Personal Narrative: My Last Game Ever As A St. Francis Warrior

Everyone could feel the tension in the air. We took the field to the packed stands and the lights. It was something unforgettable. The pregame ended and the game was to begin. As the game began it was very close. It went goal by goal all through the first half. We would score, they would score, and this continued to end the half 5-5. I had scored 2 of these 5 goals. At halftime, we knew as a team we would have to pick it up to pull ahead. This was the biggest game of the year and we could not let it slip. The second half began and we traded goals to bring the score to 8-8, me scoring two more goals. We were working great as a team but we ran into a bump. One of our best offensive players, Marty got injured so we would have to finish the game without him. As he came off, he pulled me aside and said “This game is on you. You got this.” Him saying this was a huge inspiration because of how good of a player he was. I knew that I would have to out work Plymouth if we

The heat bears down on me, as I feel my skin burning in the hot summer sun. Dust and dirt floats around the air and a thin layer of grime covers my entire body. Sweat drips around my goggles while adrenaline fills my body and my heart races. In the middle of nowhere in Virginia, I feel at home, I feel the turf under my cleats and the cool metal of the stick in my hands. As the timer ticks down, the buzzer rings, and the game begins. I look to my left and see my dad sitting on the sideline, ready to cheer as loud as possible. To my right I find my teammates, the most loyal group of friends I have, ecstatic about the potential of winning.

Second year as an Under-10 Squirt level hockey player for the New Jersey Colonials ice hockey team proved to be a challenging and harrowing experience that shaped the course of my future hockey career. I was a determined, naïve child with fantasies of playing in the NHL when I grew older. The source of my troubles began with Coach Ruben, a relentless, unforgiving hockey coach. Coach Ruben was in charge of determining the AAA hockey team that I desperately wanted to make. Unfortunately, I would not have that opportunity. My mom, compassionate and sympathetic, guided me through the confusing maze of anger and depression. My dad, a coach and former hockey player, gave me valuable, supportive advice that would change my hockey expectations and

Ever since I was 8 years old, lacrosse has been my life. My teammates are my family, the field is my home, and the game is a huge part of who I am. When I was 12 and entering middle school I decided it was time to join a more serious team with other guys like me, that share my passion for the sport. I ended up joining an "alright" team with a bunch of "alright" players. After a few seasons with them, I realized I wasn't challenging myself and playing up to my potentional. My parents and I decided it was time for me to take it to the next level and join one of the most prestigiuos boys lacrosse travel teams on Long Island; the Long Island Outlaws.

A memory that is etched into my brain is when I was asked to come back and be on a national lacrosse team. This summer I went to try out for a national lacrosse team down in Ocean City. The team’s was named, “ Diamond National” and they were a pretty good national team. This is the first time I tried out for a national team and I thought I didn’t do my best at the tryouts. Even though I didn’t do my best I was still asked to come back.

Our team went undefeated for our first 16 games, and then our 17th game we had our first tie. We were used to killed the team we tied to, but that proves if you don’t come ready not everything is going to go your way. Some of the kids kind of took it the wrong way. We won 14 more games after that and kept playing strong. Then we had our final playoff game to see who was going to state or not.

Pennsauken had only lost once earlier that year to my team, The Braves, while we were undefeated and I could tell that they didn’t want to lose again. After the opening Kickoff, I was in at Defensive Tackle. Every play I felt like it went quiet all I could hear was the beating of my heart, the motivational cheers from my family and the blow of the whistle. The game started with an interception on 3rd down and now the Braves were on offense. Our running back D.J. awarded the Pennsauken defense with a big run for a Touchdown on first down. He came to back to the sideline shuddering from the cold and panting like a dog. The whole team thought that we were gonna be winning the game, for the first half at least.

It was my sophomore year, and the day had come to find out who made the varsity lacrosse team. We piled into the locker room to discover rows of brand new helmets. The list of the varsity players was written on the whiteboard. The team was excited, the locker room buzzing with noise. My heart dropped as I realized that my name wasn’t written there. My friends were admiring their new helmets and I had to hold back tears and disappointment. I know now that I still had to be developed at the junior varsity level, but it wasn’t easy to understand back then. At practice that day, I played out of pure spite, every move filled with rage. You aren’t good enough, I thought. I left practice that day without saying goodbye to my friends.

I believe joining my high school lacrosse team was an influential part of my high school career. Having social anxiety, it was not always easy for me to be around others kids. Joining the team thought me to face my fears and that sometimes it is better to stop thinking and just take that “leap” into whatever you're afraid of. Secondly I learned to push through challenging times even when I wanted to quit. Lacrosse also allowed me to meet people who I would come to look up to, and cause me to want to improve myself for the better.

In my Junior year, my nickname on the lacrosse team was mom, for a variety of reasons, I drove a minivan and often found myself driving 8 of my teammates around, I gave advice to other players all the time, and I was the oldest person on the team.

This is definitely a bittersweet time in my life. I have loved and cherished these past 4 years at Palmyra and I can attribute most of my enjoyment to the time I spent playing lady cougar basketball. Looking back at my time playing I can truly say that i've made memories and friends in this program that will last a lifetime. This being my senior year I especially wanted to embrace everything this season could offer me. I went as hard as I could in practices and games because I knew that my time remaining in this uniform was dwindling and I wanted to leave nothing on the court when that final buzzer went off. Unfortunately, that time came sooner than expected when I suffered a season ending injury in the Bishop Mcdevitt game, however the silver lining to that night was beating them. I was extremely devastated that my high school basketball career

Sixty minutes. A field hockey team has sixty minutes to prove that it worked longer, faster, and harder than the opposing team. The countless amounts of effort, time, sweat, and pain all pays off during those sixty minutes. Practice is close to indescribable; after the warm up run, we sprint. After we sprint, we do drills. If we don’t sprint in the drills, we do more sprints. Summing it up simply, the running is intense and extensive. The practices are long and hot, and the expectations for performance are extremely high. I absolutely love it.

Thank you for sharing a little about yourself. I am sorry to hear about your college basketball career ending injury. Life always has a strange way of directing us in the path that is right for us. I also had a similar situation in high school. I was a year round competitive swimmer who was nationally ranked high in USA Swimming for the 200-meter free style, the 200-meter breaststroke and the 400-meter individual medley. I ended up having a groin and hip joint injury that resulted in giving up my full ride scholarships. At the time it was devastating after swimming year round for 12 year, however the universe had a different plan for me. It is great that you are excited about your degree in Family and Human Development. It is always refreshing

Right around Christmas time, at the best time of year, there’s a hockey tournament called the DQ (Dairy Queen). It’s hosted in Moncton, early January. It is probably the most anticipated tournament for me, and many others I’d imagine because you are away with your teammates having a blast around the hotel and playing hockey.

The team was ready, we had been working extremely hard for the past seven months for this. We were all in great shape and very rested. A few of the returning players were meeting me at my house to carpool to the final game of the state championship tournament. Everyone knew that the hard work had paid off when we won the semi-final game the preceding day.