Senior defender Amelia Hilton assists her team to score for CHS on April 8 against George C. Marshall High School helping them win 23-4, and the crowd breaks out into applause. On the sideline, girls varsity lacrosse head coach Rebecca Wills cheers, along with a new face on staff.
Wills has been leading the team for eight years, three years as an assistant and five as head coach. Last season, she was awarded the honor of being the Concorde District’s Coach of the Year. This is sophomore Manya Fowles first season playing with the varsity team and she says that Wills supports a nurturing, yet hard-working, environment.
“She allows us to push ourselves as well as also making sure we stay healthy and dedicated to school work, too,” Fowle said. “She makes sure our practices are productive and successful to correlate to our game play.”
This year, however, there’s a new assistant coach helping mentor the team. Coach Isabelle Camara Canchez is a current student at George Mason University and a professional lacrosse player for the Peru Lacrosse Associations national team.
“We’re closer [in] age and she can relate to us more,” senior midfielder Amelia Hilton said. “She knows a newer style of play, so it’s been cool to learn about it.”
After attending high school at James W. Robinson Secondary School, Camara Canchez joined the Peru Lacrosse Association where she is currently playing. In 2025, she was granted a spot on the team’s national roster in the Pan-American Lacrosse Championship. According to their Instagram, @perulacrosse, the team has also received Olympic recognition by the Peruvian Olympic Committee allowing them to compete in the qualifying tournaments necessary to reach the Los Angeles 2028 games.
“It shows that she has a skill to back her voice,” Wills said. ”I also think she brings the knowledge of what that next level looks like for both colleges and if they want to go beyond that.”
Balance is Better states that athletes can benefit by working with multiple coaches, which brings in multiple perspectives and allows the athlete to learn in different ways. According to Hilton, Coach Wills and Camara Canchez work well together.
“She is new to coaching, so I imagine that Wills helps her on the coaching end while she gives Wills newer tips to do on the actual field itself when we play,” Hilton said.
According to Sports Psychology Today, feedback is a crucial component to the success of one’s team. New ways of receiving and sharing feedback, both coaches to players as well as players to coaches, can help the team improve. Wills and Camara Canchez implemented new ways of giving and taking criticism to improve the team.
“It allows me to get inside their head a little bit without having to have the one-on-one conversation” Wills said, “Every Monday we talk about anything that needs to be addressed as a whole collective group and it’s anonymous so that’s better for them. They don’t feel like I’m targeting someone or that they’re the only one that feels that way.”
According to MaxPreps, last season the team overall won 11 of the 18 games played and ranked fourth in the Concord district. This season, as of April 14, they have a record of 2-3 and play their next game away at South Lakes High School on May 4 at 7:30.
