Why I Love Lacrosse

I love lacrosse.  I love watching my son play lacrosse. I mean what mom doesn't love to watch their kid sing, play tuba, or dribble a basketball with skill?  But for me with lacrosse it's much more than that.  I love lacrosse for what it is my son and his life; for him as a boy.  And,  I love what lacrosse is for us as a family.  I don't always (read never) love the early mornings, sitting in the rain, or sweating in the heat.  But, all in all, it's the kind of thing I know I will miss one day.  Enough so that sometimes I just sit back and take it all in, sort of like savoring it.  In some strange way, I do love it, each rainy, hot, steamy, tiring moment.  I am happy to be there and lucky that my son has taken me on this journey.

 Lacrosse is, of course, a sport just like all of the others he has played through the years.  It makes him think.  It gives him the chance to him push himself.  It forces him to make quick decisions.  It provides him an outlet for his seemingly endless energy.  It means he is part of team, which makes him part of something outside of himself.  It forces him to put a group goal ahead of personal gain.  This one thing is maybe my most favorite aspect of group sports.  I love to see my son pass instead of shoot every time.  It makes me proud.

 I have been watching this boy play this sport of five years now.  I should be some kind of expert.  But I am not.  I don't see the subtleties.  I can't sit at practice and provide my son with meaningful feedback on his progress.  He sometimes laments that he doesn't have a dad to watch him to tell him things he needs to do.  I don't know if it is because he lacks feedback (because I am sure his coaches give him plenty, or just because he is who he is), but this I know; he practices - a lot.  It doesn't come from me.  I don't make him, and  I wasn't like that so I admire that about him.

But, there are other things about lacrosse, and the families and organizations we are a part of that make me love lacrosse even more.  Raising a man-boy without a dad presents certain challenges from time to time.  In lacrosse there are dads.  Not his dad.  But, Dads who coached with my son's Dad.  Dads that care.  Dads who I have asked for advice and guidance.  Dads who take an interest in my son because they are just good salt of the earth kind of men, and know it is meaningful.  Men who talk to him about lacrosse in ways his dad would, and I can't (and even if I tried just wouldn't carry the same weight or meaning).  Dads who get onto him when he is rude to me.  Dads who fuss at him in games, only because they see his potential and they care.  Dads who are good solid men, kind, thoughtful human beings.....role models.  Dads (and moms) who help me out with rides.  He has called them his "lax dads' to me in conversation a few times, and he loves and admires them.  There is a group of them, and together, whether they know it or not, they are shaping a man and filling a void.

And this is why I love lacrosse the most.  For the athlete that my boy is today, but so much more importantly, for the man he is becoming.

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