PHILIPSBURG--Ashton Lake is The Daily Herald Sports Person of the Year for 2022. Lake has been a sports coach for nearly 40 years. His teams have earned medals, certificates and won championships.
Yet, the coach does not put his emphasis on winning but on his athletes improving and excelling.
In 2022, at age 56, the coach made history with three of his athletes being scouted and offered scholarships to schools in the United States. Three girls are all College bound. Kimaiah Arndell, Davinia Cuffy and Zoë Emer are the first St. Maarten ladies to receive sports scholarships in softball.
Of course it was a team effort to get the girls seen and the offer made. Lake worked with Island Elite Sports Foundation from St. Eustatius, NB Scouting, C5T Elite Sport Training, NB Simple Sports Foundation St. Maarten, A1SA Sport Foundation of Saba and V.B. Softball Academy Anguilla.
Best of all, now that the college door is open more athletes are expected to pass through.
Lake has coached in many different sports. Wherever he sees a need he jumps in. He has coached volleyball, Little League baseball, softball and even basketball teams. He has coached boys, girls and adults.
As a youngster, Lake started sports as a runner.
“I liked long distance running,” said Lake. “I enjoyed the solitude. I just ran, looked around and had time to think.”
Lake went on to play volleyball but absolutely loved basketball. It was on the school basketball court he picked up the nickname Blade.
“I really can’t remember why I was called Blade. But ever since school the name stuck.”
It seems fitting that his coaching career would start with basketball. He began coaching at age 19 when Team Simple needed a leader.
He enjoyed coaching. He took every coaching course that came his way and moved from sport to sport as the need arose.
Currently Blade coaches a girls softball team. He trains the ladies three times a week at the Erwin “Baco” Richardson Little League Stadium on Pond Island.
He can be seen rolling ground balls, working on throwing mechanics, batting and running the bases.
His athletes love him. One of his girls explained Blade may not remember how he got the nickname, but she knows why it is still in use today. She said, “Coach is called Blade. See, if he arrived at the field and the grass needed cutting and no mower was available, he would grab a scissor and cut each blade by hand so we could practice. He would not send us home to come back another day.”
Coach Blade is jovial. He always has a smile on his face and is quick with a joke. He makes training fun, and the result is time tested and proven over and over.
He also sees the need for adults to participate in sports and even travel to tournaments.
Blade coaches and plays for the Controllers Softball Team. It started as his office team for the Government Casino Controllers. It has long since become one of the most competitive teams open to anyone that wants to play.
Each year the Controllers travel to Aruba to compete in the Annual Adult Softball Tournament. In 2022, Blade and the Controllers placed second.
The Controllers had a good year. They won the Nell James Knockout Competition and took first place in the Frazier Fish Fry Softball Competition.
2022 was not an easy year for sports. The island was still recovering from Hurricane Irma when it took a broadside with Covid. Everything stopped.
Despite the interruption in his training cycle, Coach Ashton “Blade” Lake kept a positive attitude, worked hard, trained his athletes and got three sports scholarships in the United States.
For 38 years of dedication to athletes, Blade is The Daily Herald’s Sports Person of the Year.
