In The Life Of The Alderson Broaddus Men's Lacrosse Team

A Day In the Life of the Alderson Broaddus Men's Lacrosse Team

For the Alderson Broaddus men's lacrosse team, the week begins at seven o'clock A.M.
on Monday morning. As the players stream in one by one into the dimly lit weight room and the
loud hip hop/rap music is turned on, blaring through the large speakers built into the ceiling, the
listless expressions begin to melt away. They are replaced by expressions of focus and
determination, their faces stern and unemotional as they gaze at the workout laid before them on
the white board. A gauntlet consisting of weighted squats, overhead presses, sits ups, and various
other exercises must be performed in a certain amount of time before they will be allowed to
leave the session.

The air that the players breathe in is stale and very, very warm due to the poor
ventilation and location of the university weight room, underneath of the basketball arena. They
make their way through their daily lifting session quickly and efficiently; this is a routine that
they have been subjected to over and over since they began preparing for the season back in late
September. As they leave the weight room, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat, the tone is
set for the rest of their day on campus.
Several hours later, several of the players file into a medium-sized, white-tiled classroom
with large, bottom-opening windows on one side. The players sit close together, but they are
surrounded by about 35 other students. A quick glance around the classroom reveals that the
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classroom body is made up of all different types of people from different parts of the world.
Some are on one or more university sports teams, some are involved in various clubs and student
unions, and some are just typical college students. This diverse student body is the reason that
some members of the lacrosse team chose to come to this school. For others, the prospect of a
paid athletic scholarship is what convinced them to choose this school over numerous others who
were vigorously recruiting them. Regardless of their reasons for coming here, they all sit in
classrooms similar to this for several hours a day, taking careful notes and paying close attention
to the professor for fear of falling behind and being deemed ineligible to play for the season if
their GPA falls too low.
Depending on their class schedules, most of the players have several hours of downtime
between their final class of the day and practice time. These hours are usually filled with naps,
library study hours or rehabbing pre-existing injuries in the training room. The players relish
these few hours they get to themselves in the middle of their non-stop schedules. Several of the
players meet every day at the campus cafeteria located inside of Heiner Hall. It's here that they
are immersed yet again in the diverse student body, and are offered meal options ranging from
the worst tasting meat loaf in the world to the team favorite: fried pierogis. Several of the players
sit at a round table eating their lunches and joking with one another, preparing for the grueling
two hour practice coming in the evening ahead of them.
At around three o'clock, the players begin to arrive at the multi-sport performance
stadium at the base of the hill for practice. Several of them have carpooled together since not all
of the players has a car to drive on campus. Five or six of them pile out of a large red F-150,
driven by one of the defensive team captains named Steven. Everyone appears to be in high
spirits as it is a particularly warm day for February, and the weather is crystal clear and
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comfortable for practice. The players are especially grateful for this weather because only two
weeks ago, they were arriving at this time to shovel several inches of snow from the turf, just so
they could squeeze in an hour or so of practice before the snow began to pile up again on the
field.

The players all take a direct path from their cars to the team locker room located beneath
the away team bleachers inside the stadium. A sense of urgency grips them as the first whistle of
practice at precisely four o'clock is drawing near.
The players all put on their protective equipment and practice apparel methodically, as
motions that have been performed hundreds, if not thousands of times in these players lifetimes.
The sound of tearing Velcro and the tightening of laces fills the air, along with the same hip
hop/rap mix they had listened to in the weight room that morning. The players walk awkwardly
across the hard locker room floor in their cleats designed for running on grass or the artificial turf
that AB's field is made of. Each player is careful not to slip and fall as the plastic cleat studs are
slick against the hard floor and provide almost none of the traction as a typical sneaker would.
The sun is just beginning to lower as they step out onto the soft green practice field and begin to
stretch and warm their muscles for the hours long practice ahead.
As the head coach, Chris Lukas, blows the whistle, the players form into two straight
lines and begin to jog around the perimeter of the field for their warm up lap. Upon

completion,
the players are led through a series of dynamic stretches designed to prevent common muscular
injuries and ready the players for contact. After completing their daily stretching routine, the
players break out into a series of lacrosse related drills. The players know how long to spend in
each drill, and precisely which drill to run as the practice plan is printed out and posted on the
whiteboard daily for all the players to read when they enter. The drills move quickly, and it is
sometimes difficult to keep track of the small, white rubber ball as it zooms through the air at
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speeds well over 60 mph.

Practice ends with a full field scrimmage, something that is difficult to
execute due to the teams lack of sufficient players to field two opposing teams. Some players are
forced to play out of their normal positions, for the sake of helping the scrimmage run smoothly.
As the final goal of the day is scored, Coach Lukas blows the final whistle, which signals for the
entire team to locate all of the stray lacrosse balls which lay scattered across the field and on the
side of the grassy hill at the far end of the stadium.
The players retreat back to the locker room and begin to take off all of their gear from
practice. There is a sense of joy and relief in the air as the players are satisfied with the
completed practice. They are glad to be done and to be yet another day closer to their first game
of the season against rival Seton Hill University. They all pile back into the cars from which they
originally came and proceed back up the hill to eat dinner. Following team dinner, the players
retreat back to their dorm rooms for some more free hours. Some of them finish up classwork

left
over from the day or homework for which the due date is fast approaching. Others shower and go
straight to bed, as they have already begun to think about tomorrow, and repeating the same
schedule of events over again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. This schedule will
continue day in and day out until the final game of the season is played, and all of the players
return back to their homes for summer break.