Day Two: It's Fundamental

Today was another fantastic lacrosse day! They boys stayed up very late playing under the lights on Friday. What I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post was that the staff turned on the music for the boys. When they were out there playing lacrosse barefoot, it was with a soundtrack of Reggae. Watching all that joy and listening to, “Don’t worry…about a thing…because every little thing is going to be all right,” really was a sight to see.

This morning, the boys slept in a bit and then started out with breakfast and warmups before the games. There was some rain in the area, but it cleared and we were left with overcast skies and reasonably cool temperatures. It was perfect lacrosse weather. The first game was the 7/8 team vs. Shenendahowa. At the very beginning, the boys seemed a little tentative, but they quickly got into their game. The Defense put on a very good show.

Even the 5/6 team had an opportunity to see how the older team does it. One of the lessons that Coach W wanted to make clear was how well the team talks on the field to make sure that everyone knows what is happening as the plays move.

Since most of the lacrosse games that I’ve seen have been the younger players, seeing the level of physical play was exciting (and unnerving). Still, the boys have speed and strength and even a good check can be overcome.

The final score was 7-3 and Crush had its first win of camp. I am sorry to report that we did have one injury. One of the boys on the 7/8 team injured his wrist and was whisked to the hospital with Coach S. X-rays confirmed that he did suffer a slight fracture to one bone in his arm and won’t be playing for awhile. I apologize that I didn’t jot down his number. I’ll confirm that on Sunday. His parents were called and his mother received a camera phone picture of the boy smiling in his wheelchair.

Next it was the 5/6 team’s turn to play. Crush played Chepontuc, a team from Albany. This was an all-around exciting game. Those defensive lessons must have worked. The boys played great D.

They also played impressive offense. After the game, one of the Albany parents mentioned how impressed he was with how well our boys know their fundamentals. They were setting up plays, passing, catching, and talking! It was wonderful to watch.

Of course, the boys were also using their speed to good advantage. The final score was 11-4 and Crush was again victorious.

There was no time to rest on laurels for the 5/6 team. Immediately after finishing their first game, they were back on the field playing the Highlanders.

This was yet another physical game. As with the other games, there weren’t a lot of penalties and the plays were good. The boys may not want to admit it, but that speed and endurance training and those frequent practices in the last few weeks paid off. If we hadn’t just watched them play a full game, we might not have realized how tired they were. There were perhaps a few more missed passes, but the shots on goal were true (that was a particularly nice goal by Number 13).

Even after two full games, Number 12 was still able to take off on a breakaway! I really don’t know how they do it! The final score was 9-3 and Crush had a sweep of the day.

Due to poor weather, the other teams were not able to make it to the camp today and opening ceremonies were postponed until Sunday. The boys had the opportunity to do some teambuilding with an obstacle course. Coach F picture texted me two great photos.

While the parents were at dinner, Coach F let us know that another game was on under the lights. We’ll all have to wait for tomorrow to hear about that one. The first games on Sunday are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. and we are ready for more exciting plays!