Out of all the sports, my most anticipated one to try has been lacrosse solely because of how much I loved To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han.

For this endeavor, I had the help of my friend Sophia Chen (12), who is a defender on the girls lacrosse team. She joined the team her sophomore year and said she knew nothing about the sport beforehand. 

“I’m still trying to build my confidence in [lacrosse] right now,” Chen said. “I remember in my sophomore year, I would go to the wall-ball courts and pass the ball to myself, and that repetition helped me feel more comfortable in my skills.”

So, that’s exactly where we went so she could teach me how to cradle, pass, and catch the ball with the lacrosse stick. 

I’d like to think that in another life I was a student-athlete because when Chen handed me the lacrosse stick, it didn’t feel as foreign as when I learned other sports, such as field hockey. I’m not sure why; maybe it was the weight, or the shape of it, or because I was more excited to learn this skill than others. This feeling made me slightly more confident but, with my track record, I also knew not to be overzealous.

When we went to the court, Chen started by showing me how to cradle the ball in the stick. She told me that it’s mostly a wrist motion and instructed me to hold the stick with one hand at the bottom to keep it steady, while the other one is about ¾ higher on the stick. Then, you sweep your arm and curl your wrist into your chest so that the ball doesn’t fall out of the pocket. Chen also told me the pocket of a girls lacrosse stick is more shallow than the boys lacrosse sticks because there is more contact in boys lacrosse than girls. The smaller pocket definitely made it more difficult for me to try this skill because I felt like with any movement I did, the ball fell out. Whenever I passed the ball back to Chen, she made catching it look so effortless—I was almost starstruck. However, after several more tries, I felt more comfortable and didn’t drop the ball. Although I was not able to run with the ball, I did manage a light jog while cradling the ball. 

Next, we moved on to passing and catching. Chen described passing as a “lever” motion, where you essentially bring your hand back about the same level as your head and you shoot it forward. When she handed the ball to me to make my first attempt, I looked at the wall and thought to myself “okay, easy enough, just pretend the wall is another person and I’m passing it to them.” All I can say is that the ball definitely would’ve landed at my imaginary teammate’s feet. My ensuing attempts were so embarrassing. The next five minutes consisted of me chasing after the ball as it bounced off the wall and not back into the lacrosse stick in my hand. Then, Chen thought it would be a better idea if we were to pass the ball to each other instead. At this point, I started to actually get the hang of passing and catching and we were able to pass the ball back and forth. While I didn’t catch it every time, I was more successful than when I was playing catch with the wall. This is why I did not walk away with the same initial confidence I had, but instead an appreciation for the fact that I am better suited as an observer rather than a student-athlete.