After being here at Stevens for the past two months, I have come to realize that it is very important to try new things if you want to make the most of your college experience. So far, I feel that I have efficiently done so. I have become a columnist for The Stute (the reason why I am writing this column!), I have been elected to a position on the Honor Board, and I have joined the club lacrosse team, in addition to other clubs on campus. This week in particular has been quite exciting for me regarding club lacrosse.
On Monday, we had one of our regular practices, and I performed so much better than the practice before. This is my first time really playing lacrosse and I have really started to enjoy it! We passed the ball around, did a few drills and then played for the rest of the practice. In preparation for the tournament that we had that weekend, I practiced my shooting, cradling, and went for a run to build up my stamina.
The day of the tournament, I woke up at 6 a.m. to my discontent, because I had a long night the night before. As soon as I rolled out of bed, I took a shower and gathered my belongings, such as my stick, goggles, mouth guard, sweatpants, and water bottle. We had to meet at the 8th Street parking lot to ride down to Rider University where the tournament was taking place, which I made sure I was on time for so that they wouldn’t leave without me.
When everyone was ready to leave, we piled into two cars and went down to Rider. We had three games scheduled for the tournament: two games back-to-back and then one more toward the end. Before the first game began, I was feeling a bit nervous for how I would do, especially because it was the first lacrosse game that I have ever played. Once the game started, however, all of my nervousness went away and I played to the best of my ability. We ended up winning the first two games against Rider and Monmouth, and losing the championship game against Temple.
Even though we placed second, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I had a blast playing a game that is definitely growing on me, with a great group of people that I am happy to call my friends. I am definitely happy that I listened to both my intuition and the persuasion from my friends to join the club lacrosse team.
