Vision Lacrosse Academy was formed by Jason Benoit in 2011. After finding out what his calling was in 2007, he decided it was time to spread the word and wanted to use the great sport of lacrosse to help mentor the youth on and off the field. Below is how Coach Benoit got in to coaching lacrosse.
The “Vision” – Jason Benoit
The year was 2007 and I was married and had 2 children in preschool at the time. I had a full-time job working lots of overtime but I still felt like I was called to do something else too. So I just felt the urge to get down on my knees one night and I prayed to God to use me for His will, and to use my hands and feet and to be a vessel for Him.
A Few weeks later I had a dream that was like no other dream. Usually I don’t remember my dreams and this one I remembered and it was like in HD with very vivid colors and detail. The setting was outside on a partly cloudy day. I could see a man standing up in on a grassy field. The man looked just like me but I could only see him from the back. He was standing there with a bunch of boys down on 1 knee, kneeling around him and he was talking to them. I don’t know what he was saying but I knew he was teaching them about something. I woke up the next morning thinking it was very weird dream because usually I don’t remember them and especially I didn’t know any young boys at the time and I thought to myself that it was a very peculiar dream. My son and daughter were in pre-school at the time and my wife signed up to hand out “spirit wear” for the school. She got a phone call a few weeks after I had my dream. It was the Athletic Director for the school that my children went to and he was calling my wife to talk about spirit wear orders. My wife was in the dining room talking to him and I was reading in my bedroom but I could somewhat hear their conversation. Somehow the conversation turned to discussions about the school needing a coach for lacrosse. My wife told him I had played and said she would talk to me about the position. After my wife hung up the phone with the AD she came into the bedroom and told me about their conversation. She told me about the coaching position available. At the time I was working a lot of hours and we had 2 little children. I asked myself, when would I have time to coach somebody else’s child about lacrosse. Then the light-bulb went off. The dream I had a few weeks ago was about a man and he was teaching some boys about something. Then I realized that man was me and it wasn’t an ordinary dream but a Vision from God. After I processed all of this in my head, I told my wife I would do it. I didn’t know when I would find the time to do it but I trusted God would take care of that. I am reminded of that Vision every time I am coaching and the kids are huddled around me and it reminds me who I am doing this for and why. That Vision has changed my life for the better. It was always my dream to coach lacrosse even back in high school. I never had imagined that that dream would become a Vision and that Vision would come true.
Coach Benoit
Updated:
I have had conversations about our philosophies with a lot of people. I was on a call (2017) with someone who played lacrosse at Duke, PLL, MLL, NLL that whom is one of the best to ever play in my opinion. He was put off by our Faith based ethics/principles and asked "don't you think you will get more registrations and numbers if you don't have that stuff on your website"?
- My answer to him was essentially, God is the only reason I got into this and no we will not waiver on our principles. Without Him we do not exist.