Lacrosse Team Goes to Nationals

Edition 14 | Fall 2018

Two men are playing wheelchair lacrosse. One man is in a blue uniform and is wearing a blue and white helmet. His right arm is stretched out. He has the lacrosse ball and is headed for the goal. The second man is wearing a white and purple jersey with a helmet to match. He has both arms outstretched and is pushing the player from the other team. The man in the blue jersey is on one wheel from the push of the other player. His mouth is open and nostrils flared. He looks as though he is worried about dropping the ball. His eyes look at the ball as if to make sure he is still in possession of it.

“We lost, but it didn’t even matter”

Story by Tim Surry
Photo by Di Miller Photography

I gave Josh Myer a jersey. Number 15. With an emotional voice, he told me this:

“Thank you, I’ve never had a jersey before and I’m going to wear this with pride and respect.”

The Ability360 lacrosse team, the Scorpions, knew it had some hard work to put in while preparing for the 2018 Wheelchair Lacrosse National Championships in Denver this August.

Spoiler alert: We lost. But moments like the one with Josh are what stood out to me the most.

We practiced every Sunday, starting the last week of April. The coaches ran us through pass and catch, and the quickest and toughest man won. We did shooting drills with me in goal and I felt like I had 100,000 shots taken on me.

As the tournament drew near, I could see us coming together as a team. We started running designed plays and each player was coming together as one with their passes, catches and just knowing where their teammate would be on the court.

Even though we got whipped, I felt it was an awesome experience for everybody to be on a competitive team and to learn what it means to be a teammate.

Our final game went into sudden-death double overtime, where the first team to score won. Everybody was exhausted but still gave it their all. That game was probably one of the most exciting games I’ve ever been a part of.

The stands filled with spectators to watch us battle. Sure, we ended up losing, but our coaches had a stern yet powerful teaching conversation with us afterward. You have to lose to win, and I felt we all won something!

Our team captain, Jason Graber, took away an important lesson from Nationals.

“Having the opportunity to go to Denver for Nationals this year was an awesome learning experience and great for the team,” he said. “We had a chance to play against some well-developed programs and we learned a lot. The one thing that I took away from Nationals is that we’re doing everything right. We need to just stick with it and continue to practice in order to grow as a team. We need to get stronger, faster and get more people interested in the game.”

We learned a lot this season as individuals and as teammates. I know we are eager and ready to get back out there. The Ability360 Scorpions are ready for that next sudden-death shootout game or whatever comes our way!

Tim Surry
Writer

Tim Surry is a reception specialist at Ability360 Sports & Fitness. Tim is a captain for the 360 Scorpions lacrosse team and coordinates the 360 Golf program. When Tim is not on the greens, or playing lacrosse, he is probably cheering on his Seahawks or rocking out at a concert.

“We lost, but it didn’t even matter”

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