Reflecting on this year’s NALL season I have to say it was an overall league success. I entered the season without much expectation for the league, as I knew it had a rocky start the year before and I wasn’t sure it would even take place up until a few weeks before the season started.
From our first practices with the Rockhoppers I was impressed with our team’s dedication to making the team successful. Guys were traveling from Maine, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Hampshire, and some Northern state called Canada just to make the roster and build chemistry. It’s tough not to admire that dedication when you’re exhausted driving home from practice on a Wednesday at 1030pm knowing that half the guys in the locker room have multiple hour drives ahead of them.
When games began I was excited just knowing that we would have a season. I had to miss our first game but quickly found out in the second game that the other teams in the league would be no joke. Every game we played this season was tough, physical, and the talent on both rosters was impressive. Even in games when the score was one-sided, the quality of play remained at a high level.
One of the benefits of playing professional lacrosse is that you get the opportunity to speak with fans after the games. At the end of our Rockhoppers games it was always fun to see the kids running around the floor with smiles on their faces, asking for autographs from players, and speaking with their parents about how much fun they had during the game.
At the end of the day, the fans enjoyed the game, the talent on the floor was high quality, and, oh yeah, we won the Championship which was pretty cool too. Sounds like a successful season to me.
