So, yea, I’m going to be biased writing this article, but let me explain to you why women’s lacrosse players are the toughest athletes around.
- We have to deal with CONSTANT rule changes. There has been fouls that have gone back and forth from major to minor. Possesion of the ball has changed from a throw to now being something that is determined in the coin toss. Also there are constant updates on how sticks can be strung. For example, I had my stick strung a certain way and the referee checked my stick, let me play, and then during the game gave me a yellow card for my stick being illegal because the stringing was not correct due to a rule change TWO DAYS prior. So, needless to say, we deal with a lot of rule changes and most times are not told of these changes.
- We are constantly told how boring our sport is. If I got a dollar for every time I was told how boring women’s lacrosse was, how stupid it is because we can’t hit, or just how dumb the rules of my sport are I’d be vacationing on my own yacht in the middle of the ocean far away from these people who said these things. Honestly, we constantly get slack for how our game is just not as good as the boys because we can’t hit. “Can you really call it lacrosse if you don’t hit?” “So, it’s really just glorified tag, right?”
- Our protection gear is not the most flattering. I don’t play lacrosse because it makes me look good and I wouldn’t quit if I had to wear these things, but for a sport that people already think is a joke do we have to make our gear make things worse? Currently, Cascade lacrosse released a new helmet that is optional wear that does look better than previous helmets, but still all of us are patiently waiting for something that we all like.
- This goes for any spring sport truly, but the weather we play in is awful. Starting our season in Late February Early March means that there is more than likely snow on the ground. I’ve played in snow, rain, sleet, and I’ve also been sunburned and dying of heat. So we take a beating and so do our parents coming to watch us play.
- So. Many. Rules. To this day, I’ve played lacrosse for seven years and I still can’t explain to you all the rules of the sport. On top of not entirely being able to explain the rules there is one rule in particular that drives every single player mad… shooting space. It’s something that as many times as I’ve tried I can NOT avoid, here is a picture explaining only one rule.
- We still play. We all still get up every morning, stay focused, and love this sport with our whole hearts. We still play despite the rules, weather, our nerdy our gear looks, people who put us down, and rule changes. Dealing with all of these things and STILL loving and playing this sport makes women’s lacrosse players the toughest because we have a lot to prove and a lot to show despite all the nay sayers.
