#4- The Rules of the Game

Lets dive a little deeper into lacrosse, and how it actually works. I want to discuss the game, the objectives and the rules and regulations. Some of these differ from college and high school, and especially differ from girls and boys. The object of the game is the same all around. The object of the game is to use a stick (known as a lacrosse stick) to catch, cradle, and pass a solid yellow rubber lacrosse ball in an effort to score by shooting the ball into an opponent's goal. The head of the lacrosse stick has a mesh or leather net strung into it that allows the player to hold the ball. While playing defensive the object is to keep your opponents from scoring and to steal the ball from them by checking and using good body positions to get in their way. Girls all have the same sized sticks, with variations of the shape of their head (net of the stick) and the netting, but all the shafts are the same length. Girls wear protective goggles for their eyes protection, and they wear mouthguards. There are 12 people on each team including the goalie. Boys stick size can vary depending on their situation. On defense they have longer shafts then the midfield players do. Their nets are a lot deeper than girls, but they still cradle to keep the ball in. Boys wear helmets, shoulder and elbow pads, chest protector, gloves and a cup. The boys are a lot more aggressive than the girls so they need all the gear to keep them safe. The goalies for girls and guys wear the same gear as the guys but with shin guards as well. And the goalies stick is an average length depending on their height, but the net is round and deep and very wide so it is easier to stop goals. Because there's so much difference in the gear worn the rules differ a ton as well. In girls the ball used is typically yellow, unless both teams agree to use a different coloured ball. The allotted playing time of the game is 60 minutes, with two halves. Each team is allowed two 90-second team time-outs per game. A time-out may be requested by the head coach or any player on the field after a goal is scored or any time the requestor's team is in clear possession of the ball. If a possession timeout is called, players must leave their sticks in place on the field and return to that same place for the restart of play. Girls are not allowed to check across the body, in the sphere (the area close to someone's head in case of injury) when the ball is not in their stick, or any other time it is above the shoulder or simply dangerous. Girls can not being in someone's lane of shooting before they get 3 feet within the player they are defending. Also girls can not shoot when someone is in front of them. The offensive markings on the field is a 8 meter arc coming out from the goal like a cone, and a 12 meter arc that is a few feet back from the 8, but is the same shape. If someone is in the 8 for more than 3 seconds without defending someone it is called 3 seconds and they get a penalty shot. When defending girls can not set blind picks, horizontally set their stick on someone's body to stop them, or trip, push, hit, etc. Boys can not slash, which is hitting other parts of the body then the stick in an aggressive manner. They can't trip other players they are defending. They cannot cross check someone by just using their shaft to hit the other person's shaft in between their hands. They can't body check if someone does not have possession of the ball or is within 5 feet of the ball, they can't hit them if they are on the ground, or from behind or below the waist.

#3- Nutrition

Last time we talked about preseason and the importance of staying in shape and working hard in the offseason and why that is so important. So today I want to talk about nutrition in depth. Athlete or not, this blog post will be helpful to all who have open minds about health, whether you are seeking to be better or to increase your knowledge period. Here we go! What is nutrition? Google says this, “the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth.” Woah! That is an awesome definition. It is the process where we have good health and growth! I would say that that is pretty important that we do it right. Merriam-Webster defines nutrition as, “: the act or process of nourishing or being nourished.” To me that means that it is the way that we are filling our body and what we are giving to our cells and organs and brain. It is also very good for maintaining weight along with physical exercise. But it goes beyond that! Nutrition also helps with; reducing the risk of some diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, some cancers, and osteoporosis. Reducing high blood pressure, lowering high cholesterol, improving your well-being, improving your ability to fight off illness,improving your ability to recover from illness or injury and increasing your energy level. (https://www.tuftsmedicarepreferred.org/healthy-living/expert-knowledge/importance-good-nutrition) As you can see nutrition is so important in everyday lives!! Now let's talk about why it is so important in sports, and in athletes lives. When you are doing physical exercise for 90 minutes or more it is important that our nutrition will carry us through so our bodies can perform at the peak performance. I found 5 specific guidelines to help with this. The first is load up on carbohydrates. Carbs are foods like bread, rice, vegetables, sugars, pasta,etc. “Carbs are an athlete's main fuel. Your body changes them to glucose, a form of sugar, and stores it in your muscles as glycogen.When you exercise, your body changes glycogen into energy. If you exercise for under 90 minutes, you have enough glycogen in your muscles, even for high-intensity activities.” The second is to get a good enough amount of protein. Protein doesn't give you as much energy as carbs but it does help with your muscle strength. It is essential to have a certain amount of protein each day. Protein is meats and milk and cheese. Drinking milk after a workout replenishes your muscles which is good for you! The third one is go easy on fats. Your body turns to fats to get energy if your carbs run low. Obviously we can't completely avoid fats, but on game days especially be cautious to not eat a ton because it can upset your stomach. The fourth one is to drink fluids earlier in the day and often. I can testify to this one that it works! It is important to give your body something to sweat out but still have energy. When working out in hot temperatures it is easy to get dehydrated which then affects your performance and can hurt your body. "All high-intensity athletes should drink fluids early and often," Dubost says. "And don't wait until you're thirsty. By the time you feel parched, you may be seriously dehydrated." The fifth one is to replace lost electrolytes. “Sweating removes both fluids and electrolytes. Electrolytes help transmit nerve signals in your body. To replenish them, reach for sports drinks. If you’re also losing a lot of fluid as you sweat, dilute sports drinks with equal amounts of water to get the best balance of fluid and electrolytes.” (http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/nutrition-tips-athletes#1) There is no worse feeling than running out of energy in a game. On game days I always try my best to eat carbs, and drink lots of water and get lots of sleep. It may not seem like it will affect your game or no, but I promise it will Especially playing lacrosse in all sorts of temperatures, it can be difficult at times to keep running in that hot sun. I also think that their is a mental strength we get when we have good nutrition. This may be a stretch for you to comprehend but if you think about it, if you think that you ate the best you could that day and that your body is being filled with great energy and is ready to perform your brain will believe you and it will act so.

#1 - Why lacrosse?

I am at a very crucial part of my life right now. It's my senior year. This means that a lot of things are coming to and end, but also that many things are starting. But I want to focus on a last that is coming up. My last year of playing lacrosse. Lacrosse is my passion! I love the game! I have been playing most my life, and senior year is the season you look forward to the most. This is where you get the chance to be a captain and lead the team. It's the season where the coach trusts you and the younger class-man look up to you. I know when I was a freshman I did. I want to create this blog to explain the in and outs of lacrosse. This means the off season, the nutrition, goal setting, other players passion, conditioning, coaching, leadership, practice, and game times, along with much more. This is a topic I know a lot about because I have lived it. But I think it will be so cool to expand my learning on this sport. There is much more to a sport then if you win games, and I am interested in diving deeper into girls lacrosse. I think it will be awesome to look back at the end of the season at this blog and see the progress I have made, along with my team, and to be able to look at what I have learned and how I made the most of my last season. I want my blog to be interesting to my readers and I hope that they will come to understand the game like I do. Lets talk about where lacrosse began for me, and why I think it is the best sport on earth. I was in the fourth grade, I had tried soccer, musicals, gymnastics, and none of it was for me. I quit soccer to do a play in my elementary, so when that was over I had no plan for what was next for my athletic career. My family is super into sports, both of my parents were athletes and as well as my siblings. Now I know what your thinking, fourth grade? Chill. Its not like I need to know what I'm doing at a young age, but I think you do. Get started in a sport as soon as you can because then you can only grow and become really good in your lifetime. So back to where I was. My best friend Grace Freeman had played the year before me and told me I had to come try it with her, so after thought I decided why not. I don't remember my first moment when I knew I loved the game, but I do remember that I was good at it. It came natural to me. I could run fast and beat any defender. Of course it took work and learning but it was fun for me. I really started to enjoy it. I even remember my first goal and thinking to myself, that was not as hard as I thought it would be and from there I kept scoring and took off to become a great player. Lacrosse is the greatest sport on earth. I mean it. I think that it is because it encompasses so many aspects from different sports. It is a lot like the game of hockey or soccer and basketball. That may sound crazy to you, but let me explain. The field is very similar to a soccer field. There are defender positions, forward positions, and midfield, along with a goalie. It is like hockey because you can play behind the net and the movements of passing the puck around are a lot like passing with a stick, and it involves gear. It is like basketball because the defense strategies are the same, and because of setting picks. Some of the rules are also like basketball, like 3 seconds in the key is just the same for us on offense in our 8, which is the same as a key but bigger. Lacrosse takes speed and agility, like football. You have to be able to run your butt of and dodge defenders standing in your way, or with their stick in your face trying to intercept or check the ball out. This is why lacrosse is the best, it encompasses several aspects from several sports, so if you are a sideline observer you wouldn’t be totally confused, you could understand. Lacrosse is also very cool because it does take hard work and practice, so not everyone can pick it up in a day. That creates respect for those that play the sport. It also does require athletic ability, you need to be able to run, have good eye-hand coordination, you need speed and strength and aim in your shot, you need to be able to defend and you need to make game time decisions.

All about me

Im Kylie Labrum, I'm 17, its my senior year in high school. I play lacrosse, love exercising, and am super outdoorsy. I love to snowshoe, boat, hike, run, hammock,etc. I am the youngest in my family of an older sister and and older brother, and we have a dog. I don't enjoy reading all that much, but I like to free write. I secretly play the piano, I love hanging out with my friends and am excited to graduate high school!