After being away from the girls and coaches for a year, the now seniors and returning players are ready to get back on the field. The girls are currently eight games into the season with a record of 6-2, and although that is a good start they still have a long way to go until the end.
According to Coach Claudia LaMarca, due to COVID-19 she was not able to truly coach the girls last season so this season is already very special.
“It’s been really fun and we have a really good group of girls, so I think we’re excited for the bottom half of our season,” LaMarca said. “It’s going to be tough. It’s going to push us. But we’re continuing to work hard and reach our goals.”
Practices are based on what was not done well in prior games, whether that be making contact or crashing in the eight. Crashing in the eight is what the defensive players call when a girl with the ball becomes a threat. So the person on her may call “crash” or “help” to let the other defenders know she is there.
Whatever might need improvement, LaMarca hopes that by doing drills in practice it will improve the girls’ awareness of these situations.
“Today’s drills were focused on being able to make contact and communicate through those situations,” LaMarca said. “But just putting ourselves in situations where we can improve and we can practice what we need to is how we get better at those.”
For junior Lauren Kenah, this is her first time truly being on the field again with the girls since her freshman year.
“The hardest thing during COVID-19 was not being able to be together as a group,” Kenah said. “Through quarantine we did a lot together virtually, but it’s so nice to be back in person.”
Kenah hopes to further improve her skills this season and is looking forward to working with LaMarca for the first time due to COVID-19 canceling last season.
“This season I have been working on situational awareness in games,” Kenah said.
For Kenah this means she wants to make more scoring opportunities for teammates, work on give and goes inside the eight meter and draw defenders into shooting space.
For senior Caroline Kelly it is her last time playing with the girls and although the season has a lot more time to evolve, they have worked hard to get where they are now.
“Last year since we didn’t have a season it was really disheartening to know that all my hard work before the season and during preseason wouldn’t be used,” Kelly said. “I think it put a lot of emphasis on working hard and making the most of what we got this year.”
According to Kelly, the team has connected very well as a unit and that is very important if they want to have a great rest of the season.