Sideline Chatter: February 2009
What's the worst weather you've ever played
in?
Sometimes you can buckle up and bundle up to the extreme, and it
won't make a difference.
Lacrosse is called a spring sport, but the reality is that it
starts in winter and ends just about in summer. That aspect makes
for some zany and unpredictable weather conditions. Snowstorms.
Wind. Downpours. Fog. Heat. All part of the game.
With winter's grip still firmly in place over much of the
country, Lacrosse Magazine debuted "Sideline Chatter," a monthly
question for the lacrosse community, wanting to know what's the
worst weather you've ever played in?
This Month's Winner: Kim Imbesi, Durham, N.C.
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Oh man. We played Northwestern my sophomore year in Evanston and it was right on the lake. I had layers upon layers on, and Under Armour gloves underneath my goalie gloves. They had heaters on the sidelines, and somehow [head coach] Kerstin [Kimel] went to warm her hands and set her gloves on fire. So in the timeouts, we couldn't take her seriously because she was trying to coach and gesture with these burnt gloves on.
By far, that was the worst. I think they scored about 17 on me that day. But three hours later it was funny.
In college, we played a game on the turf at the University of
Scranton at the beginning of our season. Scranton had gotten close
to a foot of snow, and there were snow mounds surrounding the
field. Sleet and freezing rain came down sideways the entire game.
The turf was the old-school, carpet turf, and everyone was slipping
around like we were on an ice skating rink. It made cutting
impossible and changing direction even harder. At one point in
warm-ups, the wind was blowing so hard the goal picked up and moved
a few feet off center in the crease. It was some of the coldest
weather I have ever played any sport in.
-- Brian Leland, Baltimore, Md.
In college I played for the University of Delaware club lacrosse
team. During my junior year we hosted a tournament. It was in the
first week in March and turned out to be in the low 20s. It was so
cold that sticks were breaking left and right. In the final game it
started to ice storm, and as it got darker it got colder. Everyone
wanted to call the game, but nobody would be speak up as they would
surely be considered yellow. It was truly the most miserable
conditions I have ever played in. By the way, Sunday's games were
cancelled. To say the inaugural University of Delaware club
lacrosse tournament was not a success was an understatement.
-- Lou Facciponti, South Orange, N.J.
While this was as a ref and not as a player, absolutely the worst
weather I've ever been on the field for was about 10 years ago at
Mankato State University (now University of Minnesota-Mankato). It
was a dirt field with a sprinkling of blades of grass when the
weather was good, but on this Saturday it was raining, sleeting or
snowing at various points, temps in the 30s and with 20-plus mph
winds to boot, so everything was coming in horizontally! The field
quickly descended into a quagmire with shoe-sucking mud and puddles
scattered about.
Although I had come dressed with my best cold weather gear, it was only a matter of minutes before I was soaked to the bone and chilled to the core.
I've never been so happy to have a game end. My fingers were frozen and it took all of the two-hour drive home with the heat on high to even start to thaw out.
While it is now a decade since that game, I still get shivers
when I think about it. The lacrosse wasn't even that good,
either!
-- Bert Smith, Grand Rapids, Mich.
I played for Worthington Kilbourne last year. We were up in Detroit
to play Detroit Country Day, and it was raining a little bit but
was really windy. Then it started hailing even though it was like
60 degrees out, and it got even windier. Tornado sirens started
going off, so we had to all run into the locker rooms. It was
pretty intense.
-- Jason Clark, Worthington, Ohio
One day in the middle of March, we practiced for two hours in
90-degree weather, when all of the sudden a storm rolled in. Hail
fell everywhere and we were all forced to run to the only car in
the parking lot near by. Almost 12 soaking wet people were crammed
into a 2006 Ford Escape. To make it worse all of our bags were left
in the onslaught of hail and rain.
-- Ian Garlock, Sealinsgrove, Pa.
It was the first year I was an assistant at BU and we played at BC.
It was an absolute total monsoon. We played in their football
stadium, and it was about 32 degrees. You couldn't see the ball,
the refs didn't call anything, and every girl looked like a wet
dog. It was probably the ugliest game I've ever watched.
-- Liz Robertshaw, Cambridge, Mass.
We were at Delaware my freshman year. There's no trees around
the field and the wind was just whipping. It was just so, so cold
and windy. It was painful to move. Even when you came out, you
couldn't get warmed up. It was pretty miserable. My dad still talks
about that game. He bought his first Under Armour piece of clothing
after that game. And Delaware beat us, 10-9. It was pretty
miserable. It came down to the last seconds and we missed a free
position. It wasn't good. I try not think about that game.
-- Kaitlyn Lombardo, Philadelphia, Pa.
The worst conditions I've ever played lacrosse in occurred one
evening about six years ago on the lighted turf field on roof of
the Brown University Athletic Center in Rhode Island. Our team was
a group of older guys known as the Rhode Wrecks, and we were taking
on the Brown men's lacrosse club. The fog was so dense that it was
difficult to see the goal at the other end of the field. Any ball
that was thrown higher than 20 feet was lost in the fog, and you
had to anticipate where it's re-entry into the visible atmosphere
might occur. Those were good times, yes sir.
-- Mike Vergano Cumberland, R.I.
We had just gotten like four inches of rain, and everything was
mud. Then to make things even better, it started raining during our
halftime warm-ups which just made everything worse. You couldn't
recognize players, nor could you tell where our uniforms started
and the mud ended. We won, though. I guess that's a plus. (We ended
up buying new jerseys after this game - washing that mess just
wasn't an option.)
-- Natalie Scarberry, Hilliard, Ohio
I don't know if it is the worst weather, but it is the strangest
weather. My senior year at Denison (1992) we were playing a home
game in Granville, Ohio. When the game started, it was probably
about 50 degrees and bright skies. At some point during the game we
had rain, sleet and snow, and by the end of the game it was sunny
again.
As an assistant coach at Ohio State, we played an outdoor game at
Notre Dame in the strongest winds I could imagine. I can remember
standing right next to the head coach, but upwind of her and not
being able to hear a word she said. We had to hold on to everything
on the bench. A few gusts knocked the goals over, and some of the
smaller players really had a tough time!
-- Anne Moelk, Minneapolis, Minn.
Get in on the conversation. Click here for this month's "Sideline Chatter" question. Select responses will be published in a future LM, with the winning responder receiving a prize from adidas.
