Lacrosse

Today seemed to be a day dedicated to my son, Will.  I spent the morning with him, helping him with his Algebra 2 homework assignment.  We had to put that on hold, however, while we went to his lacrosse game; which was held up in Bountiful.  That's about a 40 min. drive north of here, passing through Salt Lake City.  His team lost, but his friend, Dallan, who plays an attack position, did make one of our team's scores!  Will plays defense, so he doesn't make scores.  But he was kept plenty busy, since the other team kept driving down to score against us.

 AF is in the white jerseys.  Will is on the far right.

 #22 is Will's friend, Dallan.  He plays an attack position.

 Will running to get the ball before the other team does.

 Will is #14.

Will's team is pretty raw.  We arrived early enough for team warm ups, and I noticed (from afar) that Will and his friend, Dallan, seemed to be directing the warm ups.  It appears that they are stepping into sort of leadership roles since they are the older boys on the team, and have played for a few years, now.

 Will is on the right.

 Lacrosse is pretty action packed, with people being smacked by sticks, tripped by sticks, or just being bashed into!

 Will is in the middle of this shot, with his long pole angled down.

Will is the front runner on the left of this shot.

The varsity game was held just before Will's game.  It was a much more intense game!  The score was very close.  The players and coaches were much more on edge because of it.  At one point, one of the refs threatened to call off the game if the sideline didn't cool it.  There really is no reason to get that worked up about these games!  The fall league is meant to be fun and has no tournament or other reason to get worked up about who wins and who loses.  The lacrosse league is also much more strict about spectator behavior, too.  I used to cringe over parent behavior at Will's football games... and that was back when he was in elementary school!  I am glad that the parents are so low key at lacrosse.  I spent part of the varsity game chatting amicably with a mother from the opposing team.  Everyone is so friendly and no one is screaming at the refs, players, or coaches.  Of course, that could be because most of us have no idea what the rules are to this game our sons have decided to play!  Most of us have no idea why the ref even blew the whistle, let alone whether it was a fair call or not!

Still, it was a beautiful, blue sky fall afternoon; with a cool breeze that made the sunshine comfortable.  I really do love fall here!

After lacrosse, and some grocery shopping, Will and I went out to do some more practice driving.  He is still most comfortable on country roads, but is willing to venture forth into some quiet residential streets.  He also did a bunch of 'touch and go's' in the parking stalls at a local elementary school's empty parking lot.  'Touch and go' is a flying term for practice take-offs and landings.  I used to ride along with my Dad as he did 'touch and go's' in a little two-seater Cessna single prop airplane when I was about Will's age.  Will's 'touch and go's' were of the parking variety.

Country (and lake) view while driving.

Now Will is outside, setting up a back yard camp-out (complete with campfire); and I am inside, settling in to wait for the wandering teenager, Helena, who is off at the Homecoming dance on a double date with her best friend, Megan.  I will write more about that tomorrow when I have heard about all of her adventures.