As the spring season begins, Viper lacrosse navigates their journey as a club-sport, as opposed to most UIL sports, while training to accomplish their goal of winning the state championship.
The main difference between UIL sports and club-sports is that club-sports do not have a class period dedicated to practice during the school day. Members of the lacrosse teams train after school, typically on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Since priority is given to UIL sports, the Monroe Stadium is often full, so the lacrosse teams sometimes practice in Cedar Park. Typically, however, later hours at Monroe are free, leaving lacrosse practice with time slots from 6-9:30 p.m.
“We split the field,” junior Keira Kingsmore said, concerning the breakdown of the ladys and boys practice times. “So there’s an hour for the girls, and then we have to share it for an hour and then the guys have an hour after we leave.”
Kingsmore started playing lacrosse in eighth grade through the Lady Vipers Youth Lacrosse program, a feeder for the high school team. Since sophomore year, she’s balanced her extracurriculars as part of both the Legacies Dance Team and Lady Vipers Lacrosse.
“I think it’s beneficial because I’m able to do both in-school sports and have my after school sport,” Kingsmore said. “Since it’s not a class period, it doesn’t take time out of my day. Lacrosse is usually really understanding about when I have my other commitments, but I always try to go to as many practices, and I’m always there for games.”
While lacrosse not having a class period can be advantageous in terms of also participating in UIL sports, since Kingsmore is the team’s goalie, she still has a lot on her plate.
“There isn’t another goalie in our program, so I’m in for every minute of every game,” Kingsmore said. “If I’m not able to go to a game, then they have to put someone in that has never played goalie before, so It’s really difficult for me. [Still,] I really like being goalie because I get to communicate with my team and I’m like the defensive coordinator because I can see everything that’s happening on the field.”
Similarly to how Kingsmore is involved in two sports, senior Dillon Dey played both football and lacrosse in his sophomore year. After his year of multitasking, Dey decided to focus more on lacrosse and is considering joining a team in college.
“You need way more conditioning in lacrosse, since you’re always running,” Dey said. “For football, you still have to be big and athletic, but in lacrosse, you’re passing and catching a ball, so you need more hand-eye coordination.”
In club sports, it’s common for coaches to not work as staff members within the school. This year, Matt Nuefeldt, the new head coach for the boys team, has made special efforts to generate team spirit.
“I like him a lot,” senior Kyle Baxter said. “He’s making us play better as a team and I feel like we’re getting closer. We’re a family.”
While boys lacrosse is divided up into varsity and JV, with fewer members of Lady Vipers, all teammates play on varsity. In order to qualify for JV playoffs, the team plans to play 3 JV in-district games, where they’ll pull down 14 of their younger players. The small size of the team is reported to bring members closer.
“Last year, it was a little bit bigger and separated for JV and varsity, but now we have 25 girls who are more close knit,” Kingsmore said. “Our community is amazing. At the tournament we were just at this weekend, we had a lot of team bonding. We did a talent show, which was a really fun way to build our team up.”
