Vancouver Warriors’ defenceman Matt Beers is part of the Warriors’ veteran defensive corps, battling on the floor on the weekends and saving lives during his day job as a firefighter.
Beers seemed to have firefighting in his future from the get-go as he was infatuated with the shiny red truck. When he was four years old and people asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he’d say a firetruck.
“I laugh because I kind of made it halfway there,” Beers said.
As a teenager, he had dreams of playing professional lacrosse and in addition to his box lacrosse, he started playing field lacrosse for a local men’s lacrosse team. With many teammates and mentors pursuing firefighting, he followed suit.
Beers was selected 13th overall in the 2009 NLL Entry Draft by the Washington Stealth and while he was playing pro lacrosse, he was going to school for his red seal to get enough credits to apply for firefighting school.
“I was like [Brayden] Laity, I started playing in the NLL at 20 and right away I started gearing up, getting my trade, getting my driving certificate, signing up for the J.I. [and] started along a path to become a firefighter,” Beers said. “I ended up getting my red seal first because it seemed like the right thing to do and got hired onto the fire department at 25 and here I am 11 years later.”
The preparation, pressure and execution are just a few of the similarities between firefighting and lacrosse. Preparing for emergency situations at work, like a big fire, is just like preparing for a big game – being able to remember all your training and perform to your best ability is key to success. Beers says his skills for both his jobs translate to each other and that he loves the teamwork aspect that applies in firefighting; working together to either help someone on a call or win on the floor. He feels lucky to work with great coworkers for the City of Burnaby and the Vancouver Warriors.
“We have great people in Burnaby who are like-minded, high-achieving athletes and people from all walks of life, and you have to work in a symbiotic way to accomplish the task at the end of the day. There’s no egos, guys just go out and do their job and that is something that I think is very much across the board for both: it doesn’t really matter who scores the goals or how the job gets done at the end of the day, we’re all out there, we do our job well and there’s never been any challenges we haven’t been able to tackle,” Beers said.
“On the floor, Curt gets us so dialed in and prepared on the task at hand and then we go out and execute it. It’s no different than on a call, you follow your routine, and you have the support of your crew, which is your team.”
Mentoring young firefighters has been a priority for Beers since early in his career. His coaching experience has taught him that everyone learns differently and to get everyone up to speed, it’s important to find different ways of explaining things.
While he’s a superhero on the floor and at the fire hall, he also champions growing the game of lacrosse in B.C., heading up the Vancouver Warriors Elite Academy. He wants to leave the game better than he found it and give kids in the province the opportunity to take their game to new heights.
He’s grateful to the Aquilinis for going all-in on their support to help grow lacrosse by getting the Elite Academy up and running and sponsoring the WLA and BCLA.
“I wanted to give these kids that are at the elite level of their sport a way to play year-round box lacrosse and learn from the best players possible as well as running camps for kids that are trying to learn to play and trying to grow the love of the game from the grassroots side of it,” Beers said.
“The Aquilini’s have been amazing with the support that they’ve given us to execute our vision on how we can better lacrosse in B.C. For me, I have young kids in the game, and I think the Toronto Rock are doing their TRAC Athletic Centre so well and we’ve seen the product that they’ve produced, and we wanted to do something similar in B.C. to make sure we continue the growth of the sport.”
Of course, every superhero has a superpower, and for Beers, his greatest superpower is his wife, Jamie.
“A very loving wife,” Beers remarked, when he answered how he juggles all his jobs plus a young family, including his son Benjamin (7) and daughter Ellie May (6).
“I couldn’t do anything in my world without my family and I’m so fortunate that they’ve given me so much love and support over the years,” Beers said.
Both Benjamin and Ellie May started playing lacrosse at four years old with the shooting stars in Maple Ridge. Benjamin is really into lacrosse these days, which is exciting for Beers to get to share his passion with his children, and he hopes his kids will be able to enjoy the fruits of their dad’s labour, helping grow lacrosse across the province.
Whether he’s protecting his teammates on the floor, saving lives as a firefighter, or mentoring the next generation of lacrosse players, Beers is always leading by example. His dedication to both his careers and his community makes him a Warriors superhero.
The Warriors are celebrating their second annual Superhero Night against the Saskatchewan Rush on Friday, February 21st at 7 p.m. PT. To get tickets, visit here.
