It may very well have been the gift, or make that gifts, of a lifetime.

Andy Borgatti was reminiscing, the other day, about his initiation to Canada’s National summer sport of lacrosse. He thinks it was at the age of three when his father, Kevin, gave him the stick with the funny meshed net at the end. His dad had played the sport during his college years at Harvard University, the Ivy league school in Cambridge, Mass.

What would follow for the younger Borgatti was a road to success.

He played at various levels, both the field and box versions of the sport. Competition started with the house league game of lacrosse, then growing in knowledge and playing time at the minor and junior levels of competition with the Brampton Excelsiors. 

Toss in the excitement of competing for National bragging rights in the Minto Cup. As well, the important experience of Canadian university lacrosse. Not to be forgotten, there were three times that Borgatti played for Team Ontario. Each ended with a gold medal and National championship.

Then, the day that will stick in his memory forever. It was a fall day in 2021. More about that later in this story.

For Borgatti, parental support was always important to him.

Meaningful and influential to him as a teenager, was grade 12. It was his graduating year and a time in his life, when key decisions had to be made about the road ahead. Borgatti distinctly remembers the significant role his leadership teacher had in steering his academic interests towards the business program at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.

“I was very fortunate to have so much support from parents, family, friends, and teachers along the way,” said Borgatti, who worked very hard on a path to academic, business and sports success. “There was one (teacher) who I really liked, understood, and I took her advice.”

The academic advisor, that Borgatti spoke so highly of, is Nancy Karanikolas. She teaches at St. Edmund Campion Secondary School in Brampton. Six years after graduating and moving on, Borgatti continued to speak highly of her.

“She was boasting about Laurier, the co-op program, brought in speakers and thought it fit with my academic interests and future,” he said. “I had visited Laurier before, when I played minor lacrosse in Kitchener Waterloo, and after checking it out liked the business program. Laurier was also not far from home.

With his mother in business and his father, a high school teacher in subjects that included accounting, Borgatti saw a career in some form of business. A four-time member of his high school academic honor roll, Borgatti made up his mind – and four years later, he had earned a Laurier (honors) degree in Business Administration.

Does his former high school teacher recognize his name?

“I remember him very well and not because he was tall, and I kept tripping over his feet, but he was an academic, thirsty for knowledge and he would listen,” said Karanikolas, who has been teaching for 15 years. 

“I remember pushing him about business, his thinking, challenged his thoughts and ideas. He was a great kid, diligent, always had a smile and it doesn’t surprise me that he has been a success in balancing education and sports.”

At one time interested in a childhood dream of playing professional hockey, that imagination disappeared when he entered Laurier. The plan became a degree and finding ways to continue playing lacrosse.

No surprise, Borgatti did extremely well in both.

Having played four years of lacrosse at Campion, taking on the job of team captain, becoming top scorer, and a two-time athlete of the year, Borgatti had the best of both worlds. That meant playing for Laurier as well as for Brampton in the Ontario Lacrosse Association.

At Laurier, he finished with a career total of 66 points in 34 games that included playoffs for the club team. A huge highlight came in the 2018 season, where he scored 20 goals in nine games. A year later, he was selected as an Academic All-Canadian by the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA).

“I really enjoyed Laurier and that first year was so much fun,” said Borgatti, who, when he’s not playing lacrosse, works as a recruitment consultant with Brunel, a major management consulting services company. “The friends you make (at Laurier), the connections, the business program – it was all great for me.”

And now, that date that changed his life - September 18, 2021.

Borgatti was in his final year at Laurier, socializing with friends and watching the major league lacrosse draft on television. Nervous, focussed, he was hoping for the best.

It came when the New York Riptide selected him in the second round, 29th overall pick, of the National Lacrosse League. Born in Orangeville, raised in Brampton, his new home would also be Uniondale, N.Y.

“On television, they called my name, I had a huge smile, my friends were teasing me but so supportive,” he said. “It was such a great time. I called my mom and dad – and they had been watching. I was now a professional player.”

Steady, consistent and with great stick skills in the game of lacrosse, Borgatti is always thinking about the next day, and focussing on the learning skills of his educational roots.

“I know there is always room for improvement, doesn’t matter who you are, you can always do better,” he said.

David Grossman is a veteran multi award-winning Journalist and Broadcaster with some of Canada’s major media, including the Toronto Star and SPORTSNET 590 THE FAN, and a Public Relations professional for 45+ years in Canadian sports and Government relations.