Women's Lacrosse Players

Hope Solo, a goalie for the United States Women’s National Team, as well as the Seattle Reign FC in the National Women’s Soccer League, is widely regarded as the best goalkeeper the women’s game has ever seen. With over 100 career shutouts on the international level, and numerous individual and team awards including two FIFA Golden Glove awards and a World Cup, it’s hard to deny her prowess. Solo has been on the national stage for over a decade now, and while heralded as a world class player, her career has been fraught with controversy. Solo: A Memoir of Hope was published in August 2012 and provides a unique look into the major events in Hope Solo’s life through her own eyes.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will, and a lack to change”-Vince Lombardi. Central Dewitt’s football program usually has a tradition of great success and excellent morals. Unfortunately, in the 2014 and 2015 football season they have a combined record of 5-13, which does not live up to the standards of the DeWitt community. There are many problems circulating the football program, but most involve the lack of experience in coaching. Central Dewitt ‘s losing football record for the past two seasons can be solved by coaches properly developing their athletes, incorporating new offensive and defensive strategies, and increasing player participation.

I learned that anything is possible long as you put mind to it. I also learned that I

At their finest, coaches perfect their player’s flaws to push them to their potential ability, improve their skills, and create determination within the team. They can expand the importance of such a sport to intensify motivation and the value of good sportsmanship for the sake of not only their reputation, but the outcome that comes from it. Coaches must not lag when it comes to hardships that comes about; they must stay connected. The closer the connection between a player and a coach the better they are moving forward and continuing on the love of the sport and job.

It all started with an email seeking freshman male in his coaching and administration program. The 2012 graduate of UConn’s Sport Administration and coaching program, William Aloia, says this future success as the Associate Athletic Director for The College of St. Rose started out by almost” falling into his lap”. The New Jersey native began his undergraduate experience with two Division-I parents, and like an abundance of people he knew that working in sport was something he wanted to do. Previously a part of the Kinesiology department under the late Joe Marrone, Will jumped on the opportunity posted through an email and started his freshman year as a basketball manager for the very successful UConn’s basketball program. He explains how this experience “opened his door up”. Will states; “once I started at UConn working with the women’s basketball program and being around collegiate athletics at such a high level it’s really something in itself, and unbelievable experience. I knew it was for me, I didn’t know which part for sure, but I knew this was something I wanted to do.” What Will realized very quickly realized about working in sport is that often times it is a thankless job. However, that did not stop him from finishing his undergraduate career as a four-year manager for the basketball team. The motivation for Will early in his career has been a two-dimensional illustration of success.

2015 was the year that sparked numerous amounts of concussions that had occurred in women’s lacrosse. ( USA Today) After this, Florida Lacrosse decided to make helmets mandatory for women. ( Bill Pennington) The results show the game injury rate was twice the rate for practice (7.5 versus 3.3 injuries per 1,000 athlete-exposures) (Snyder). A recent study found that the majority of head injuries in high school girl’s lacrosse resulted from stick-to-head contact during aggressive. Girls playing lacrosse should definitely be required to wear helmets and better protective equipment. Women’s lacrosse in high school concussions are at number two right above men’s lacrosse (New York Times). According to New York Times, headgear has also been effective in reducing head trauma caused by stick-to-head or ball-to-head contact. The number of deep bone bruises is significant do to the lack of shin guards, arm guards, chest protection, and hand protection.

An example of this connection is presented when Williamson describes how “Indiana’s Bobby Knight, seeking to clean house after a disappointing 1996-97 season, drove starting point guard Neil Reed out of town with one year of eligibility remaining. Reed left, but not before accusing Knight of physical and emotional abuse.” This example helps Williamson to show the reader that coaches, driven by hunger for victory and money, now are succumbing to the desire for wealth. Bobby Knight drove Niel Reed out of his team because Niel Reed wasn’t “up to par” and didn’t help the team enough for them to have a successful season. This makes the reader understand the harm and pain caused by Knight’s actions, and presents a situation that the reader could possibly relate to and subsequently feel more connected to; thus persuading the reader to obey the call to action used by Williamson in the last paragraph.

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.

What is lacrosse? Lacrosse is a really fun sport that makes fit and healthy. It was invented by a culture called the Native Americans. That was their game back then. And Konawaena has their own team and the coach is Coach Curran. I was one of the players in his team. And I think its was really fun to play in his team.

Lacrosse is often referred to as the fastest sport on two feet. Deriving from Native American roots, it relies upon athleticism, commitment, and one’s ability to wield a lacrosse stick. For centuries, the sport has grown and evolved as new equipment is regulated, new rules created, and new styles developed. Recently, however, a push for more protective gear has evolved outside the lacrosse community due to rising fears of increased head trauma; it incited a debate revolving around whether or not extra protective headgear would decrease the dangers of women's lacrosse. On the other hand, those within the lacrosse community, mainly players and coaches, have recognized the dangers

Having worked both women’s and men’s lacrosse, I have learned they are two different types of sports. Women’s lacrosse you have a shot clock and really cannot hit. During this game of women’s lacrosse, I was working the shot clock the whole game. Also, I had to call out certain times on the clock because either there was glare or if a team hit fifteen seconds on the shot clock, Karmen needed to know so she could blow the horns.

Staffing a school is the most important responsibility and service a principal has to attend and to provide a school. Students have a right to be taught by highly qualified teachers and in this case a highly qualified basketball coach. The case study #16 presents a situation where the principal has to begin recruiting to fill a basketball coaching position that has been long filled by two brothers that are ready to retire due to health reasons. The principal feels the pressure to have to fill this position, but finds it a bit challenging for a number of reasons—salary considered too low, not enough interest in “girls’ teams by the community, racial and gender concerns, and scandals in nearby district concerning males coaching girls’ teams. An athletic director for the high school suggests that she look into asking the parents of the players. (Kirschmann, 1996)

In Case 7 “Perceptions of Leaders Following Public Failures: A Tale of Two Coaches”, two leaders both college football coaches of their respective teams were encountered with scrutiny, as they lacked a certain level sensitivity regarding serious incidents within their program. The case study talks about both Mike Leach and Gary Barnett’s background as coaches and progress to the events with their program that lead to them being involved in the public failure. This eventually led to people having various perceptions of both coaches based off of how they dealt with the incidents. As a result of both programs image being tarnished, Mike Leach was fired, however; Gary Barnett’s job was retained.

With the opportunity of a fresh start in front of us, I believe now is the time to make the changes this program needed five plus seasons ago. My first year on the team was both very exciting and intimidating. It couldn’t have been more than two days into the season before I was taken under the wing of senior captain Laura. She began to teach me the ropes of the program I would dream of leading myself one day. As a new captain, Laura explained to me her goals as a leader and what she hoped to bring to the Prior Lake Girls’ Hockey Team. As I look back to the very beginning of my high school hockey career, I have yet to see this team achieve the goals Laura set that year. What I will write about is what I have learned what makes some leaders more successful than other, and why

Women. Men. They are both a unique and special being that is on earth. In a perfect society, men and women would have the same physical strength and they would be completely equal. The idea of women and men being able to play against each other is wonderful but realistically it might not work out as great. Of course, women can do anything men can do, but in a competitive situation like this, the results of this change could bring forth more negative impacts than positive ones. In professional sports, women and men should be kept separate due to being biologically different and because of the possibility of the quality of the performances in the sports decreasing.