Generals' Lax Captains Re-Cap February Break in Orlando, Florida

Our February training trip was the perfect break, giving us all of breath of fresh air after a long week of midterms.

We started in Northern Virginia, with a scrimmage against the Scottish National Team. It was awesome to see some great competition and a different, much quicker style of play than we were used to. It was definitely a refreshing way to start off the season and a good way to get back into serious competition. We all loved their accents and had the biggest tailgate you could imagine. It was fun talking to the Scottish players about their schedule and the types of things that differ in our two leagues. They even managed to convince a few of us to purchase their very Scottish looking kilts.

Then it was on to Orlando, Florida. The weather was FANTASTIC -- we couldn't have asked for a more perfect week. After a long day of travel on Sunday, we stretched our legs with a team jog and some evening yoga with Wendy. That night, we headed to Olive Garden for a team meal, complete with endless bread sticks.

On Monday, we had a productive three hour practice to get us started for the week, and then we enjoyed unwinding by the pool that afternoon. The team certainly took advantage of the Florida sun to get a little tan and we were fortunate enough to have our season goal-setting session poolside as well. In the evening, some Orlando alums spoiled the team by organizing a wonderful dinner at a bistro downtown. It is always great to meet former Generals, spend time with them, and hear the various paths their lives have taken since departing Lexington.

Tuesday started off well with a two-hour pregame practice, followed by a nice afternoon off. A group of us ventured to Universal Studios, where we ran around the park feverishly in order to ride every last roller-coaster we could find. Fire and Ice was a team favorite, followed closely by the Hulk. A burger-filled dinner at Margarittaville topped of the day for the thrill-seeking crew.

Another group found their way to the Pirate Adventure Dinner, which was conveniently located across the street from our hotel. The pirate and princess impersonators impressed us with their singing, dancing and acrobatics (true story, there was a trampoline involved). The pirate for our section was named Antonio and we were his biggest fans. Cav, Alexis and Alli were even picked as volunteers and got to join the fun and they were given pirate hats as gifts.
For some, the afternoon meant additional time relaxing poolside or a necessary trip to the nearby fantastic outlets for a little shopping!

Wednesday posed a long day full of tough competition, as we took on two Division II teams, Adelphi University in the morning and Rollins College later that evening. The teams were athletic and aggressive, but we were able to make the most of our scrimmages. Our team implemented lots of new strategies and began to see the weeks of hard pre-season work pay off. We definitely took advantage of playing such high-level competition so early in the season and were more than ready to WOMP on St. Mary's (MD) in home-opener!

Generals Scrimmage the Scottish National Team

This past Saturday the Generals kicked off our 2009 season with a scrimmage against the Scottish National Team at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA. The contest consisted of three 30-minute periods, two played with International rules, and one with NCAA rules. Overall, the day was a great success as the girls enjoyed competing against a new opponent as well as a good test after the four-weeks of practice.

The match went back and forth and was quite even a number of times over the course of the 90 minutes. The Generals certainly had fun with the unique opponent and furthermore came away with a number of things to work on over February break as we look forward to our home opener against St. Mary’s (MD) on the 21st.

Additionally over the Washington break, the Generals will be tested as we scrimmage the Division II squads Rollins and Adelphi while enjoying some Florida sunshine. Hopefully the break from school, and some Disney excitement, will rejuvenate the team after the tiresome midterm week.

A BIG thank you goes out to all of the parents and alumni who came to support us in Alexandria! The tailgate was quite a feast and a perfect sendoff as we hit the road to head south. We look forward to catching-up with many of you in Lexington on the 21st.

Player Spotlight - Sophomore Ellie Van Sant

Name: Ellie Van Sant
Class: 2011
Hometown: Chevy Chase, MD
High School: The Taft School (CT)
Uniform #: 15
Majors: Undecided
Favorite Color: Pink/blue
Favorite Food: Cereal and Lemons (I put lemon on anything and everything!)

What led you to attend and play lacrosse at W&L?
-When I was younger I used to come to the summer lacrosse camp here with my sisters and friends. Before I was even thinking about college I fell in love with W&L! In the beginning of my senior year of High School I still wasn’t sure if I was going to play lacrosse in college. After visiting W&L again and meeting with Jan, I knew I wanted to come to W&L and play lacrosse--it was the perfect school academically, socially, and athletically!

How did you spend this past summer?
-I love spending time with kids, so this past summer I taught swimming lessons at a camp during the day and babysat during some nights. I also went on vacation with my family to the Adirondacks and the beach.

What is the best class you have taken so far at W&L? Why?
-The best class I have taken so far was an environmental studies elective “The World is What We Eat.” This class focused on the impact of human’s consumption on the environment and the changes we can make to reduce our destruction and save the environment. We went on various field trips around the Rockbridge area visiting farms, gardens, etc!

What is your favorite non-lax activity at W&L?
-Definitely spending time with my friends! I love going out to lunch, going on drives, going to Goshen, and watching movies with my friends.

What is your favorite Lexington Restaurant? Why?
-Bluesky!! The best bagels I have ever had and I can always count on having a delicious meal.

Best W&L lax memory?
-Beating Middlebury!! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team that excited!

What does W&L lax mean to you?
-W&L lax has come to mean so many things to me it is hard to explain. Although it is challenging at times, it has created a balance in my life here and W&L. Never before have I been a part of a team like ours, and it is one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Our entire team is so close, I truly feel like I have another family in which each member cares about every person on the team. I have never met a more amazing group of girls!

What was the last book you read for pleasure?
-My Sisters Keeper-It was sad, but I really enjoyed it.

Any other fun facts about yourself you’d like to share?
-I love to watch hockey (The Washington Capitals) and LOVE elephants.

Interview with 2008 Graduate Laura Henson from Mozambique Africa

-What exactly are you doing?
So there are different sectors of Peace Corps, and when you’re nominated you’re nominated for that specific sector. Because I only have a degree in English, I wasn’t qualified for much besides English teaching, so I am primarily an 11th and 12th grade English teacher at the Escola Secundaria do Mucoque in Vilankulos, Inhambane. The World Bank opened my school in 2005, so I work in a very nice school, including electricity and running water, relative to some of the other volunteers here. In Mozambique, one receives the equivalent of a GED after passing the 10th grade exam, so I am lucky enough to be teaching students who are opting to go to school and are therefore eager to learn (most everyone is eager to learn English anyway though since all the bordering countries speak it). Classes start on February 2nd, and I will have anywhere from 6-8 classes ranging from 60-70 students per class. School goes Monday through Friday from 6:45AM to 5:30PM, but I will either teach in the morning or afternoon each day. They offer night classes at my school, but I am not involved in that. I am also going to begin giving computer and typing lessons in the school’s new computer lab starting in March, and I am joining a national organization called REDES, which focuses on empowering women and gender relations.

-What made you decide to do the Peace Corp life?
Um, I don’t really know why I chose this. I have traveled a lot since I was really young with and without my family, so I have always been interested in other cultures. I first thought about it in high school, but at that point I never thought I would be tough enough or worldly enough to do something like this (not that I am really those things now either though). After junior year of college I volunteered in Costa Rica for the summer and loved it, and after that I started taking the idea more seriously and applied. During the application process I visited Amanda Strickler (W&L ’06 Graduate) during her service in Tonga and decided while I was there that it was definitely what I wanted to do. I think the timing was just perfect really. I wanted to get away from the States for a while and figured that this was one of the better times in life to do something like this. I was also ready to do something different or less planned than say my choice for college, and I think this was one of the most different things I could think of that I would still enjoy. Peace Corps is also a step in the right direction for most of the fields in which I am considering returning to school, and I am hoping I will be ready and excited to do that in two years.

-What's the coolest thing you've done since arriving there?
I saved a goat one day during training, and that was pretty cool. I was walking to a friend’s house about 20 minutes away, and this goat had jumped on a wall and tied himself around a stake, so he was choking and pawing at the wall trying to relieve the tension. He was freaking out as I was getting closer and kicking and such, so I picked him up as quickly as possible around his belly with both hands, and awkwardly twisted him back around the stake. When I put him down he tried to run away from me so hard and fast that he whip-lashed himself. I learned how to kill a chicken for fresh meat during training as well, but that’s kind of what you would expect it to be. I don’t really know what the “coolest” thing I’ve done so far would be…my life is pretty slow here, and I haven’t done anything touristy yet. On one of my runs in the beginning on the beach I started getting chased by these dogs, and I didn’t know if they were nice or not, so I got really scared and just ran directly into the ocean and waited for like 20 minutes until they moved on…turns out they are nice dogs and that was totally unnecessary. Recent but not so fun. Both my dog and my next-door neighbor are pregnant though, so there will be a new baby and lots of puppies around here soon, and I’ll have to help my dog do the birthing thing, so that will be pretty interesting.

-What do you miss most about W&L?
I miss my roommates (I watch Friends sometimes and think about how they all live in NYC together…it’s kind of pathetic) and lax (teammates from all 4 years, the sport, competition, having a reason to work out…everything about lax, especially teammates and my class and feeding the chicken with Bender -W&L ’08 graduate…well, doing lots of obnoxious things with Bender) most of all, and I miss writing and being challenged mentally. And right now I miss the weather, because it is about 100 degrees and unbelievably humid every day here, but I do live on the beach and all the roads are sand, so I can’t complain too much.

-Anything you want to say to your former Lax teammates?
Nothing they don’t already know or haven’t heard: stay unified, enjoy it, and work as hard as you can physically, because you won’t have a reason to later.

-Any other fun thoughts or stories?
Hmm, the most fun I have really is talking to my neighbors, who are also my colleagues, and getting to know people in my community. It can be exhausting sometimes speaking all in Portuguese and trying to remember all the small cultural things that don’t come naturally yet, but that is probably my favorite part, though I definitely have to take breaks from it and take time to myself. And, since I typically get along better with kids than adults, I am very excited for classes to start and to get to know my students, even though plenty of them will be older than I am.