On Tuesday, October 27th the boy’s winter lacrosse practices began in the auxiliary gym to begin training for the upcoming spring season. 

The Saint Joe Boy’s Lacrosse team moved indoors for their winter practices after having to end their outdoor fall practices due to the dropping temperatures. The practices are held in the auxiliary gym from 6:00-7:30 on Tuesdays, and Thursdays. The boys have always practiced and conditioned inside during the winter, but there have been many changes due to COVID-19 protocols. One change that has occurred is that any player in season with another sport is not allowed to attend an off-season practice to limit contact between Saint Joe sports and Saint Joe students. Another change is that masks are required indoors when athletes are not participating in high tempo activities. The last major change to limit the spread of COVID-19 is that only 15 players are allowed at indoor practices. The limit of players at a practice will pose obstacles for the team of 43 players, especially now that the football, and soccer season have ended, so more players will be able to attend lacrosse practices. The coaches and board members are considering options on how to run practices if too many players begin to show up.

The indoor winter practices consist of many different drills to improve skills such as passing, catching, agility, footwork, conditioning and lacrosse IQ. Most indoor practices begin with a simple wall-ball drill, where the player throws the ball off the wall to himself to see how many passes he can get in a minute. The next phase typically consists of a passing drill to improve passing and catching on the run to simulate real game situations.  Time is then devoted to a variety of activities that focus from position training to conditioning. To end most practices is everyone’s favorite drill: box lacrosse. Box lacrosse consists of a 6 on 6 fast-paced game the length of a basketball court. Everyone enjoys box lacrosse because they get to actually play the game they love.

Even though the lacrosse winter practices have begun the team is still looking for more players. All players interested are welcome to come to winter practices without needing to sign up or pay. For any questions email senior Ethan Fullenkamp at [email protected] or head coach Sam Margulis at [email protected].