It is transition time in my household. Middle school wrestling has ended, so the focus has shifted to lacrosse. My son has played goalie, and, though he is getting more comfortable shooting and wants to play the field more, he will likely take to the cage again this season. I enjoy watching him play goalie. He is fearless. I think it comes from wrestling. Last year, a coach reminded him that he can stop the ball with his stick. He has no problem stopping the ball with his body.
I was looking at some lacrosse quotes and one of the Kevin Bacon lines from Animal House—“Thank you, sir. May I have another.”—came up in reference to goalies. Movie references and sports always seem to cause me pause to think about the application to life. (“Life is like a box of chocolates”—Forrest Gump.) One’s life is very much like the life of the lacrosse goalie. Things are going to be thrown at us hard and fast—while wearing minimal protection—and we just have to take ‘em on. There is no dodging the ball in lacrosse. The goalie just steps into it and uses his/her body and stick to try and stop it. More often than not the goalie will fail. (I was told by one of my son’s coaches that for a good collegiate goalie better than 50% is good.) On top of our “failings” we are going to take on a lot of bruising. If we are lucky, we will occasionally make that really sweet stop that looks impressive to the spectators.
In life, as in the life of the lacrosse goalie, we just have to step into the cage and do our best. We take our hits and failings and trust in our defense for help. In the end, we expect to be the goalie with the best average. That is lacrosse. That is life.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!