Yesterday, Sunday September 20th, members of the Generals Women's Lacrosse team spent the afternoon volunteering for the W&L Girls Sports Clinic. The clinic was put on collectively by the W&L Women's Swimming, Women's Track/Cross Country, Women's Basketball and Women's Lacrosse teams in an effort to help girls in Rockbridge County understand the enjoyment in being active and the value of being fit. The clinic ran from 2pm-5pm yesterday afternoon and began with lacrosse and running. Half of the girls worked with our team learning lacrosse while the other half worked with Women's Track/Cross Country in the running workshop; after ample amount of time in each the groups switched . For the second half of the afternoon, the girls rotated between swimming and basketball workshops.
We caught up with Women's Lacrosse Seniors Julia Gotwald (Alexandria, VA/St.Stephens&St.Agnes), Laura Cavanaugh (Pylesville,MD/North Harford HS), Britten Mathews (Richmond, VA/Collegiate) and Meredith Freeman (St. Louis,MO/MICDS) on how they felt the afternoon went and what the team got out of the experience:
Junior Ellie Van Sant (Chevy Chase, MD / Taft School) and Sophomores Maddie McKaig (Annapolis, MD/Annapolis HS) and Alli Shearin (Essex Falls, NJ/West Essex Regional HS) stretch with the girls in warm-ups.
Meredith: In terms of our team bonding I think it was a fun and easy way to spend time together, and I think we have a few inside jokes as a result of that, which is always great. Additionally, I like how we gave a general lesson as a group and then EVERYONE got to be involved on a personal level and nobody was just standing on the sidelines feeling unused
Meredith leads the group in ground ball demonstrations
Julia: All the girls seemed excited to be there and their skills and knowledge of the game improved drastically within just forty five minutes. The team definitely bonded over teaching these young girls and a lot of people's personalities definitely came out this afternoon. I think the team benefited from this clinic as well because it made us think about the basics of lacrosse and the little things about cradling and catching and throwing that we sometimes overlook yet are a staple of the game.
Alli Shearin and Freshman Neely Burch (Gladwyne, PA/Agnes Irwin) work on ground balls
Britten: Today was a chance for our team to work together to teach these campers the fundamentals of the game but more importantly, to hopefully instill the love of the game in some younger laxers around Lexington.
Junior Kate Speare (Wallingford, PA/Strath Haven HS) helps her clinic buddy learn to cradle
Laura: It was great to coach such an enthusiastic group of girls, many of whom were at or around the age I was when I started playing lacrosse. Today was a wonderful opportunity to take a small portion of our day and devote it to interacting with members of the community. Having our team there working together was fantastic because all of the girls could get one-on-one instruction with their skills. We saw vast improvements as the clinic progressed and I hope that some of the girls will pursue the sport that I have grown to love over the past 13 years.
