Jon Santer
Assistant Sports Editor
For the average Springfield College student, this past Sunday night consisted of a majority of female students ending their days catching the latest episode of “Girls,” or male students packing into an Alumni Hall room to check out WWE’s Royal Rumble featuring SC grad John Cena (whom coincidentally enough won the Royal Rumble and earned his spot in Wrestlemania this April, in case anyone was wondering).
For the men’s lacrosse team at Springfield College, all 50 athletes, including myself, sat around watching the clock, counting down the hours until we would step on to the frost-covered Stagg Field and kick off our season with the second annual “Midnight Madness” practice.
In a meeting prior to our early Monday morning practice, Coach Keith Bugbee notified us that he would be opening the locker room at 11 p.m. sharp to allow for some athletes to head up the stairs to the athletic training room for attention from our trainer, Tom Dodge.
To be honest, by 11:05, all 50 of us were in the locker room. It was not because all of us had to go to the training room, but rather everyone was just that excited to start, or that sick of waiting in their respective dorms. Either way, walking around the locker room prior to practice and seeing the anxious, yet intense look on my teammates’ faces signified to me that our team was ready to start the season with a bang.
As we finalized the taping of our shafts for the first of many times this season, connected our chinstrap buckles to our brand new custom Warrior T2 helmets, and took our seats at the front of the locker room, our hard-working coaching staff took the front and prepared to give us the opening speech that would be instilled in our minds and carry us through our first practice.
As soon as we exited the locker room, it felt like 50 rabid dogs were let out of their cages. I have never seen my team so excited for practice. From the hooting and hollering that was coming out of my teammates’ mouths, to the handshakes that were happening during our dynamic stretching lines, to the pure excitement oozing out of every pore on the field Sunday night, I could tell that this year was going to be a memorable one.
Just like last year, we kicked off this season with a full-length scrimmage. By doing so, players could ease themselves into the season and calm some nerves, while also allowing the coaches to evaluate certain players’ capabilities, as well as the hard work and level of effort each individual committed to lacrosse over the long winter break.
Per usual, our team worked hard in the scrimmage, but the Maroon squad was able to outscore the White 7-3 after an hour and a half of play. Just like the beginning of every season, there are certain things that we need to work on before we open on Feb. 20 against Gordon College, but overall, Midnight Madness was successful.