By Melinda Miley '12 and Madison Scripture '12
Earlier this spring, high school students in the surrounding Philadelphia area were given the opportunity to gain experience as amateur reporters for their local school papers.
The program allowed students to attend a Philadelphia Wing’s lacrosse game at the Wells Fargo Center, explore the arena, and sit in on a post-game press conference.
Students were escorted to a private room where we had an interview with Wing’s forward Bill McGlone.
McGlone entered the league after playing lacrosse for the University of Maryland. Although he was traded to the Philadelphia Wings three years ago, McGlone did grow up in Philadelphia, so he knew that the “fans are intense and emotional, but you gotta respect that.”
McGlone discussed a day in the life of a professional lacrosse player and how it is quite different than the lives of professional football and baseball players.
The team members live regular lives during the week, rarely seeing each other training and practicing on their own.
Once Friday evenings come, they practice and strategize for the Saturday game.
"We're all normal guys Monday through Friday," McGlone said. "We all have other jobs, and, actually, a lot of the players are firefighters."
After the interview, we were escorted to the field where we were given an up-close view of the players warming up right before their big game.
The Wing’s also acknowledged one of their most outstanding goalies, Dallas Eliuk, by retiring his jersey.
The action packed game was well played by both the Philadelphia Wings and their opponents, the Rochester Knighthawks. At halftime, the Wings were down 5-4, but they quickly tied the game up by the end of the third quarter at 7-7.
Unfortunately, the Knighthawks had a tough defense and very skilled goalie, causing the Wing’s to fall short and lose the game 11-8.
After the game, we were taken to a post-game press conference. Head coach Mr. Johnny Mouradian spoke about how he felt his team played
“Our players are excellent lacrosse players,” Mouradian stated. “[But] we play better when we’re aggressive and aggressive everywhere.”
Wing’s forward Dan Dawson was frustrated by the loss and because he is a major offensive player, he gets a lot of heat for games where the offense lacks aggression.
“A true test of character is how you react when you’re down in the dumps,” Dawson said. “We [always] gotta play to win.”
When the press conference ended, we were escorted back out to the lobby and had the chance to meet a few of the players.
Each player seemed genuinely nice and they took time out of their night to stick around after the game, meeting fans and signing autographs.
The overall experience for this student journalist program was great. We had the opportunity to get a hands on experience about what it is like to be a sports journalist all the way from the pre-game interviews to the post-game press conferences.
Being able to go behind the scenes of a professional sporting event really showed us what real journalists are expected to do on a daily basis.