Off Season!

Currently the Trinity Women's Lacrosse team is not holding practices. Since our tournament at A&M, we have only been practicing or twice every couple of weeks. This is the busiest time of the semester for almost everyone, with projects and papers due and finals coming up. Despite the school factor, I am still sad that we are not keeping up with the regular practice schedule. Since our tournament is over, and we only have one in the first semester pre-season, we are taking time off until next semester. The real lacrosse season begins in mid January when we return to school, and goes until early to late March, depending on how good our team is. I am happy that I have more free time to do my school work, but I wish that practice was still being held so that I could continue to improve. Since it is my first season playing, I would benefit a lot from practice. To ensure that I do not lose the skills I acquired during pre-season, I run with my stick a couple times a week, in order to practice cradling. Cradling is the arm motion that a player does while running, in order to ensure that the ball doesn't fall out of the head of the stick. This is especially important when a defender is near, since it protects the ball. Also, I practice throwing and catching against a wall. This works well because the lacrosse balls are solid rubber, and therefore bounce well. Since I have continued to practice in the off season, I hope that I will be a better player by next season.

College Station!

Last weekend was the first lacrosse tournament of the year, which was held in College Station. Since Lacrosse is a club sport in Texas, many Division I and II teams were playing in the same bracket as Trinity. Since I had never played a lacrosse game before, I was nervous even before we left San Antonio. Trinity doesn’t let their club teams use vans or buses, so our team had to carpool to College Station. Unfortunately, the car ride was a disaster. We got very lost along the way, and we hit a deer on the highway! Luckily the car was fine for the rest of the drive, but had a flat tire the next day. We finally made it into College Station at 11 pm instead of 9 pm, but arrived safely.
The next day, we had to wake up at 6 am to drive to the fields. Our first game was against Texas A&M. As we warmed up, I became less afraid to play a Division I team. When the first whistle of the game was blown, I was ready. Surprisingly, Trinity held its own against A&M the first half, letting in only 3 goals. The score was 1 to 3 at halftime. Unfortunately, we ended up losing 4 to 10. Despite A&M’s high score, we were not too discouraged. Next, we played UT, another Division I team that was very good. This time, we were only losing by 4 points at halftime, but then ended up losing 16-1. This time the whole team felt let down. It was an extremely tough loss, especially after we had worked so hard. We put it behind us, and warmed up to play against Southwestern, which is another Division III team, which raised our chances of winning. We ended up playing very well against Southwestern, and beat them 8 to 5.
Overall, I am very proud of the Trinity Women’s Lacrosse Team. We went into the tournament with 14 girls, two of which were recovering from recent bouts of Swine Flu, and 6 that had never played in a lacrosse game before. We didn’t lose faith after two tough losses, and finished the tournament with our first win of the year. Even though the A&M tournament doesn’t count towards the season, I am still glad that we participated because it gave the new girls like me an idea of what we are supposed to being doing during a real game. It was a fun weekend, and it made me glad that I joined the team!
(Picture from http://nutmeg.easternct.edu/mt-static/athletics/beers%20WEB_9535.jpg- only information provided)

First Tournament!

http://www.e-lacrosse.com/2005/spin/cc8.jpg (the only information provided)


This weekend is the first lacrosse tournament of the year! We are playing at A&M on Saturday, and I am very nervous. I have never seen a game of lacrosse before, and I don't really know how to play. Despite practicing hard, I haven’t been able to visualize what I am actually supposed to be doing. Since we have never really scrimmaged, the plays don’t make sense to me. The positions and rules are much different than soccer, which is what I have always played. In lacrosse, once the whistle is blown no one on the field is allowed to move at all. Also, the rules for out of bounds, as well as fouls are completely different. I’ve been practicing a lot outside of scheduled practices, since we only practice twice a week. Also, we are only going to have two subs at the tournament, which is not good. We have to play UT and A&M, the first and second place teams in the state.
Despite being very scared for this weekend’s games, I am also excited. Being on a team is something that I have missed since coming to Trinity, and I am glad that I have been getting to know all the other girls. Hopefully this weekend is going to be a good learning experience for me, as well as the rest of the team. Since most of the girls who are going to the tournament this weekend are inexperienced, I am less nervous about making mistakes that cost our team goals, or penalties.

Practice Practice Practice!

I have been on the lacrosse team for a couple weeks now, and still feel like I haven’t gotten the hang of it. Catching, throwing, guarding, running, scoring: the list of skills to acquire goes on and on. Despite this, the game is fun to play. The first two weeks of practice revolved around ball handling. We learned how to do line drills, which is when we throw the ball in a variety of ways while running. This is a very hard thing to do, requiring accuracy of throwing as well as placing yourself in front of the ball in time to catch it with the stick. The stick consists of a handle, called a shaft, which is made from a light alloy metal, and is usually about three feet in length. The head is the portion of the stick used for catching, and has ten to twelve leather thongs tied together to form the pocket, which is where the ball is held. The ball is a solid rubber ball about two inches in diameter.

I am not sure what all the rules are, because there are so many! I also don’t really know the positions involved with an actual game since we have just practiced basic stick and ball handling skills so far. I have learned the basics of defending however, so I am hopeful that I will get to play in our first tournament, which is held in College Station in two weeks. I am excited to play my first lacrosse game ever, and I am very happy that I decided to join the TU Women’s Lacrosse Team! (Picture from Smarter N.p., 2009. Web. 6 Oct. 2009 .)

Deciding to Join

(image from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Lacrosse page)

Last year, when I was a freshman at Trinity, I was disappointed by the intramural teams and sports options. It seemed that only sororities and fraternities played, leaving little room for anyone else. As an athlete throughout high school, it was weird for me to come to college and not be active. I was on the dance, soccer, and swim teams in high school, but wasn't good enough to play for Trinity. I decided that I needed a sport to play at school. Some of my good friends play Women's Lacrosse, and I thought it would be an interesting sport to
learn. I am from Wisconsin, where lacrosse is not very popular, so I had never really seen a game, and didn't know any of the rules.
After quite a bit of convincing, my friends finally got me to agree to try out lacrosse. They told me that lacrosse season does not officially begin until spring. If i start practicing in fall, I could learn the skills and rules well enough to participate in games in the spring. So I joined. The other day we had our first practice, which was a disaster. It was the first time that I held a lacrosse stick in my life, and I was obviously not very good at catching or throwing. It is definitely weird to be learning a sport that I have never played before at the age of 20, but I am excited and willing to work hard and learn, so I think that by the time spring season rolls around, I will be ready for some playing time!