Another Tough Loss

Yesterday our club had its Gala day; a big event in which every Woodville team plays at home and supports each other throughout the day.  I believe there are close to 10 separate teams that are included in the entire Woodville Warriors club, including boys U-17, U-15 and U-13 teams.  There are also a few girls teams as well and reserve teams for the State league, which is what we Americans are fortunate enough to play on.   One of the things that is so great about this club is that at the end of the day, all of the teams get together at the clubhouse for a meal and a few drinks to talk about the day's events.

Part of the deal for Americans who come overseas is that we each coach one of the younger age groups.  I was lucky enough to get paired up with the U-15 team who got its seventh straight win, remaining undefeated.  Some of the players have very bright lacrosse futures, especially if they keep working on some of the basic skills and if they can improve their off-hands. 

Unfortunately for our State team however, we lost to Glenelg 13-10, causing our record to slip to 1-5.  Although a loss is never a good thing, there are certainly many positives we can take away from this game.  We fought hard throughout the entire game, sticking with Glenelg up until the end.  More than once they had a one or two goal lead and we brought the score back to even.

 They also had a couple of players who played for NCAA schools; one was from Maryland and another played at Adelphi (a St. Mike's bitter rival).  A big difference between Glenelg and last week's West Torrens is that they moved the ball very well.  For the most part they played mistake-free lacrosse.  They had a few players who could put the ball in the net which at times created difficult match-ups.  I am already looking forward to playing Glenelg again as I know we can not only stick with them, but we can come out on top.

What I love about being on this Woodville team is that nobody gives up.  We play with 100% effort from start to finish no matter how well or how poorly the game is going.  We understand we have a lot to work on, and are running out of time to turn our season around due to our sub-par record, but spirits are still high because we know we can compete with anyone when we're playing our best lacrosse.  We look forward to this week of training as it is huge for rebuilding our confidence and for preparing for North Adelaide next Saturday.

Of course, there is much more to Australia than the lacrosse.  Today is a day that I have been looking forward to for a very long time; the three Americans and our teammate Stefan Guerin are going golfing.  I hear kangaroos can sometimes be seen hopping around on the links so I'll be sure to bring my camera and hope for the best.  After that I'll look forward to yet another delicious meal by my hosts (Fish and his wonderful wife, Meggan!).  They do just about all of the cooking because as they've learned, I'm not much of a master chef.  After that, I can't even guess what's in store for the next couple of days- its always a surprise here.

Cheers!

Tyler Violette (6) and I during our match against Glenelg.  Not sure what we're doing but Christian Cook, the other American was determined to get a shot of us together.