At 9:30 on a Saturday morning, many Roosevelt students are sleeping peacefully. This is not the case with the women’s lacrosse team, whose Saturday morning practice requires them to be at the school at 9:30 in the morning. On March 10, I paid the team a visit and practiced with them.

Both varsity and junior varsity (JV) started off practice with a three-lap jog around the gym, stretches, and announcements by the varsity coach, Christy Mitchell. Thus far, I was faring well.

Then Christy yelled “on the line,” and all of the girls, much disgruntled, went and lined up to run sprints. We split into two groups and began with high knees and butt kicks. Then we moved into jogging and sprinting. By the end of this, all of the girls were panting and ready to move on to the next part of their practice. The coaches divided the gym and split the group into JV and varsity.

I practiced with the JV team, which worked on passing, catching, cutting, and strategy. JV is composed of freshmen through juniors. For most of the practice we did line drills, which is where the team makes two lines on each side of the gym and then two people run towards each other. One of the people throws the ball to the other, who continues to run and throw it to the next person and so on. This drill works on cradling, catching and throwing. By the end of the line drills, the girls had improved drastically. Then the JV coach, Roosevelt graduate Angie McGrady, split us into two groups. One worked on defense while the other worked on memorizing positions and strategy. What struck me most about the team was when the time for a water break came around. All of the girls got water, but instead of sitting around and waiting to be instructed on what to do, many played wall ball or catch with the team. These girls are very focused on improving their game.

While JV was doing this, varsity was playing five on five games. The intensity of the varsity players is very apparent. All of the players seemed focused, and ready to play.

Coach Mitchell feels that the girls are well-prepared this year and is looking forward to a great season. “I have never had a full team of such dedicated players, to each other and the sport as well,” said Mitchell.

We closed practice with a three on three activity and another round of sprints. The girls, although tired, were supportive of each other throughout the entire practice. During sprints the half that was waiting for their turn cheered for the players out on the gym floor. There were constant congratulations echoing through the gym all morning.

The team had their first scrimmage on Monday against Jackson, in which varsity won 16-1, and JV performed well but came up short 10-3. The girls have their first home game April 6 against Jackson.

Coach Christy expects the biggest games to be against Chagrin on May 3, Hudson on May 4, and Stow on May 10.