Rain or Shine, It's Always a Good Day For Lacrosse
Everyone told me that it was going to happen, and it has: the rain is here. The sunshine that followed me from California has gone into hiding behind the clouds and the onslaught of steady showers is upon us. But you know what? After an evening in Renton with the newly formed Liberty Lacrosse Club, I’m OK with it.
I got the chance to venture out to Liberty High School with fellow Walaxer and Stealth Laxer, Jamison Koesterer earlier this week for the first camp of Liberty Lacrosse’s existence. And even though the rain beat down on us with a hurricane’s force, they had a great turnout of new aspiring lacrosse players, as well as some lacrosse-savvy coaches and neighbors to help out. Much like Bishop Pickering in Caddyshack, they weren’t about to let a little rain keep them from having the round of their lives. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you better go rent Caddyshack, one of the best sports-related movies of all time.)
Liberty High School is starting its lacrosse program out of necessity really. In the past, players in the Liberty School District were able to play with Issaquah. But new restrictions on players playing outside their school district left the few players from Liberty without a nearby place to play. So a few parents decided to start a program and recruit players from the Liberty School District to play.
But they couldn’t do it alone (I remember once a wise man on this very website saying that the growth of lacrosse in the area was going to require “a little help from my friends”. OK it was me). Joining them for their first ever clinic was about a dozen players from the Skyline and Issaquah Lacrosse Clubs to help show the newbees from Liberty how the game is played. Along with them, a number of their coaches came to teach some basics.
After the experienced guys put on a full-contact demo with the coaches on the sidelines explaining the game as we watched, it was time for a number of kids to get their hands on a stick for the first time. It was cold. It was raining. But that had no effect on the smiles and laughter that erupted from the group as they took the first steps of their young lacrosse lives.
They did some drills to work on passing and catching, cradling and a little defense. Then they took part in some games to help them work on their skills. The experienced players and coaches offered up advice to help them along the way. They even got to play with a pro as Koesterer took part in the games and proved that you are never too big (even at 6-foot-4) to have fun playing this game no matter what the weather.
It was my first rain-soaked lacrosse experience since I moved to this great state a few months ago. And thanks to the excitement of some new lacrosse players and coaches, and the ambition and dedication of some more experienced ones, I learned that rain or shine, it’s always a good day for lacrosse.
