Schools
Sean Chalkwater Was Key to Lacrosse Team's Success
The 28-year-old substitute teacher and coach died unexpectedly over the weekend.
Sean Chalkwater was a dedicated coach who fell in love with lacrosse at Westlake High School.
The 28-year-old coach and substitute history teacher . His cause of death is undetermined by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office, said spokesman Powell Caesar.
“We’re all pretty surprised and shocked by the whole thing,” said Demons lacrosse head coach Bill Bongers. “He certainly was a good guy.”
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Chalkwater, a North Olmsted resident, coached at from 2007 to 2010, working with the football team before becoming head junior varsity and assistant varsity coach in lacrosse. He left the schools last year to pursue a Masters degree in education.
"He was a coach that was hard to replace," Bongers said. "He had high expectations for the kids and he challenged them to be better than they were. He's the reason our team had been so successful the last three or four years."
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Even though Chalkwater started out as a football coach, he quickly fell in love with lacrosse and went on to become a US Lacrosse referee last year.
“He really knew how to coach,” Bongers said. “I knew he was a good coach because I had been around him in football. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have a lot of experience with (lacrosse).”
Bongers said Chalkwater was his hardest-working coach, always paying special attention to details and taking extra time to do the little things.
“That really showed when he tried officiating,” Bongers said. “He was dedicated and he worked really hard at it. He was a top-notch official just in his first season.”
But Chalkwater didn’t forget his friends at WHS when he left to go back to school. Bongers said Chalkwater would still check in on his team to see how everyone was doing.
Calling hours for Chalkwater are 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Chambers Funeral Home, 29150 Lorain Rd., North Olmsted.
Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Thursday, at St. Brendan Catholic Church, 4242 Brendan Lane in North Olmsted.
See what Chalkwater's students remember about one of their favorite substitutes:
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