Lacrosse Saturday

Saturday was a beautiful day in Knoxville!  Miss Marie had an all-day lacrosse tournament there so she and I headed out early (6:15 a.m early!) to pick up another teammate and head that way.

Warm-ups began soon after we got there (and since lacrosse is played on soccer fields the first thing she wanted to do was find a soccer ball -- ha!) and she just seamlessly falls in with her team.  It's a middle school team and she's in 5th, meaning there's a range of ages from her to 8th graders.

 More warm ups. . .now time to get their sticks inspected?

I'm still trying to learn the specifics and all. . .the refs all day long were great, continually guiding the girls as they called fouls and such. . .telling them where to stand, what they did wrong, etc.

Marie is on the "B" team so she begins the games cheering her other teammates on the sidelines. . .

Marie is 31 on the right

Her turn to play!  She played about 5-7 minutes per game. . .she is a hustler out there :)

A little dejection after a goal is scored. . .

Laura's dedicated coach, Brittany.  Apparently she is volunteering her time to work with these girls. . .she is a college student who gave up her entire Saturday to drive 80 miles east to coach these games.  She holds practice twice a week. . .I am so impressed with a 19-20-21-yr old who would do this.

And she's really passionate about teaching them, and helping them to win :)  And. . .win they did!!  Half their games, in fact:

This team and these games would not happen without another extremely important volunteer -- our team manager:

Here she is, standing with Marie while Marie was waiting to head in to a game.  This is a 7th grade parent whose daughter loves to play so she organizes all of this all season.  None of my kids could do their sports without these parents who dedicate so much time to the teams!

Between games we generally had 30-45 minute break.  There was a playground nearby. . .

 I was trying to capture that pure joy on Marie's face. . .in all its candid loveliness.  Funny enough, both the girls in this picture with her are some of my 7th graders!  It's fun to see students outside of the classroom and interacting in a different environment. 

Yes, Marie is giving one of my favorite students bunny ears. . .

I wonder if I'm still "Mrs. Bell" when I'm on the soccer or lacrosse sidelines or if they're able to see me as "just another mom" then.

As you can see, the team took quite a few players to this tournament. 

In the fourth game, Marie got to face off for the (B) team.  That was pretty exciting!

Here is a good instructional video explaining exactly what this part of the game is (I am learning A LOT).

Good playing this weekend girls!

And. . .when we got home we found out that everyone (the boys, Margaret, Tom, and Nana & Grandpa) had been freezing their behinds off in misty rain all afternoon at soccer games here.  What a day for me to be out of town!  Funny the difference 80 miles can make :) 

The end of the day was a little screwed up. . .there were 3 15-minute "mini" games scheduled 7 v. 7.  Either the teams or the scheduler (or both) mis-communicated with one another and we ended up playing ourselves.  The coach and manager let the "little" girls play without a goalie. . .in this last picture Marie (#31) is carrying the ball and eventually scores -- I think she ended up scoring 3-4 times in that short time!

 Sunshine and good times at the 2012 Kilt Tournament.