Back to Lax

Saturday marked our return to the lacrosse field with Jacob's one tournament of the fall.  This was our organization's host tournament, but instead of being about 25 minutes away south of Rochester, it was 40 minutes away in Batavia, on fields we've passed a million times and mostly only ever seen soccer on.  The good news is that it made for a shorter trip for my parents, so they were able to join us for part of the day.

While we're happy Jacob has a team to play for within the organization, we're actually a little disappointed in the schedule for his team for the coming nine months.  The last two years, his team played in this tournament and then went to the one in Maryland on Veterans' Day Weekend.  We absolutely loved that we were able to go into Baltimore that weekend last year, though if you'll recall, it was super freezing for the tournament.  This year Jacob's team (because he's essentially with a different caliber of team) is only playing in the host tournament in the fall, and will probably only play in two in the spring, maybe three if the coach decides to look into more.  While the financial savings is nice, it's pretty disappointing that they'll have all this practice time together in the winter and will only get a couple chances to put it all together at a tournament.  It takes time for teams to gel, and when you don't have much time, will it really ever happen?  Jacob generally hates practices, so having so many in proportion to real playing time seems like we may have a challenge on our hands keeping him engaged.  We'll miss the adventure of the Maryland trip, but I won't miss potentially freezing, nor will I miss the mostly dark, very long drive home.  But after this weekend, I do wish we had more time in the fall!

Saturday was a very cold, cloudy day, with a high around 50 and blustery winds.  We were lucky in that our schedule changed at the last minute and we didn't have to play until noon, which meant we missed the morning rain.  However, even without it, it was a little damp and very chilly at the fields.  The temps hung in the upper 40s for the most part.  When the sun came out it was almost tolerable, but when it went behind the many clouds, it was cold and breezy.  And of course I was out of my groove for cold weather packing, so I forgot to track down mittens for Carter, or grab our usual blankets, or find the hand warmer packets.  #momfail

So...we were cold.  Hot chocolate, hands in sleeves, hats and hoods, and glove sharing only went so far.  But we hung in there.  We had three games, basically every other time slot, from noon until 4pm.  My parents came for the last two.  They ended up playing one team twice, which was probably good because it was probably the team closest to them in skill level.  Jacob's team is a combined team of 10 and 11-year-olds, and for the most part they're essentially the rejects from the tryouts for the elite Navy teams at each age level--like the team Jacob was on for two years.  And when the elite teams take the best players at each position, you sort of end up with a mish-mash of leftovers...so some positions are stronger than others and there aren't a ton of subs.  That, of course, is good news for Jacob who was starved for playing time this summer.  Anyway, they played the same team--an inner city team--twice, as well as one of two teams at the same age level from another organization.  These were all teams with players a year older than Jacob, so it was going to be a challenge no matter what.

Photo credit: Craig

Photo credit: Craig (his phone takes nice pictures, doesn't it?)

I should also mention that on our way to the first game, we saw the tent of Jacob's former teammates.  We stopped to say hi to a bunch of parents, all of whom mentioned that their kids miss Jacob.  And let me tell you, we miss them.  It struck me how Saturday could have been this awesome family reunion of sorts, with getting back with the families we spent a full month of weekends with, but instead it was a bittersweet moment to see all of the people we'd like to be hanging out with, only to have to walk away to our new reality.  It was great to see them, but it sucked.  Truly.  Everyone was hopeful Jacob could make it back next year, but like Jacob, I'm not convinced his old coach will ever see a place for him there again, especially since they now have two new attackmen.  All we can hope is that someone will decide it's not for them and Jacob will do well enough to make him tough to refuse.  But maybe it's just not meant to be, since he's not that hot on lacrosse anymore anyway.  We're just taking it day-by-day now.  Tryouts are a long way away and a lot could change by then.  His old team dominated pretty solidly, by the way, winning all three games--two by pretty good margins. 

I should mention that it's not like we're all alone on this new team.  I don't think there are many (if any) who are in Jacob's situation of being with the upper level team previously, but they're all in the same boat of ending up here after other tryouts didn't go as planned, and we do have more connections than expected.  One kid played with Jacob every other year (due to their age difference) on their old house team.  Another teammate is his friend from church (whose mom was Jacob's lunch monitor) and who he'll play with on their house team this winter.  And then I discovered that one of his teammates was a daycare friend of his for years!  Small world.  So, at least there are familiar faces here and there.

It was nice seeing Jacob out there again, particularly since he was out there a lot more than we were used to.  He had a nice normal shift (so probably about half the game).  He played well in the first couple games but wasn't getting many chances.  They won the first game by one goal.  The inner city team was actually pretty good.  They had a lot of size and were clearly athletic.  I think lacrosse is newer to most of them, but they did well despite the loss.  Jacob's team then lost pretty decisively to the team they only played once.  That was tough to watch.

I was hoping the fall colors would be a little more photogenic that day, but we're a bit behind schedule here (not a bad thing) so the ethereal skies would have to do to distract us from the cold.  I was constantly willing the sun to come out and join us.  Alas, its visits were short!

By the third game, we were just eager to finish up and get warm, but we were pleasantly surprised as Jacob had a great game!  He scored two goals and added a beautiful assist!

I tried to take a picture but looked up and accidentally moved the camera since I could tell Jacob had a prime chance...and this was the result.  Jacob's just off to the left, having just taken a shot.  But see that ball even with the crossbar on the left?  It went in!

They won that last game pretty handily, but that was the other team's fourth game of the day and they were no doubt exhausted!  Despite taking two wins, both teams gathered together at the end for a picture and a prayer!

Pretty cool, isn't it?

We were eager to get into the van and warm up.  Those heated seats felt great!  We grabbed some dinner at the Five Guys nearby, and then headed home.  It was all about snuggling in for the rest of the night!  

All in all, it was a successful day.  Jacob even ended the day more positive than I've heard him in months!  He seemed to like his teammates and wished they were able to go to another tournament this fall.  He still misses his old teammates but said he wouldn't want to give up his playing time.  That was really good to hear.  It's just a shame that it'll be so long before they play together again.  But it made me hopeful that eventually we'll find out what the reason was that he ended up on this team.  It hasn't been an easy journey, but I hope there's a good ending!