U12s Away at Mellor in the Onundaga Cup

How do we measure success?  Is it dictated by the number of games you win?  Is it dictated by the number of trophies you win?  Will the kids measure success both on the field and off the field, by friendships created?  Is it to be measured by the number of kids we get to play this great game?  Is it to be measured by the number of U12s who will go on to play for the first team, or their country?  Some of these we can measure as success, the friendships, the ever increasing numbers.  Unfortunately if we are to measure success by the number of trophies these young lads have won, then we haven't succeeded - yet, and we may well do in the future.  But the weekend was the 5th year in a row, where we have come unstuck against Mellor in the cup.  This weekend was different, and despite our good season, on the day, we simply got beat by a very good lacrosse team, as good as I have seen in the 5 years I have been involved. 
The game itself, is quite a simple one, win the ball, move the ball and when the time is right put the ball in the back of the net.  But it all follows a pattern, and without the ball, we cannot move on to the next stages, and this weekend we simply couldn't win the ball for long periods and the game ran away from us.  We tried lots of different people at face, all with the same result, but possibly the biggest disappointment was our lack of 'Desire' to win ground balls, and ultimately to win the game of lacrosse.
We actually won the first face of the day, and mounted a couple of minutes challenge at the start, but ended it with a loss of possession.  Mellor hit us quickly on the break, moving the ball well, slowing it down when necessary, and led at the end of Q1 3-1.  Q2, was a little more difficult for us, with little of the ball, and we went down 7-2 leaving us 10-3 down at half time.  With the weather getting worse, and the pitch getting heavy, the 3rd quarter had little spark to it on either side with a 1-0 Mellor quarter.  The final quarter was split as a 3-3 even quarter, but by then the damage was done leaving ourselves to think about what could have been.
It wasn't all doom and gloom, and I would like to make a special mention of George Parker and James Thompson (both in their first season) for never giving up, and being tireless in their approach to the game.  When (potentially) more experienced players were giving up, letting their heads drop, these two in particular stuck to their task and tried and tried the whole game.

Good Start was what we were after

Going through some last minute instructions

Battling hard

Good body

Lots of battling but rarely came up with the ball

We were starting to feel the pressure as early as half time

Never gave up, worked hard all day, and got 2 goals for his rewards

Despite best efforts not stopping that one

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James grew into the game

Were watching the ball



They so wanted the result

Our keeper being consoled by a Mellor coach

Ethan will hopefully have many years left to win silverware

Future U12 Lacrosse Stars

Despite all the upset at the end of the game, it is just that - A Game