Right Sport Wrong Court

Clay is my 9 year old son who has never seen a real Lacrosse Game before today.  We signed him up for Peterborough Lakers Lacrosse so that he could play with his friend Calvin.  The two boys were inseparable at Clay’s old school and we wanted to give them a chance to spend some time together.  Clay was nervous, having never played lacrosse and only holding the stick with a ball for the first time yesterday.

Last night we received a call from Calvin’s mom.  Calvin had AAA Hockey tryouts on the same night as their first Lacrosse Game.  She was calling to give us the heads up.  Clay was now even more nervous, who will be on his team, how do you play lacrosse, what are the rules . . . he asked if he could wait until next week.

After some mild encouragement we climbed into the van and headed down to the Kinsmen Double Pad Arena, where the ice was gone and the courts lined for lacrosse.  Clay found his dressing room and got ready for the game.  He was on team 3 with yellow jerseys and he was number 34.

The coach gave a few encouraging instructions and the boys headed out of the dressing room down the long corridor to the hallway that divided the two courts.  Clay followed the line of yellow jerseys out on to the floor, he didn’t know anyone on his team and you could tell from his body language that he as a bit uncomfortable, but willing.  The other boys seemed a lot bigger than Clay . . . a lot bigger.  I guess I didn’t notice when they were sitting in the dressing room.  They were skilled too!  Wow, can then flip and turn those sticks.  I’m glad we prepared Clay for body contact.  The boys demonstrated slashing and cross-checking, both allowed in lacrosse, and of course body checking.

The game was on and Clay quickly kept up with the play, not bad I thought.  He was digging in the corner, stole the ball a few times and even got a shot on net.  Then right in front of us he even crunched a much bigger player between himself and one of his team mates.  He was getting the hang of this and liking it!  He beamed a smile as he ran by.

His team wasn’t nearly as good as their opposition and they lost 6 – 0, but Clay had fun and really enjoyed the game, even though he didn’t recognize any kids on his team and the kids were a lot bigger . . . I mean at least a whole head taller than Clay.

The team exited the court and headed to the dressing room.  But they turned the wrong way . . . must be going to have a chat with the coach somewhere else I thought, so I headed to dressing room 4, where I saw Clay’s bag and change of clothes and a lot of other clothes for a lot of other kids . . . much smaller than the ones in Clay’s game.  Then it dawned on me and I ran down the hall to find Clay taking off his equipment in another dressing room, looking around for his bag.  I ran back down the hall and looked out on the other court and saw another team with yellow jerseys, a much smaller team of kids and that is when it hit me – Clay just played Lacrosse, for the very first time with the wrong team . . . a much bigger team of kids in the next age group up!

I ran back to the room he was in and quietly escorted him down the hall and filled him in on my discovery, we both broke out in laughter, deep bellied laughter until Clay’s team, his real team entered the dressing room.  We held it in for a minute, then laughed again and filled in the rest of the team.  The room was filled with laughter and hopes that this young rookie named Clay Coles might be the very thing they need to win a few games this season, because Clay survived his first game of lacrosse ever with the much feared older kids on the other court.  We had the right sport, but the wrong court.

Clay can’t wait to play again on Thursday night for his proper team, with his friend Calvin.

~ by mymomentum on April 15, 2009.