15 questions with... Sean Lulley, a Penn men's lacrosse senior

The Daily Pennsylvanian asked Sean Lulley of Penn men's lacrosse 15 questions about his sport, his time at Penn, and his life overall. Here's what the senior had to say.

1. Can you introduce yourself?

I’m Sean Lulley, from Long Island, N.Y., I’m a senior in Wharton studying Business Analytics, and I am a captain of the men’s lacrosse team.

2. What’s your favorite part of playing lacrosse?

I think it’s how team-oriented the sport is. I think that’s super fun and fascinating for me. You know, it doesn’t take one guy to win a game, it takes every guy on our roster to do well. So I think the team aspect of the game is what’s most important to me.

3. When you’re in a normal lacrosse season, do you have a pregame routine?

I actually didn’t think I was superstitious at all or anything like that, but the more games I’ve played, the more I’ve noticed that there are definitely things I do before every game. I always tie my right cleat before my left cleat, I listen to the same playlist before every game, and there’s always one song that I listen to right before I go out on the field, the last song I listen to is always the same. I do the same thing in the training room before every game, I do the same stretching routine. There’s a lot of stuff that I do all the time that I didn’t realize, so yes, there is definitely a pregame routine.

4. Has there been anything that you have done with your teammates over the hiatus to stay in shape and prepare for a season?

Yeah, we did a bunch of stuff that we organized as seniors. It’s interesting actually, when I was thinking about the whole quarantine — watching other teams play when we’re not able to play — something that resonated with me was that even though we got dealt a bad hand, I’d rather be in the trenches with our team than play on Saturdays with another team. It’s just how much I love our team and how much I love our guys that I’d rather be doing this with them than be playing with other guys. We do a good job of staying engaged and staying connected even through all of this, this whole pandemic.

5. Have you had in-person practices these past few weeks?  How have they been?

Yeah, there’s different phases that will hopefully allow us to play some games at some point this year, obviously that’s either going to come or it’s not. There’s nothing we can do about that, but we have been doing in-person practices that started at Phase I, which is super-small groups and everyone socially distanced. Now we’re in Phase II, hopefully looking to get to Phase III and Phase IV sooner rather than later, but for right now all we can focus on is what we can control.

6. How did you and the other seniors take the cancellation of spring sports, and do you have hopes for the future?

The cancellation was tough, to be totally honest, seeing that other conferences were going to be playing sports and the Ivy League decided not to, so that was definitely a tough pill to swallow. And as far as the future goes, it’s something that I try not to think about. Obviously, it creeps into my mind sometimes, but if there’s one thing that the pandemic taught me it’s to enjoy the moment and be present. I only have so many days and weeks left here at Penn, and so for me, I’m trying to enjoy every single day and not take any day for granted with these guys.

7. Can you describe your experience playing lacrosse at Penn in three words?

The phrase that comes to my mind is “best decision ever.” Without a doubt, it was the best choice for me.

8. What has been your favorite moment of playing lacrosse at Penn?

Well, I think the easy answer is when we won the Ivy League championship in my sophomore year. We beat Yale at Columbia to win the Ivy championship and that one sticks out right away. So for the sake of time, I’m going to go with that one but there’s so many good ones that it’s hard to pick just one.

9. What is your major and do you have any post-graduation plans?

So I’m in Wharton, and I’m concentrating in Business Analytics. As for after my degree, there’s still some uncertainty as to whether I take a fifth year for lacrosse or I don’t, so I’m kind of leaving that open-ended.

10. Did you learn anything new or change something about yourself over the quarantine?

I started reading more during quarantine. Mostly because I was watching so much TV and spending so much time on my phone. I was like “this is crazy,” I was starting to get headaches and my eyes were hurting, and my younger sister reads all the time so I decided to give it a shot again.

11. Do you have a favorite thing that you read?

Yeah, my favorite book was "Fearless" by Eric Blehm. It’s about a former Navy SEAL named Adam Brown and it takes you through his life’s journey and all of the ebbs and flows that he went through. Ultimately, he made the ultimate sacrifice, and it’s a story about his life that is just really inspiring and motivational for me.

12. What is your favorite class that you’ve taken at Penn?

It was an Urban Studies class called “Neighborhood Displacement,” taught by Professor Walter Palmer. He was just the best professor that I’ve taken a class with and the class was definitely interesting, but he as a professor and person was just really fascinating. He taught us a lot of life lessons that I don’t think I’ll ever forget, and I’m very fortunate that I was able to take a class with him because he’s an amazing person.

13. Besides lacrosse, are there any sports that you enjoy watching or playing?

I like watching all sports to be honest, it keeps me engaged.  But growing up I played basketball as well and I also played volleyball for a while. It might not be something you expect from a lacrosse player, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

14. Do you have a favorite professional athlete?

It’s got to be Kobe, for sure.

15. If you could go back in time and talk to yourself as a freshman, what would you want to tell yourself?

I would tell myself to enjoy every day that you get. As my time here is running out, it’s amazing how fast these years go by, and it’s without a doubt the best four years of your life. So enjoy every moment, find a way to enjoy waking up for an early-morning lift, find a way to enjoy studying for tests. It’s such a good experience that you can’t take any day for granted, because it ends a lot quicker than you expect.