Impact Attempts: Lacrosse

Having already been battered on the American Football pitch, as well as thrown up on the netball court, our writers are back for more in the wild world of Impact attempts. In the third instalment of this series of sporting excellence, Toby Reynolds takes a trip to men’s lacrosse training. Let’s see how he fared.

In my two and a half years at Nottingham, I have taken full advantage of IMS, playing in a multitude of football, squash, and hockey teams. I’ve loved every second. However, my Green and Gold career has never taken off, having been rejected from UoN hockey, squash, and cricket (three times) after failing to impress at trials!

I’ve watched my fair share of UoN matches whilst reporting for URN, and my first experience watching Notts was the 2021 Men’s Varsity Lacrosse match in a tight victory over Trent. My only previous experience with the sport was a few YouTube videos, Season One of Teen Wolf and Wild Child. I thoroughly enjoyed the event and loved the balance between the skill needed to beat your opposite number and the brute power of some hits.

When Varsity came round the following year, I made sure to volunteer immediately to cover lacrosse again, after enjoying it so much the year before. After doing some research and discussing it with my friend Bella (captain of the Ladies’ 2s), I started to improve my understanding of the technicalities and tactics and appreciated the sport even more.

When the opportunity arose to write this article, I knew it would be a great opportunity to try the sport which had fascinated me. I sent a message to the men’s club Instagram and headed down to their 2nd and 3rd team training at Jubilee. As soon as I turned up, they were extremely friendly and kitted me up with a helmet, gloves and stick.

They started me off with some passing. Unfortunately, the first few attempts trickled out of the stick’s net and bobbled feebly towards my target but after a few pointers, I eventually started to get the hang of it. Catching came a little more naturally, but only after I completely missed my first three efforts. Then I moved on to what was meant to be shooting, but I made it look like throwing the ball as high over the goal as possible… I am definitely not a striker!

The session then progressed into some three-on-twos. This was a great way to put some of my passing and catching “skills” into practice and learn how to defend. After a few wayward shots early on, I managed to score a couple of goals, but I especially enjoyed defending. There are two ways to defend in lacrosse: the first is to hit your opponent’s stick and dislodge the ball, and the other is to try to push your opponent’s hips and back with your fists to put them off balance and lose control of the ball.

We then did some six-on-six, attack vs defence. I started off as the centre forward, which involved trying to take shots and create space near the goal. I definitely struggled. I then swapped to the defending team and had much more luck trying to stop people scoring than scoring myself…

All-in-all, I found my first time playing lacrosse to be fantastically enjoyable, I would thoroughly recommend everyone to give the sport a go. In the short time I was there, the whole team gave me tips and were extremely friendly. The session had just the right amount of sweat, skill, and Crisis stories from the night before. It was a jovial atmosphere which felt like a group of mates having a good time, playing a sport they loved. I wish them well for the rest of the season and I am available for selection if needed!

Toby Reynolds