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Jace Banks picked up a stick late.
Now hes one of the nations top lacrosse players.
The Hill School graduate from Middletown, Del., has only played lacrosse for six years, but is a natural talent.
Hes preparing to join Notre Dame in the fall.
The Hill School graduate from Middletown, Del.
, has only played lacrosse for six years, but is a natural talent.
Hes preparing to join Notre Dame in the fall.
Jace Banks only started playing lacrosse six years ago, but he quickly emerged into a formidable force on the field.
The 19-year-old from Middletown, Del.
, who recently graduated from the Hill School, is ranked No.
6 in the country and the top player in Pennsylvania in the class of 2026, according toBanks, an attacker and midfielder, finished his senior season with 45 goals and 17 assists.
Now, hes preparing to play at Notre Dame in 2027.While the game came easy, becoming a leader was a different battle.Hes a special kid, said Dave Page, the Hill Schools head boys lacrosse coach.
Hes got a really quiet confidence and charisma about him and it made him a great leader, not just on the team, and in the locker room, but I think around the campus.
Banks transferred to the private boarding school in Pottstown in 2023, after being recruited by Page during Banks freshman year at The Tatnall School in Wilmington.Once he began playing at Hill, Banks commitment to the sport changed.When I started, the on the team had so much influence on my life.
Banks said.I just remember youd wake up in the morning and youd see kids already coming back from the gym or like coming back from hitting the wall or the field.
..
little things like that every day really motivated me and it was a shock of culture almost.
He began to focus on drills that utilized his 6-foot-2 frame, while building his strength and speed, two areas that have become the biggest asset in Banks game.I tell the kids, its called prep school, not get you into college school.
Page said.The preparation piece is a big part of it.
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Theres the athletic, the academic, and then I think the other big piece is the community piece, and that definitely does contribute to closeness and I think thats something we try and lean into, the huddle is a brotherhood every time.
] come through, Banks said.He helped me with what a kid that has a high rank is supposed to look like and what we have to do for the team.
He kind of showed me what I was lacking in.
Many people dont understand what its like to have a name.You have to run a team and you have freshmen looking up to you, and you have to calm down emotions when emotions get too high and you have to run an offense and you have to pick the plays that youre running in the sets that youre running in.
Its just a lot.
Banks played multiple sports at Hill, including junior varsity basketball and running the 4x200 meter boys relay on the track team.This past spring, while also playing lacrosse, he helped set a new school record in the event.We did a lot of practicing.
Banks said.That helped 100%, and it was a weird balance because youre getting stronger but then you were getting more explosive with the track training.
When we first stepped on the field, I remember, I felt amazing.
Hes an NFL athlete, truly.
Page said I dont care how good you are as a high school defender.You havent covered someone whos as explosive as Jace.
...and then the other piece, too, is he is a really intensely competitive kid.
And I think when youre playing next to guys that are wired that way, it sort of ups the standard, and he did a really good job modeling it for the other guys.
Banks is headed to one of college lacrosses premier programs.Notre Dame finished this past season ranked No.
2, after advancing to the NCAA Final Four, where the Fighting Irish fell to Princeton in the final.
Notre Dame won back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024.I think I am ready, said Banks.
I think the mindset and everything that I cultivated at Hill will definitely prepare me for getting to Notre Dame and hopefully playing, and playing good.