Owen was a baseball player as a young kid. “I got really bored with baseball,” Owen said. “It wasn’t fast paced enough. So I did a co-ed lacrosse clinic with Coach Colin Knightly (head coach at Campolindo High School, formerly head coach at Saint Mary’s College). I was really attracted to the speed and creativity of the game. It was something different and that was cool. I liked that clinic, and I wanted more.”
Owen wanted to put on the pads and see what playing in a real lacrosse game was like. He started playing for his local reg league team, the Lamorinda Lightning in 4th grade. Then he started playing travel lacrosse for Booth. “I saw kids that were way better than me,” said Owen. “The way they passed and caught the ball. That motivated me to get better. I started practicing on my own away from my team’s practices. Shooting and rebounding became an outlet for me. It became therapeutic.”
“That was the key turning point for him,” said Owen’s mom, Ali Schwartz. “He was always excited for his team’s practices. But then I saw him get in a routine with his rebounder and goal. He started going out to practice on his own before school and then after school, and would want me to come out and watch. That’s when I realized he was really passionate about lacrosse.”
In 7th grade, Owen wanted to take his game to the next level. “A lot of our friends started playing for ADVNC East Bay,” Schwartz said. “Owen was asked to be a guest player for ADVNC at a tourney in Vegas. And he’s been with ADVNC ever since.”
Those first few years didn’t result in a lot of wins for Owen’s East Bay squad. “It was a super strong bonding point,” said Owen. “Me and my teammates became super close with the common ground of losing. But it made us strong as a team and determined to get better.”
“It was a really fun group of kids and families,” Schwartz remembers. “There were some tournaments where we didn’t win a single game though. That made us all stronger. The turning point was when we entered the team in a lower division one tournament just so they could get their confidence back. It worked.”
“We came back the next summer and went 3-0 that first day at the Western Shootout,” recalls Owen. “We were the top seed going into the Sunday bracket and that’s when I first saw that we could ball.”
Soon, Owen was one of the top players on his East Bay team and he set his sights on making the first NDP team. “I remember hearing about NDP starting up,” Owen said. “I went to that first Tahoe Training Camp. At that point, I was used to being one of the better players on my team, so the NDP Camp was my first time going against similar or better competition. That really helped my growth as a player. I was super nervous about that whole experience. I knew I needed to get even more serious about lacrosse.”
“NDP was the next step for Owen,” Schwartz said. “We knew that in order for him to keep getting better, he had to get to that next level, and that was NDP. Watching him go through that tryout process was nerve wracking. There were so many good players who wanted to make the team. I was so proud to see him make it and start to get even more serious.”
“Making the NDP team was a big confidence stretch for me,” Owen said. “I was just really so excited to be given the opportunity to play on that team with so many good players and show what I can do and to learn from my teammates around me.”
“His growth from that first year to the fourth and final summer with NDP was impressive,” Schwartz said. “The ADVNC NDP coaches are amazing. We had the best coaches on the West Coast. It’s really an incredible program.”
Estee’s prep lacrosse career culminated in his recently concluded senior season at Acalanes High School where he was named Player of the Year of the Diablo Athletic League and helped his team become the 2023 DAL Champions.
“The increase in his confidence and his play that grew through NDP, led to the senior season he just had,” Schwartz said.
When Estee began his college recruiting process, he wasn’t sure what he wanted in a school or a lacrosse program. “The recruiting process was stressful,” Schwartz said. “Our summers on the East Coast with NDP were so fun, but when the recruiting process starts, it does get stressful on a personal level. Owen didn’t know if he wanted to play DI, DII or DIII lacrosse. He had opportunities to play DI, but he wasn’t sure if that’s what he wanted.”
“I have a lot of passions away from lacrosse,” Owen said. “I love the outdoors. I love skiing, fishing, hiking, camping and hanging out with my friends. So when I was looking at colleges, I wanted to still be able to do all of that.”
“I could tell he had hesitations about playing at the DI level,” said Schwartz. “There were times where I could see the light going out with him when he considered DI programs. But when he realized he could play in DII or DIII and still do all the other things he loves, his light came back on.”
Soon, Estee turned his attention to Westminster College in Salt Lake City.
“He had met Coach Joe Kerwin (Head Coach of Westminster College) at the West Coast Showdown while playing with ADVNC,” said Schwartz. “Kerwin invited him to come out and tour the campus at the end of last summer. So we flew out to Utah, and Owen just loved it.”
“Being on that campus was something so different than what I’m used to in Northern California,” said Owen. “It was breathtaking to see the mountains. It was a huge pull for me.”
“When we got to the airport to fly back to Oakland, he said he wanted to call Coach Kerwin right then and commit to coming,” Schwartz said. “And that’s what he did.”
Owen looks back on his ADVNC career with tons of great memories. He has a special fondness for ADVNC Alum, Director and Coach, Mikie Schlosser, who currently plays in the PLL for the Waterdogs. “Mikie has always been someone I look up to and aspire to be like,” Estee said. “He has so much fun with the sport. I love how carefree and effortless he makes the game look. He always tells me: know what you’re gonna do on the field, but think about it less. That’s always stuck with me. He has helped me rely on my instincts.”
Estee has the following advice for young players who aspire to follow in his own footsteps. “Make lacrosse a daily routine,” said Estee. “It isn’t something you do only when you feel like it. You just have to go do it and put in the work. That will feel so good and it will be super worth it.”
Schwartz looks back on her own journey with her son through ADVNC and has this advice for young parents. “Support your kid, regardless of what they’re passionate about,” she said. “Foster that passion and support it, and let your son grow into it. One of the best experiences I’ve had with my child has been through ADVNC Lacrosse. Getting to be one on one traveling with him to places we’ve never been. Owen and I were both so incredibly lucky to find ADVNC and join the program and be a part of growing lacrosse on the West Coast. It was all because Owen had a passion for this sport. ADVNC gave us the runway to grow his passion and for him to get better. And now I have a group of lifelong friends that I would not have if it wasn’t for ADVNC.”
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