Well, Nate's junior college lacrosse season is in the books. And it was not the ideal season for Nate or the team. But, I am really proud of the teammate that he was this year.
There were a ton of things that were outside of the control of Nate and the coaches that made things tough.
Being in the third conference in three years led to the coach, who was in his second season as the permanent head coach, to be really challenged in filling out all the "competition days" slots that they have as a DIII program.
They only ended up with 12 games this spring when 15-16 and then 2 or 3 scrimmages between the fall and spring filling things out is the norm. Then they had bad weather push back the start of their season and compress the games into less than 8 weeks (March 15 was their first game and April 26 was their last game) with most weeks being Wednesday and Saturday gamedays.
Nate got the start in the opener and then sprained his ankle before halftime. He missed the next couple of games and the ankle didn't feel right until the 10th game of the year. And while he was coming back from the ankle, he got a bad case of the flu. It went through the team and Nate probably got the second worse case of it.
He was also dealing with only having two goalies on the roster and a lot of pressure that extra workload put on both of them was a challenge.
On the field, Nate didn't play anywhere near as much as last year, but he had a better Save% than last year when he did get on the field.
But, being a captain and a good teammate was where he shined. The last game of the year was a great example of it. His goalie partner had lost his mom to cancer in the fall. And the last game of the year was a "Lacrosse Out Cancer" fundraiser game and a game to honor Blake's mom.
Blake got the start like he had since game one. The previous few games, Blake would start and Nate would play the second half. At halftime, Blake and Nate both warmed up before the head coach came out of the locker room. I saw the coach talk to the two goalies and then Blake played the second half.
I found out after the game what the conversation was when the coach came over and told us what happened. The coach asked them was they were thinking. Nate's answer was, "I'm ready if you want me to go in coach. But, it's Blake's day." Telling us this story, the coach got a little choked up and gave Nate a hug and told him that he loved him.
Blake also tied the school record for saves in a game, with 24. It was a record that Nate tied last year.
I always talk to the coaches about how I care more about how coachable Nate it and what kind of teammate he is than how he plays in the games. This season was just a great example of how great Nate is doing when it comes to those things and I am so proud of him for that.
There were a ton of things that were outside of the control of Nate and the coaches that made things tough.
Being in the third conference in three years led to the coach, who was in his second season as the permanent head coach, to be really challenged in filling out all the "competition days" slots that they have as a DIII program.
They only ended up with 12 games this spring when 15-16 and then 2 or 3 scrimmages between the fall and spring filling things out is the norm. Then they had bad weather push back the start of their season and compress the games into less than 8 weeks (March 15 was their first game and April 26 was their last game) with most weeks being Wednesday and Saturday gamedays.
Nate got the start in the opener and then sprained his ankle before halftime. He missed the next couple of games and the ankle didn't feel right until the 10th game of the year. And while he was coming back from the ankle, he got a bad case of the flu. It went through the team and Nate probably got the second worse case of it.
He was also dealing with only having two goalies on the roster and a lot of pressure that extra workload put on both of them was a challenge.
On the field, Nate didn't play anywhere near as much as last year, but he had a better Save% than last year when he did get on the field.
But, being a captain and a good teammate was where he shined. The last game of the year was a great example of it. His goalie partner had lost his mom to cancer in the fall. And the last game of the year was a "Lacrosse Out Cancer" fundraiser game and a game to honor Blake's mom.
Blake got the start like he had since game one. The previous few games, Blake would start and Nate would play the second half. At halftime, Blake and Nate both warmed up before the head coach came out of the locker room. I saw the coach talk to the two goalies and then Blake played the second half.
I found out after the game what the conversation was when the coach came over and told us what happened. The coach asked them was they were thinking. Nate's answer was, "I'm ready if you want me to go in coach. But, it's Blake's day." Telling us this story, the coach got a little choked up and gave Nate a hug and told him that he loved him.
Blake also tied the school record for saves in a game, with 24. It was a record that Nate tied last year.
I always talk to the coaches about how I care more about how coachable Nate it and what kind of teammate he is than how he plays in the games. This season was just a great example of how great Nate is doing when it comes to those things and I am so proud of him for that.
