A busy week revolving around lacrosse, like always.
Tuesday April 29, 2014 saw a little practice takeover, where at work, we went and worked with a Frosh team at NC and coached their practice. Fun little session, reminding me that high school freshman are just as childish as 8th graders. Later that evening I went and filmed the Naperville North vs Naperville Central lacrosse game for the lacrosse cup. The sky was looking pretty awesome during the beginning of the game, picture to the side, video highlights can be found below.
On Wednesday the 30th of April, I worked, then drove out to Aurora to catch the MLC semi final game between Aurora and Augustana. Aurora dominated the game and ended up winning the MLC and will face off against Adrian in the NCAA tournament tomorrow. Wish I was going, but can't miss practice after my team's weekend, more later. After the game, I headed back to work and had an indoor practice with my Fox team, lots of defensive work. Video highlight from this game will be found below.
May is here! Already! Crazy! May 1st, Thursday we drove over to Lemont and did another practice takeover for work, this time with a varsity team. Good group of guys, hopefully will bring us some more players to work. That evening I went to the Benet vs Neuqua lacrosse game at BenU and stood in the rain under an umbrella and filmed. Again, video highlight is down below.
Friday May 2nd, Gio picked me up from my house around 2:30p and we drove with his girlfriend Kelly out to South Bend for the Rip the Duck tournament. After we got there we met up with some of his friends at Wings Etc. A restaurant in the area. I ordered 10 wings, half parmesian garlic, half hot bbq. Both were delicious! The best wings I had that day! I ordred a coors light on tap, mistake, should have gotten something worthwhile. Around 8:50p we left our hotel and drove across South Bend through some super shady areas to the South Bend Amtrack train station to pick up Rachel. My lovely girlfirend took the train from Chicago and met us out in South Bend! Her train ended up being about 30 minutes late, and her first Amtrack ride was once to forget. Not exactly what she had expected! Oh public transportation. Once we picked her up we headed over to Gio's friends place and had a couple of beers while watching the Hawks get the win. His friends were going to the Kentucky Derby the next day so we didn't get too rowdy. We got back to the hotel around midnight and Rachel and I split a bottle of soveign blanc wine before passing out!
May 3rd, the first day of Rip the Duck was here. This tournament is usually full of rain, cold weather, and lax. Luckily the rain stayed away this year, but the other two, not so much. After losing our first game, Rachel and I went over to my team mom's house that her and some other families were renting. This is when we were introduced to Beautiful South Bend. Most of South Bend is meh, but just look at these pictures below and tell me it was not gorgeous!
While we were there, we had some grilled chicken sandwhiches with fruit, & veggies. After an hour or so, everyone was going to go watch the Army Notre Dame lacrosse game, but Rachel and I were not attending. The families were nice enough to let us stay at the house and nap. I put on lacrosse, and watched the Thompsons for Albany tie and set the single season record for points. Lyle now as 114, and Miles has 108. Incredible for two teammates. Watching them play is something out of this world, considering almost all of their shots are behind the back, and they awlways go in. Two of the best players I have ever seen, along with guys like Mikey Powell. Exciting to watch! The Notre Dame Army game was on after and although I slept through most of it, it ended up being a 18 to 17 thriller of a finish. A crazy high scoring game for two teams who are known for their defenses.
After we headed back the fields, where my team lost a nail biter of a game by a score of 7 to 6. Disappointing, but what can you do. We drove back to hotel with a parent, then headed back over to that amazing house for some flank steak, mac 'n cheese, IPA beers, and ice cream and cake to celebrate some children's birthdays. Oh how I love travel lax. This time Gio and Kelly went over with us and we had a great time chatting with the parents. Again though, check out the amazing view above. Love the sunset/clouds in this one on the lake. Everyone had a lovely time as we celebrated birthdays and watched Loyola (IL) win the National Championship for men's volleyball on tv.
After this party, we headed back to the hotel, where we met up with some more lax parents, who happened to buy us a couple more beers as we talked lax strategy. Rachel was a happy girl!
May the Fourth be with you! May 4th, we lost both games we had on this day, to end our tournament with an 0-4 record, pretty disappointing. This is the main reason I will be staying home this Wednesday and going to practice instead of heading out to watch Adrian take on Aurora tomorrow. We had another easy two hour drive, this time home. After taking a little nap, Rachel, my parents, and I ordered some barbecue chicken pizza from jets, tasty. At around 7pm I then drove Rachel home to Chicago, where we ended up asleep by 9:30pm. A long weekend ending with an early nights sleep. Fantastic.
Monday May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. I drove home from Chicago back to Naperville in the morning, headed to work, and then watched the old men play in their league that evening. A typical monday. Nothing compared to the Cinco de Mayo from 2012.
In other news, I am starting to get a lot of looks and questions about recruiting film and just recently completed my first highlight tape for a customer. Good looks for the future.
A busy week with another tournament this upcoming weekend ahead. TONS of editing to do, hopefully I can finish some.
Peace out!
Josh