Layla Magnusen: More Than an Athlete

You might know Layla Magnusen from the tennis courts… or the soccer field… or even from squash. But Magnusen doesn’t just love to play sports… she instills the same love into younger athletes.

In her third and final season representing St. Luke’s School, Magnusen has served as the captain of the Girls’ Varsity Soccer and Tennis teams as well as number one on the Girls’ Varsity Squash team. She is able to shift her focus seamlessly from season to season, playing at both the high school level as well as competitively. It would not be unusual for Magnusen to go straight from a St. Luke’s soccer game to a tennis match. 

While it has become a societal norm to specialize in one sport by the time you reach high school, Magnusen has continued to define her own path and play sports for their original intention: love. Deciding early on in her high school career that she did not want to play Soccer or Tennis at the collegiate level, Magnusen represents St. Luke’s on the athletic fields and continues to play competitively because of her commitment and dedication to her craft. When she started playing Squash in her junior year, she used the small environment at St. Luke’s to play with older, more experienced players (like her sister Audrey) and hone in on the skill to become the top player her senior year. Her ability to athletically perform all three seasons is commendable, but that’s not it.

Magnusen has come to love sports so much herself that she has taken it upon herself to coach youngsters in her free time. Coaching for her local Norwalk youth soccer league as well as giving private tennis lessons at the Country Club of New Canaan has helped Magnusen spread her love of sports to others around her. Wherever her future goes, she will always have her permanent bond to sports in her back pocket.