Rebuilding a Team with Lacrosse Fall-Ball

A lacrosse goal sits at the edge of the field, pulled away for the off-season. Photo Cred: Brayden Howard

Brayden Howard, Staff Writer for the Powderhorn

After nearly 5 months since the last practice, the Watauga Lacrosse team is finally able to get back on the field and prepare for next season.

Lacrosse is one of the lesser-known sports at Watauga High School, but it has been steadily growing for the last 5 years or so. This year, the team is holding 2 weeks of fall-ball practices to get the team ready for the main season. This is the first year Watauga has had a fall-ball program for lacrosse like this.

“We’ve grown the program over the last 4 seasons, from starting over from scratch to now. We’re not playing year-round, but we’re getting close,” said lacrosse coach Matthew Carpenter.  “We’re adding and trying to do some other stuff.”

Since this is the first year of lacrosse fallball, many veteran players have been antsy to get back out on the field and back into the sport. Many prominent seniors graduated last year, leaving substantial slack to pick up by this year's seniors and juniors.

“I think it’s pretty important to get an early preseason start. With all the players we lost last year, I think having an opportunity like this is something that’s really going to help build the program early on,” said Holden Womack, a senior who has played lacrosse for the last 3 seasons.

Last year, the lacrosse program had 10 seniors graduate, and it’s now looking to fill those gaps with new players, and these practices hope to build some essential skills. The practices are taking place from 7-9:00 p.m. on Leigh Cooper Wallace field, the field situated below the stadium and past the field house. Practices will be happening October 13-16, and 20-23. According to Carpenter, the practices will be taking place after the football team is done with the field.

“I think game sense is important for our younger players,” said Womack. “I think the biggest thing that can help us is having knowledge of what to do on the field.”

The coaching staff hopes to cut some of the intimidation factor of lacrosse and help new players have fun with the sport. Describing the two weeks as akin to a sports camp, they plan to make it an educational but competitive experience.

“We’re definitely hoping it’s a good recruiting event. I think we may do a table in the cafeteria during the first week,” said Carpenter. “We want to spread the word and get some more guys to come out. We want to make it really fun, so it’s going to be about half skills and stuff, hopefully a lot of 1 on 1 coaching, and then we’re going to scrimmage at least half the time. [We] just want to get out there and play.”

Of course, starting a new sport can often seem scary or overwhelming, but many of the team members had never played before joining the team. Team goalie Isaiah Denny shared his experience with joining the team last year.

“Joining was really interesting. I used to play baseball a lot, and I didn’t want to anymore. Some of my friends were like ‘Hey, join the lacrosse team’. I pulled up to practice and was instantly hooked,” said Denny. “I didn’t even know what it was until my first day. I just had to pick it up as I went.”

Men’s lacrosse is a full-contact sport, which naturally entails some level of direct engagement between players. To some, this aspect of the sport comes off as dangerous or intimidating, but to veteran players, it’s often a favorite part.

“Don’t be intimidated by the fact that it’s in a physical context. I came into my freshman year because my brother wanted me to play lacrosse, and I wanted to try it out. I was a tiny dude. I was a skinny little freshman. I thought I was gonna get beat up, but I still did it” said Womack.  It’s a little bit intimidating at the start, but I think once you get in the hang of it, it's a really rewarding sport. I would just encourage you to if you want to try out, just come out because I think just giving it a shot will really help you, and it’s super beneficial.”

Historically, the lacrosse team has been a growing program that has been open to anyone interested in trying the sport. Since lacrosse is a relatively rare sport in the high country, the team makes an effort to be open to anyone, regardless of skill level, hoping to build a strong, positive environment for players.

“I think one of the most important things for lacrosse, to me, is chemistry and having a bond with your teammates. Where they’re more than that, where they’re friends, where they’re brothers,” said Womack. “And I think that just participating in something as simple as fall ball could really help our team.”