Hockey helmet

My midnight black eight-year-old eyes stare intently at the tall man standing in front of me. He wears a purple and yellow striped shirt, a very unflattering color combination, with thick sand-tan cargo shorts, and piled on top of his head is a massive brown afro. Who is that? I wonder as I clasp my sister’s sweaty chubby hand tighter. The man steps aside to reveal a big banner on the doorway. “Yerba Buena Skatebowl Camp” it reads, and it hangs lopsided, one end brushing the top of a young…

taxing day of school in the frigid month of January, I got into a car with my teammate and headed off to a varsity hockey game against Bridgewater Raynham. As soon as I open up the transparent glass doors, I can feel the brisk air brush upon my face. Instantly, the fond memory of my first rink experience poped up in my head when my cousin got an assist for his Norwood Mustangs varsity hockey team. I was young, only around six or seven years old. I remember him having a clear shot, but passing…

Other players had years of experience. I still had my dad tie my skates. I joined the team knowing I would not good, but I expected to learn fast and become an essential part of the team. When that didn’t happen, I began to hate playing hockey but I refused to quit. I trained during spare time. After practice, I left the rink drenched in sweat, my face red as a tomato and my whole body so sore it felt numb. Nevertheless, I still lived on the bench during games. After becoming discouraged…

The past six years, the Rochester girls golf team has made it to State and has finished in either 2nd or 3rd place. There has not been a team in the school history to ever win the team title for girls golf. Coach Hill, Coach Mayer, Morgan Savage, Gabby Isaacks, myself and Lindsay Alewelt would tackle Red Tail Run on a cold, windy course to destroy the odds given to us on October 16th and 17th. Through trust, hard work, motivation, and a little luck, the 2015 Rochester girls golf team vanquished…

Running down the lacrosse field with the wind blowing against you, dodging left and right passed your opponents, is the best feeling in the world. Lacrosse has been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. Fortunately, I have the talent, heart, and drive to play at high levels. It is not always easy and requires a huge commitment. It is stressful trying to balance school and lacrosse, but I have learned the importance of doing so. The bond I share with my parents has been the…

game. That was hard for not only me, but for the whole team. It was stressful, considering we were a great team the season before. It hurt me in a big way, but it made me stronger in an even bigger way. In the 2015-2016 hockey season, I played for the New Ulm Sleepy Eye 15uA hockey team. This was a major step from the last season, when I was in 12uB. My team and I won almost every game when I was a 12u. I was so used to winning. The competition was so weak that we didn’t have to try to win…

Lacrosse began as a men’s game, but years later adopted by all people of all ages. Over hundreds of years and adaptations of various countries, lacrosse is the sport hundreds of thousands know and love. Lacrosse initially started as a game of manhood, becoming a warrior, and religion (Vennum). The indigenous sport can be recorded as far as the 1630’s. “Jean de Brébeuf, wrote about the game being played by the Huron Indians in 1636 and it was he who the named the game “lacrosse”” (Claydon para…

Playing dek hockey since I was six years old was a journey. My driveway is where it all started. “Bang!” The shot came at me. I stuck up my glove and made the split save, and then crashed down on the rough concrete. All of my friends yelled “ohhhhh!” I got up from the split and said “big save,” in a cocky way of course. All of the times I spent watching Marc Andre Fleury make huge saves, had all led up to this point. I was so delighted. Seven Years later, after this occurrence. Suddenly,…

During my sophomore year I got cut from the lacrosse team. At the time, I had been playing for 3 years. All of my friends played with me. When I go cut, I felt shocked that was followed by tears. Donya, a player who also got cut, was extremely upset and thought her life was over, but I knew mine was not. I wanted to continue playing a sport and being active and I would not let being cut from a team stop me. 10 minutes late I passed the track team whose coach was my biology teacher. It dawned on…

As the cool air began to fall, I felt a whiz of a lacrosse ball past my ear as it flew forward and rocketed off the goal post. After another failed attempt I dejectedly went hunting for the ball. Feelings of failure clouded my mind, today had been the third and final day of tryouts. During practice, I had made one successful shot in addition to several missed ones. By the end of practice, it was no surprise that I was not on the announced varsity roster. I was angry with the results and my…