Tate Starr is an attack/midfielder from the ADVNC San Francisco & NDP 2027 teams committed to play at the University of Virginia.
Tate is one of the top rated players in the 2027 High School graduating class.
Tate grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tate’s dad, Jeff Star is from Canada, and got Tate playing hockey at an early age. “My dad had no prior knowledge of lacrosse, despite lacrosse being very popular in many parts of Canada,” Tate said. “So I just kind of grew up early on at the ice rink. I could skate before I could walk.”
“I was devoted to having a hockey playing son, and Tate is my oldest child,” Jeff Starr said. “But the Bay Area traffic getting to the hockey rink finally broke me! So when Tate was 9 years old I told him it was time for him to pick another sport. He tried a lacrosse after school program and loved it. He then played for a local rec league. When he was 10 years old, he joined ADVNC, and the rest is history.”
But wait, there is plenty more to Tate’s story. How did he transfer his hockey skills over to the lacrosse field so quickly? “I found lacrosse to be very similar to hockey in terms of the way my body moved, and the rotation of my body. So the hockey skills just flowed into lacrosse really easily for me. And fortunately, I got into lacrosse right when the sport was really growing in Northern California.”
Tate, in his very first game with ADVNC.
“I didn’t know anything about lacrosse,” Tate’s mom, Vanessa Starr said. “I grew up in the Bay Area and really never saw it. I went to college at Cornell, and knew about it a little there, but when Tate started playing, that was really my first exposure to the sport. And it’s been awesome to watch him play over the years.”
“I really liked the speed of lacrosse,” Tate said. “I’m a very fast going person. Everything for me has to move fast. I don’t really like just sitting there and letting things come to me. I like going at them. So lacrosse gave me the opportunity to just play free and be aggressive. I’m fortunate to have been able to just throw everything I have into this sport that I have loved from the first time I tried it.”
Upon joining ADVNC, Tate was surrounded by super talented and driven players on both his ADVNC San Francisco team and his NDP team. Being around those players helped shape him.
Tate with Chris Rotelli after winning Sandstorm.
“Getting involved with ADVNC at a young age is the thing I’m most grateful for as anything that could’ve happened to me,” Tate said. “Being around those guys created a very special bond for me at a young age. I’m still best friends with all those guys. Having the opportunity to play with your best friends really created a feeling of comfort inside me. That comfort created confidence to just be myself. On top of that, it took a lot of extra work on the side, and it still does.”
“The environment that the ADVNC team created is unmatched,” said Jeff Starr. “From every dimension, it was the best. You think about the players on that team, the original group now has close to twenty DI commits. And then there are a bunch of other guys all going to great DIII schools as well. Every kid was driven and they pushed each other. And they had great coaches. Perhaps the best part for Vanessa and I was the group of families that we were involved with from the ADVNC team. They are still our best friends today.”
The NDP 2027 team became one of the top club teams in the country. They have won countless tournaments, from coast to coast. But for Tate, one memory sticks out above them all.
“Back in the summer of 2021, I was in 5th grade, and we won Naptown,” Tate recalled. “I remember it being an incredibly hot day in Maryland. My dad woke me up and grabbed me in the morning with a bottle of electrolytes and just said, ‘Drink this!’ I knew that day would be something special because I was already in this high gear at 5am!”
Tate (bottom left) and his NDP 2027 teammates after winning Naptown in 2021.
“The team had to play four games that day to win Naptown,” Jeff Starr said. “It was 105 degrees. Just managing the kids as parents was a lot. Forcing them to sit in the car in the AC between games was no easy take in itself! And at one point, Heather Ruegg (mom of ADVNC 2027 Chase Ruegg) really took the lead on the hydration and cooling. She stood on the sideline draping cold towels over the boys and making sure they were drinking enough water. She was really the MVP! So then they became the first team from the West Coast to ever win Naptown, and as the boys were celebrating all the parents were looking at each other like, did this really happen?! It’s a memory I will never forget.”
“That’s just what ADVNC does,” Tate said. “You’re not going to find a better club anywhere no matter how far you travel or look. We always had great coaches. Having BJ Grill as my coach for so many years really laid the foundation for me. He pushed me beyond my limits. I used to get frustrated with him sometimes, but looking back on it, that was the best thing he could have ever done for me. And he continues to support me to this day, which is amazing. And then you have Chris Rotelli (ADVNC Founder & CEO). He’s one of the great figures in the history of lacrosse. So having those two experts at their craft was amazing. Coach Will Casertano (ADVNC NDP Coach and Co-Director of College Recruiting) has also helped me a lot. They all pushed me to extents that I didn’t know I was able to go to. So the whole program has a formula that you’re not going to find anywhere else. Playing for ADVNC is something that I am super grateful for.”
When Tate was a sophomore in high school, he decided to leave California and go to boarding school at Lawrenceville, in New Jersey.
“Tate is the definition of a ‘lax rat,’” Jeff Starr said. “Tate wanted to play lacrosse 24/7. So going to the east coast allowed him to do that. He started at Lawrenceville, and then for his junior year, he went down to Florida at the IMG Academy. There, they can play year round. They pick up the sticks the very first day of school and never put them down. So being in that environment has helped Tate a lot.”
“Deciding to go to Lawrenceville and then IMG is the part of me that’s always seeking more,” Tate said. “That can lead to both good and bad things for me. I thought it would make me a better player to always have lacrosse installed in my brain. And now that I left California two years ago, it has definitely been a character development builder too. I’m grateful for it all.”
At Lawrenceville, Tate suffered the first major injury of his life. Playing in February, at the start of his sophomore season, Tate suffered a leg injury that forced him to miss his entire high school season, and he was also unable to play at all last summer, his college recruiting summer.
Tate is standout player at the IMG Academy.
“My injury is one of the only times I’ve really had to face adversity,” said Tate. “I was practicing and I felt a little tug or pull in my left leg. It kind of felt like someone stabbed me. It was just frustrating at first, but then the doctors did a lot of tests, and found it was much more serious than I first thought. My groin and back were injured too. So not being able to play for nine months was really hard. And being away from home at boarding school made it harder. Then watching all my ADVNC teammates playing through social media all summer was frustrating. But I leaned on Coach BJ a lot. I’d call him and he’d tell me it was going to be OK, and I could only control what I could control. It eventually all helped me build my character and made me stronger physically and mentally.”
Despite not playing for ADVNC all summer, Tate was still a highly sought after player when the college recruiting window opened up. He had a lot of schools that he was interested in that showed mutual interest to him. But ultimately, the University of Virginia felt like home.
“Having Coach Rotelli helping me so much over the years, and knowing what a legend he was at UVA (Rotelli won the National Championship and Tewaaraton Award with UVA in 2003), and also looking up to and being coached by Cole Kastner and Patrick McIntosh (both from Northern California and both played at UVA), I always held UVA in super high regard. When UVA offered me a chance to play for them I thought it was an opportunity that I could not pass up. And being around so many great players and great guys from UVA my whole life, I just realized that UVA had already played a big role in my life.”
“He committed to UVA on a visit to the school at 5pm on a Saturday,” Jeff Starr recalled. “Tate and I went to the top of Klockner Stadium. Just the two of us were there. We talked for two hours about his journey. I will admit, I got a little emotional. Tate called Coach Casertano to let him and ADVNC know he was going to UVA. And we just sat there at the stadium, just soaking it all in. It was amazing.”
Tate on his official visit to UVA.
“When they called me to let me know, I was thrilled,” Vanessa said. “I was just so happy after everything that has happened over the past few years. It’s like Tate said, UVA has been the common thread through all his trainings with Coach Rotelli and all those other guys. We are just so happy and grateful he has this opportunity to play at UVA.”
Tate also said that Mikie Schlosser (Former ADVNC player and current coach) made a huge impact on him at a young age. “Mikie was instrumental in helping me develop not only as a player, but even beyond the game as a person. He’s the model of an ideal person that you want to be like.”
With this part of the journey now behind them, the Starr’s have the following advice for parents navigating the youth lacrosse landscape. “Look to your kids' coaches for guidance,” Vanessa Starr said. “I tell other parents that. Listen to the coaches and trust them. For us, having Coach Rotelli help guide us through all of this has been great.”
“I would tell other parents that it will all work out,” said Jeff Starr. “Seeing this journey since Tate was 10 years old, along with his friends, it has worked out for almost every single one of them. There will be ups and downs but it will all work out in the end.”
Tate has this advice for young players who aspire to follow in his footsteps. “Develop a love for the game. That’s the biggest thing. Waking up and thinking about lacrosse and going to sleep and thinking about lacrosse. All in the line of having fun with it. That’s what it’s all about.”