lacrosse – Daniel J Mannix

U-15 Chapter – An Opportunity for Area Youth to Showcase Talent

Salt Lake City, Utah resident and lacrosse enthusiast, Daniel J. Mannix coaches high school boys. Daniel J. Mannix was selected as the head coach for the U-15 National Team by the Utah chapter of US Lacrosse.

The boys’ U-15 chapter provides the highest levels of competition and sportsmanship to its players. An extension of the national organization that is mostly volunteer-driven, the Utah Chapter of US Lacrosse promotes and creates services and programs that provide opportunities for Utah residents to play lacrosse. The organization is comprised of youth, high school, and adult leagues for both men and women, and the U-15 is a part of this mission.

The Boys 15U National Tournament is the chance for boys to compete within the state. The competition is comprised of as many as 32 teams, where some of the best players in Utah compete against each other. Outside of playing against some of the best, another benefit to playing on the 15U team is that it is a chance for players to gain tremendous experience playing with others at the state and national levels.

How a School Supported an Injured Student’s Love of Lacrosse

Daniel J. Mannix, an executive with a leading Salt Lake City, Utah probate solutions firm, coaches high school students playing competitive lacrosse. As junior varsity coach at Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper in 2014, Daniel J. Mannix played an important role in helping a student recover from a life-threatening brain injury to learn to play the game again.

The student suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 30-foot fall off a theater set at the school. Statistically, the teen’s kind of injuries leaves 9 out of 10 survivors in a lifelong vegetative state. Initially, doctors were afraid he would never be able to leave a skilled nursing facility since he was unable to even speak, respond, or walk.

But after constant efforts from the staff of Primary Children’s Hospital to reach him, and buoyed by the love and faith of family and friends, the teen began to respond. After a grueling, months-long recovery process, he returned to the school and the sport he loved – lacrosse.

Coach Mannix, who had known the teen for much of the young man’s life, worked with the family to figure out the safest ways for him to play the high-collision sport. Lacrosse is generally viewed as posing a moderate risk to health and safety for young people, with a concussion the most frequent above-the-waist injury. But with the team’s help, the student was able to follow precautions that allowed him to enjoy the game again.

For Coach Mannix, it was about even more than the game: He wanted to give the injured teen and the other students a chance to grow emotionally and as human beings, to become better people.

The Lacrosse Career of Kyle Harrison

Emory University alumnus Daniel J. Mannix has served as the vice president and chief operating officer at a leading probate solutions company since 1986. In addition, Daniel J. Mannix is an accomplished lacrosse coach who has coached several prominent players, including Kyle Harrison.

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Harrison enrolled at Johns Hopkins University in 2002 and started 14 games at midfield that year for the school’s lacrosse team. He was the team’s top face-off performer as a freshman and also scored nine goals. A finalist for the Tewaaraton Award as the best player in college lacrosse in each of the two following years, he won the McLaughlin Award as the nation’s best midfielder in his junior season. He won a national championship with the team as a senior in 2005.

After graduating, Harrison pursued opportunities in professional lacrosse and played a combined 14 seasons in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) and the LXM Pro Tour, the latter of which he co-founded. He won an MLL championship with the Ohio Machine in 2017 and is now the CEO of the Charm City Youth Lacrosse League. As one of the few African-American players on the majority of the teams on which he played throughout his career, he is now an advocate for diversity in the sport.