Why I Love This Part Of The Season

Leaves are on the trees, sandals are on the feet. Class, group and state champions are being crowned. The spring lacrosse season is ending. Everyone gets to take a little mental break and assess where we are.

For the teams that achieved their goals, congratulations. There is nothing like the feeling of setting out to accomplish something, working hard at it, and achieving it. In lacrosse, that often means an equipment garage sale on the field at the end of a game. Smiles abound on sweaty faces as friends and family beam at the accomplishment. When you achieve these things, they stay with you for all time. No one can take your accomplishments away; years from now you still can look back at the day that you won your town the race.

For those who fell short of their goals, congratulations as well. I heard an expression once that failure is just a form of feedback. I know in my life I have learned a lot more from the things that didn't go as I would hoped than I have from the outright successes. Constant success is mostly a sign of not setting goals high enough. Now is a chance to look back and think about what went wrong. Did we not have enough talent? Did we use our talent poorly? Did we not work hard enough? Did we not gel as a team? Which parts of our game let us down?

In lacrosse, the end of the spring season just means that there is another couple months to play. We toss aside our school/town gear, grab our summer club gear, and apply sunscreen. I was able to check out a couple introductory meetings for summer teams recently. The players and parents meeting their new coaches and teammates is like the beginning of a second act in a play. It feels like a new beginning, but it's usually more like a mulligan in golf. Most players didn't have the spring that they wanted and hope to redeem themselves a bit in the summer. Those folks are hungry and ready for a new start. We won't forget what happened before but we might be able to focus on what we can fix this time.

I am hitting a few tournaments this summer and will post reviews afterward. If you happen to go to a tournament and want to send me some feedback, feel free. I enjoy hearing from readers and maybe we can do some guests spots.