Talkin' Lax at the High School Track

[thisnewday]

Out on the bright, green turf of the football/soccer/lacrosse field, encircled by the high school track that I walk on, was a young woman with a lacrosse stick. On my first lap or two around the track, I didn't see the stick and was just mildly curious about her corner-to-corner diagonal sprints across the field, interspersed with intervals of stretching and other warmups.

When I noticed the stick, she was doing these increasingly intricate stick-handling drills with such amazing precision that I almost stopped, in the middle of a lap, to watch. I mean, this girl was phenomenal. But as I continued on, I noticed that she'd caught the attention of another walker, a woman who was now about a quarter lap ahead of me.

As I continued to watch, the two of them now, I was struck by the intensity of the track walker's gaze and wondered at that too. So, when I finally caught up to her I commented, across the two lanes that separated us, that the girl on the field was quite amazing and wished that my granddaughter could see her.

And she says, "Oh, does your granddaughter play?"

And I respond, "Yup, only nine but she's pretty good."

And she says, "Ah, great, my daughter plays too!"

And then, with a laugh, she adds, "That's her out on the field. She graduated from here, a year ago, and now she plays for the University of Oregon."

As we continued around the track, at a slightly slower pace, she says, "If I had one piece of advice for anyone who has a kid in sports, it would be to take care of the academics first."

I responded that my daughter has that well-covered with her kids and the phenom's mom said she was glad to hear that.

By that time, we were nearing the gate and I told her that this had been my last lap.

She said, "Mine too," and wished me a Happy 4th...

LPK
Dreamwidth
7.4.2018