm as a little girl, is ready for her own championship-level competition.
Just about all she can think about is two years from now when Olympic lacrosse debuts in the Los Angeles summer games.
“I think that is the greatest opportunity ever,” said Cassidy, who won the World Games with the U.S. last summer.
Team USA beat archrival Canada 16-8 to take home gold — and Cassidy wouldn’t be too shocked by a rematch in the City of Angels.
“We’re more, I think, physical, more team-oriented, and then they’re very technical — they know where each other are on the field,” she said.
“I think seeing them play, and us getting to play them, is also making us better.”
Although there’s lots of road ahead, Cassidy can’t help but be giddy at the chance to be part of “something bigger than ourselves to strive for” or taking home gold on home turf.
“It would be the craziest experience in my life,” she said.
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