I've always been strangely good with names and dates- something that has come in handy over the years. The very first day I picked up a lacrosse stick was January 28th 2011. My good friend Alyssa dragged me to my first practice, and the only previous knowledge I had on the sport was from what I saw Tyler Posey play on "Teen Wolf."
When I first started playing, my dad and I would stand at the bottom of my cul-de-sac and I would pass the ball to him with the most beginner of all beginner sticks. My dad never played lacrosse, but he would catch with his baseball glove. My very first game was a tournament I played in only two weeks after I had picked up a stick- my only accomplishment of the entire thing was when I chased the ball out of bounds with my stick held up. I literally had no idea what was going on.
As time went on not only did lacrosse enlarge in my life and move up the list of my priorities, but it changed me as well. I'm a firm believer that high school sports teach kids discipline, competitiveness, the value of a win, and hard work. Lacrosse taught me all that and more.
Not only as an athlete but as a Christian, I really do believe lacrosse came in my life because it was in His plan. On days when my parents would fight, or my friends were acting bitchy to me, or even if I got a bad grade on a test- I always knew that three out of the five school days after school I could hang out with my friends and quite literally; sweat away my problems.
Not only did the sport shape me but so did my coaches. My senior year, we were blessed enough to gain three new coaches, two that I'm still close with even after high school graduation. In our world of entitlement and frequent disrespect for authority, having coaches that I cared about and respected taught me discipline and how to get along with people above me.
Through four years of Chuys dinners, tournaments, summer camps, team prayers, chants, draws, buddy t shirts, team ribbons, adrenaline socks, suicides, banquets, and mile times- I developed as a person a much as I developed as a player. Playing a sport in Central Texas that isn't as popular and well-known as say, football, taught me that it's okay to go against the grain and do something different.
If I could relive every practice and game, I would do it in a heartbeat. To younger lacrosse players- enjoy every minute of it. And to fellow former players- let's get together for a scrimmage sometime.
God bless and go rebs,
MJS
