Lil' Laxers

When I was in maybe 5th grade we started playing some lacrosse in gym class and not long after some of my friends got sticks and were playing a little at recess and lunch. I asked my parents for a sick of my own and my dad took me to the Gart Brothers Sports Castle. It wasn't until years later that he admitted to me that he only begrudgingly took me and that he thought the stick was a waste of money that'd I'd probably only use a few times and forget about.

But he was wrong. I played all throughout middle school then in high school and even college (probably I wouldn't have gotten accepted where I went to college, had it not been for the sport). My dad even became a fan of the game and for a while, after I'd gone away to college, would got to some local high school and college games himself just to watch.

I had some ups and downs in my time playing. The highest point was probably helping to lead, as co-captain, an admittedly rag-tag team to the Colorado high school state championship in '96. My collegiate career (Division III) started strong but fizzled out into a pretty unremarkable disappointment. My time playing in old men's leagues around town after school came to an end when I blew out my knee. And in the years that have passed, I've attended the untimely and really unthinkable funerals of three of my high school teammates, each of whom was a wonderful teammate and person in their own individual ways. 

So it wasn't all roses and puppy dogs but I did truly love playing the game and I made some great friends and had some wonderful experiences along the way. 

I'd love for my boys to play. But I don't want to force them.

So when Kari suggested we sign Landon up for lacrosse at his school this fall, I was interested in the idea but a little uncertain. He's pretty resistant to trying new things and, with the exception of getting into skiing and biking and swimming, he's not exactly the prototypical athletic kid (to put it nicely).  But the class is just one hour a week with a bunch of his buddies and is taught by a really laid back coach. So we decided to just sign him up, tell him he was doing it, try and be encouraging, and hope for the best.

We recently broke the news to him and he took it a lot better than expected. Yesterday we took him to get a stick. Admittedly I share some of the same reservations my own dad had but he was really excited about getting it. We even played some catch (sort of) in the back yard yesterday evening. We'll see how it goes but I consider yesterday a success and it certainly was a nice day as a dad. Adler got a little guy stick of his own so he can play with us too. And I finally broke down and took the long titanium defensive shaft off of one of my old sticks and replaced it with a regular size one so I can play with the boys without looking too much like an old guy clinging to the good old days. A little but not too much.