By Chris Goldberg

Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/29/09

    Sun Valley senior Kyle Lord says it’s easy for him to get motivated to study even after a long day of lacrosse practice or a tough game.

    “For me, I just look for how it’s going to benefit me later in life,” he said. “Sometimes you come after game and have a lot of homework. You just have to get it done; otherwise it affects you in the classroom.

    “Ultimately, my main focus is the classroom.”

    Lord has clearly been focused at school. The Laxzilla/Phillylacrosse.com Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week has an impressive resume of academic achievement. He is ranked 10^th in his class with a GPA of 3.90 and has been on the Distinguished Honor Roll every marking period since his freshman year.

    Lord takes mostly AP and Honors classes and has been awarded the Penn Delco 2009 America Citizenship Award and the Seventh Congressional District Scholar-Athlete 

Award, the President’s Education Award for Educational Excellence.

   He also recently was given the 2009 Aston Sports Hall of Fame Male Scholar-Athlete award. He will attend Elizabethtown and major in chemistry.

    As an athlete, Lord has excelled both in lacrosse and football. He was an all-Del-Val league defensive end and offensive tackle for the Sun Valley football team last fall and has been selected to play in the May 28 Hero Bowl All-Star Game (Delaware County).

   But lacrosse is his top passion and Lord has been a regular since his freshman year and a starter since his sophomore campaign. More importantly, Lord, a co-captain, has played a key role as a defenseman in helping the Vanguards emerge as a legitimate contender this year in their first year of Ches-Mont League play.

    Sun Valley, which formerly played in the now-defunct Del-Val League, is off to an 11-3 start and is in second place in the Ches-Mont with a 6-1 record. On Thursday the Vanguards face a big test when they meet third-place West Chester East.

    “I guess we predicted this was going to be our best year,” he said. “We have a lot of seniors that have been playing since freshman year. We did a lot of work in the off season; we did morning practices, and sometimes we meet up after school. We played in tournaments and indoor leagues; we were always sharpening our skills.”