This past weekend we participated in the LakeFront Classic hosted by Carthage College. First, I want to thank Coach Neff from Carthage for getting this together. I know he and I did a lot of the work together, but ultimately it was his work that got this thing off the ground and done. I had a blast the whole weekend and thought it was a great weekend for everyone involved.
This was the final weekend of fall ball. The team has a couple of weeks off and then we begin to do some off season work, but we are finished with games until Feb. 25-26. That seems so far away, but then again so did this weekend, and then it just came up on us.
Our weekend was up and down. We really struggled to find the consistency we were hoping to have, but I think at the same time we did a lot of growing. From the first game on Saturday to the last game on Sunday this team changed. Every year we are challenged with a new group of young men, and getting them to mesh along with building talent. This year we have seen the team develop ethe chemistry and skills to get better. However, we had not had a full weekend of being fully tested yet. Sure we played UWM and Wisconsin and both teams were challenges, but this weekend was a physical and mental challenge, as we play 6 games in just about 26 hours. his weekend was going to tell us what this team was and where we would be.
Well, the guys showed resilience and heart. It took time, but we began to form the bond and the work ethic on the field that will lead us to the promise land and put us in contention for every game. It didn’t come easy, we suffered through some tough games, but in the end when it was the last game and we were tired and could have mailed it in, we played well. I am proud of these young men and the progress they made over the course of the weekend and the work they put in to get here. I think it speaks volumes for our team, that we handled adversity so well and continued to work hard for each other.
Overall, I had a fun weekend. Thanks to the teams, Illinois, MSOE, Lindenwood, MSU, Carthage, & UMD for all the competition. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it and it gave us a good measure of the areas we need to work on (me included) over the winter and into the Spring.
Thank you to the parents that came down. Sorry I did not get a chance to talk with many of you. It was a busy weekend. I will write again in a couple of weeks.
Parting Shots
- It was really cold this weekend. Why it couldn’t have been 60 and sunny, I don’t know, but at least we did not have any rain.
- It is supposed to snow today. Man, Wisconsin weather often leaves something to be desired.
- Gran Torino is an awesome movie and I highly recommend it.
-Coach
Tags: Coach's Journal, LakeFront Classic, Marquette Lacrosse