I really wished I hadn’t signed up for this. I am stepping out of my car, with my lacrosse stick and bag in my hand. My stomach is rumbling inside from my nerves. Today is the first day of lacrosse practice that I just had to sign up for two months ago. I know it’s a cliche to say this but I felt like there were butterflies in my stomach as I was walking onto the lacrosse field, all of the “lacrosse-star” girls were watching me as I was stumbling out with my stuff in my hands.
Before now I hadn’t really considered myself a good lacrosse player, and it had become evident at that first practice this summer. I signed up for this thinking that it would do something for me, that it would be a chance for me to improve my skills and get a good sense of the game. I am tying my cleats when my coach yells, “Come on, everyone line up and do three laps around the field!”
This is not the way I want to start out with my new lacrosse team. I am already leaving a bad impression on the coach and the players on the team.
That practice consisted of sprinting, lacrosse drills, and other material that I was not very familiar with at that point. I guess I knew that when I signed up for the team; after all, I signed up to learn new things and improve my game. At the end of the practice though, I felt a little bit more confident about myself walking off the field. I had learned new things just in that first practice that helped me improve dramatically.
A couple weeks pass by and I am starting to develop my skills as a lacrosse player and as an athlete. I start to think to myself that this will be a good season after all. All this time I think to myself that it is a good thing I am keeping to something that I have started and not just giving up because it is outside of my comfort zone (something my dad has always taught me).
The first tournament is in a few days, and I am mixed with feelings of excitement and nervousness inside. I really want to perform well because I have heard that there will be college coaches attending and it would be awesome if I could get their attention using my skills.
The tournament was today and I played much better than I expected. Out of the ten games we played, I performed the best in the last one; I improved as each game went on. Also, not only did I better my playing skills as an individual, but I worked together with my teammates as if we had been playing with each other for years. After all of the lacrosse I played this summer, I was left with one feeling: “I’m really glad I signed up for this!” And I was walking onto the lacrosse field.
