I am a Southern California native, so my trip out to beautiful Ft. Lauderdale, Florida began with a 10:30 pm red eye out of Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday evening. Besides my row mate on the plane being a 6-year-old pug named Peter, my flight out was rather uneventful and I was able to sleep for a majority of the flight.
I traveled out to Florida with Denver Outlaws midfielder Jeremy Sieverts. As well as being teammates, Jeremy and I are also on the same coaching staff at Corona Del Mar High School in Newport Beach, CA. We were in Florida, with plenty of time to kill before our 8:45pm practice, so naturally we decided to hit the links. (Something General Manager Tony Seaman, who is rumored to play at least 27 holes a day, would be very proud of.) Jeremy may have been an MLL All Star for the last two seasons, but what I learned Friday is that talent on the Lacrosse field does not necessarily translate to talent on the Golf Course. I must admit though, that after losing at least 6 balls on the front nine, he was able to finish strong on the back.
After a red eye and 18 holes of golf, I could not wait to check into the hotel and take a little pre practice nap. A “little” nap turned into 4 hours, but I was ready to go by the time practice rolled around at 8:45.
The whole team hopped on a bus and we were taken to a local Boca Raton High School for our Friday night practice. Being a rookie, this was my first pre game practice, and I was more than impressed with the energy we came out with. Even though everyone had been traveling all day, from all over the country, and it was 80 degrees with 80 percent humidity, and after 5 minutes it felt like you jumped in the pool, it did not matter. It was go time. And with leaders like Jesse Schwartzman and Drew Snider, the energy was infectious. After a great practice, and a quick post practice meal, it was off to bed for a huge next day.
Saturday, game day. The day began with a quick walk though at the Florida Atlantic University Stadium, home field of the Launch, and a tremendous facility. You could literally take a nap on the grass it was so perfect. After the morning walk through we were taken back to the hotel and given the freedom to do whatever we needed to do in order to get ready for the game. For me, that meant taking a nice long nap and then chugging a bottle of pedialyte.
We arrived back at the Stadium at 5pm, and once there it was all business. This being my first MLL game, everything was a little bit of a blur. We went over our schemes, went over what we expected the Launch to come out with, and then hit the field for our pre-game warm up. As we were waiting to take the field right before the opening face off, and fireworks were exploding in the background, and music was blaring, the nerves I had been waiting for all day finally hit me. I took a deep breath, told myself this was the game I love and the same game I had been playing all my life, and then was ready to go.
We could not have asked for a better start to the game. We were playing great 6v6 defense, doing a great job of running from defense to offense, and our offense was sticking every open shot. Before I knew it, it was half time and we were up 11-1. Our coaches praised out first half efforts, but warned us that we had to keep our foot on the pedal. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a second half let up. The combination of coming out a little flat and running into a hot goalie, gave the Launch the confidence they needed to get back into the game. All of a sudden our 11-1 lead was cut to an 11-9 lead. We finally calmed down in the 4th quarter and the game ended with a 14-10 Denver Outlaws victory!
My favorite part of the entire day may have been the look on the numerous kid’s faces as all of the Launch and Outlaws players enthusiastically signed autograph after autograph. In my opinion, growing the sport of lacrosse, and getting kids to fall in love with the sport, just as I have, is what it is all about.
After a little post game team bonding, it was off to bed for me with an early flight back out to California on Sunday morning. Some teammates stayed a few extra days in Florida, some teammates even stayed longer than they were supposed to (its funny how sometimes those alarms fail to go off on an early Sunday morning. They must have been tired from the game)
It is always great to get a Win and to start the season 1-0. We did a lot of things well and have a lot to work on. Next week is set up to be a battle of two great teams as the Ohio Machine comes into Denver for our season opener. I can’t wait to play my first game at Sport Authority field and doubt I will be getting any sleep in the meantime.
Until next time,
Noah
