end of a season

The end of lacrosse season is finally within our sights.  We have the Lax Splash tournament this weekend which will bring to end my first season as a lacrosse mom.  

Going into the spring, I knew nothing about lacrosse aside from the fact that you need a ball and stick and it involved way more running then I could ever handle. Maryland is huge into lacrosse but I had somehow managed to make it 28 years without watching an entire game.  That's not to say that I didn't go to a game or two in high school but it was certainly to watch the boys more than the sport.  Thankfully Mike grew up playing it and from what I can gather, was quite the lacrosse star.  

Garrett made the decision this year that he wanted to try lacrosse instead of baseball this year and secretly I knew that if he didn't get involved sometime soon, he might miss the boat considering most kids pick up a stick around 4 in these parts.  Mike didn't think his coordination and athleticism were really where they needed to be but ultimately the decision fell to Garrett.  We explained that in order for us to agree to buy all of the equipment (you know, instead of sending him to college), he had to commit to 2 years.  So naturally the first few practices came and he quickly decided that lacrosse was the hardest. sport. ever.  I can't say that I would disagree with him on that point and we had to talk him through a few "I hate lacrosse, I want to play baseball" tantrums.  

But now?  I won't go as far to say that he's a lacrosse star but he has improved immensely.  And what boy doesn't like to opportunity to knock other boys around?  Am I the only one that finds it hilarious that we spend the first 5 years of their lives saying things like "don't swing that stick around", "we don't push our friends" and "share"?  Now I'm on the sidelines telling him to cradle the stick (fancy word for swing for all you non-lacrosse folks out there), knock the other team out of bounds and push through the pile of boys to get the ball.  And although I'm looking forward to not carting him to the field 3 days a week, I will miss the awesome group of boys we had this season.

Congrats to the Hereford Varsity Lacrosse Team for their sixth straight state championship.