Baltimore Story
Last month 20 very excited Toronto Stars Girls ages 12-17 boarded a bus for a 10 hour ride to Baltimore for a Girls Field Lacrosse Weekend.
Baltimore is the known as the Hotbed for Lacrosse. Just as we have our hockey news, Baltimore and the surrounding area often have a lacrosse story on front page of every major Sunday newspaper. Lacrosse nets and bounce-backs in the driveway are as common as our hockey nets.
The girls were lucky to have the opportunity to practice on the fields at Johns Hopkins University. Later in the day they went and visited the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame which is also located on the grounds of the university. The grounds and buildings themselves are beautiful and steeped in history. The evening was spent exploring the sites around Johns Hopkins University and shopping at the on-campus book store.
The following day the Girls were given the chance to practice at Loyola College. For those of you who don’t know, Loyola and Johns Hopkins are great rivals at many sports. Attending the girl’s field lacrosse game between Loyola College and University of Denver was the highlight of the trip. What an amazing experience watching the game of lacrosse played at such a high level. After the game the girls were invited on to the field to meet Team Canada members and Asst. coaches for Loyola - Dana Dobbie and Kylie White.
The Girls played top Maryland clubs from the Baltimore area, Maryland United and Check-hers Girls Lacrosse. After some very exciting game play the teams exchanged gifts and email addresses. The US girls were very interested to hear about life in Canada. Of course, as expected with teenage girls, the talk ended up on the subjects of food and shopping. Playing such advanced teams was a positive learning experience for our girls. Children start playing at 5 years of age in Maryland and play all year around as they do not play hockey. It shows in their advanced skills. Most of the girls on our teams have a strong hockey background as many play on rep teams in the Toronto area. This reflects in our style of play and we were able to teach the Maryland team a few “hockey” lacrosse moves.
The culminating event of the trip was a trip to the Inner Harbour followed by a meal at an authentic Chesapeake Bay Seafood Restaurant. The steamed crabs came piled high in buckets to the table. What a feast!
The girls came away from the trip with a new sense of pride in the game they play. They learned new skills, made new friends, and have many wonderful memories.