His lacrosse career has taken him from coast to coast, but this Maple Ridge athlete is always glad to come back home. Lacrosse League (NLL) defenceman Travis Gillespie is a Ridge man through and through. After posting one of the league-leading ground ball stats in his rookie season with the Columbus Landsharks, Gillespie came right back home to become a firefighter.
"It's definitely a great place to be from," the Maple Ridge Secondary School graduate says. "Once you've traveled, you really appreciate what this community has to offer." One of the things he gets a chuckle out of is the reaction of other athletes in the locker room when they hear where his hometown is. "They say they've never heard of it, until I mention Larry Walker, Cam Neely and Greg Moore."
In fact, Gillespie's classmates at MRSS were something of a sports phenomenon. When he played with the Ramblers rugby team in '96 and '97, one of his teammates was CFL player Scott Robinson. He also noted that 2003 Canadian national team goaltender Karina LeBlanc was also in his classes at MRSS. "It was really interesting, a lot of people got big opportunities," he recalls. This outstanding lacrosse player is definitely not lacking in shining moments. Selected Rookie of the Week for the NLL in March 2003, Gillespie was at the top of senior box lacrosse in 2001, with the Coquitlam Adanacs WLA squad that hoisted the Mann Cup. In New York on a lacrosse scholarship, Gillespie was an "All-American" three times—2000 Honourable Mention, 2001 second team All-American and in 2002 First Team and Academic All-American.
"Even if we didn't get paid we'd still be playing. It's an addiction, it's really hard to explain with lacrosse." He says. Even though he was in love with lacrosse from an early age, it took Gillespie some time to narrow down his sports growing up. During elementary in Yennadon and Alouette, he spent a lot of time playing hockey in the Ridge meadows system, also playing with the Golden Ears United Soccer Club, and spread the sports around even more in high school—"anything I could try really, but mostly hockey and lacrosse." Gillespie played field lacrosse for four years with the Maple Ridge Mountaineers in high school, and hit the pitch with the rugby team and also wrestled for the Ramblers in high school.