Springing Into Lacrosse

As the weather started to transition into Spring, so did our lacrosse season. To give you all a little background check, my name (if you haven't picked it up by this point) is Livi Kimche, and I'm number thirty-eight, but it's the name on the front of the jersey that counts; I play attack and midfield for Park City Lacrosse. As I've previously written about, our pre-season was kicked off with an ultra fun tournament in Vegas; we took that title home with us on a high note.

Since the Las Vegas tourney, our season has been nothing but smooth sailing, to say the least. It might be more accurate to describe it as smooth sailing on the sweat and tears of the teams we have basically been demolishing every time we step on the field. Yes, okay... maybe that's a little excessive, but with a record of 12-0 and game scores coming down to 15-3, and 10-4, it's a little hard to put it any other way; Park City is a power house.

Photo Courtesy to Julie Shipman

Playoffs begin this Friday. Our first game is scheduled 7:00PM Friday night at our home field, Dozier, and yes I hope to see you there ;-) We play Juan Diego, the last time we played them was in March, and the final score was 13-5. I think it should be a better game though because everyone gets hyped for playoffs. It works like a bracket, and if you lose your out. If we win on Friday we'll move on to the next round.

Bracket Courtesy to Utah Lacrosse News

I like consistency and routine, so does the rest of our team. Having a pre-game routine is a really important part of our dynamic before a game, especially a play-off game. We start by taking a lap around the field, nothing fancy, just a light jog basically. Then we go straight into some ladders to warm up our feet, after ladders we line up for dynamic stretching. Being all lined up with my team for stretches pumps me up. After that we start one sided shuttles to pass, catch, and warm up our sticks. Then we get into 3v4s, and 3v2s, which are three people versus four or two other people in a mini half-field scrimmage until the offense scores or defense clears the ball out. Our routine helps us prepare not only physically but mentally for the game.

Park City, being the reigning State Champs two years in a row, has a lot to loose. Being a freshman on the team, I definitely feel the pressure to win. With hard work comes results, I think the hardest thing for I team the upcoming two weeks will be maintaining a strong head game. The biggest upsets are usually when a team predicted to win goes in thinking that it's going to be an easy game. If we keep the right mindsets I can see a state title in our future, but we definitely have to keep the fire alive and not let our guard down, because Park City is who everyone wants to beat right now.

Liquid Sunshine

So you'll never guess what happened... The bipolar weather is back, yet again. After almost a week of partly cloudy and temperatures climbing up to fifty-five degrees, it was beautiful outside. Although the overcast clouds yesterday started to indicate the downpour we received today.

I could hear the rain drops by the time I went to bed last night. I actually am in love with falling asleep to the sound of a drizzle outside my window. Waking up seven hours later, the chilliness was what hit me first. The coldness made me want to climb even deeper into the warmth of my heavy down comforters. Then the smell started to creep up my nose. The wet pavement and running gutters wafted through my bedroom. I quickly shut my cracked window and got out of bed.

Photo Courtesy www.howtobeadadtoday.com

Heading outside to get in the car, the reflection of the gray sky was mirrored off of the blacktop driveway, and a mist slowly fell from the air, not even enough to call it a drizzle. I ran back inside to grab a raincoat. I love this kind of weather. I like how it makes the day at school so cozy, and somehow you feel the warmth radiating off of other people more just because of the cold outside. I like looking out the classroom window and noticing how smoky the sky looks. I like how everyone shows up to school in sweatshirts and scarfs. I don't see the rain as such a bad thing on a day like this.

The rain soon turned into sleet as the day began to get colder. By this evening the precipitation could easily be classified as snow. By the end of the day a thin layer of sugar veiled the ripening grass, it should probably be melted away by tomorrow or the next day. It feels as though every time the grass begins to fade to green, and the trees begin to foliate, and the flower begin to bloom, it must snow.

The rain made me want to curl up with a hot coa-coa and read a good book or watch an old movie. The coziness of the rain is completely evident to everyone as well. The weather tends to put people on the same page like that. It's even been thought and proven that a rainy day can change your mood. This is mostly thought to have to do with how much sunlight your body is exposed to, so on a dark rainy day, for example, the amount of sun your body is receiving will obviously be significantly less than a hot sunny day. Rainy days can also effect your internal clock.

I'm not necessarily even complaining about the rain. I definitely enjoy a lazy and snug day under the clouds every once an a while. I'm just glad that the forecast foresees the sun coming back by Wednesday ;-). Until than I'm more than content grabbing some cuddly blankets and some 90s movies to wait out the rain.

Family Frenetics

This week is spring break for my cousins on the east coast. They came out to ski and see my family for vacation. My Dad's sister and her two daughters are really close with us, I think it's probably because out of all of our cousins we're closest in age to them. We also travel a lot together.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but having people in town on top of the heaps of third quarter school work and start of lacrosse season can get stressful. My time management definitely started to rip at the seams, and my sleep schedule has completely deteriorated (well what was left of it in the first place).

It's always a love hate, in this case the angel on my shoulder is reminding me how much I love spending time with my relatives, but the devil overing over my other shoulder is dragging me by my hair to my bed. By the end of their stay I am ashamed to say it's never too hard to say goodbye. I know everyone goes through this with their own family, one way or another. Whether it's staying up at all hours to fit your nearest and dearest into your schedule, or dealing with your in-laws, family can be a pain in the buttocks, but we love them for it ;-).

The past few days have consisted of many family dinners and pool competitions at the Kimche residence. The night they got in to town we ordered in Thai food. It's actually is nice to sit down and catch up with everyone at the dinner table. With everyone gathered around the dinner table at home, no one is hesitant in embarrassing, making fun of, or laughing at a single person sitting down. It's something I sort of love about my family. We give each other a hard time to remind each other how much we love them, in a sort of way. Family dinners are always the best.

Saturday was the one day where I actually got to spend the whole day with my cousins and aunt (mostly due to the fact that my school and sports have not paused). Park City, being the tourist town that it is, consists of many attractive tourist things to do, like walk up and down Main Street... and that's exactly what we did. Starting our day at around noon, we hit Main Street first thing.

Photo Courtesy www.parkcityvacationrentals.com

After Main Street we decided to go back home to grab swimsuits, and then went hot tubbing at our cousins hotel. Following the hot tub we went to see a movie. Nothing too crazy, but it was fun to spend time with my cousins.

I know that family time is important, even if it's short and sweet, because they're the ones that truly stick around through thick and thin, so a weekend with some of my extended family is always an enjoyable thing in the long run. Even if I'm not getting my sleep.

Vegas Baby

As you may have yet to figure out, I do play lacrosse for Park City High School. Last weekend the girls Varsity and Junior Varsity went to a tournament in Las Vegas called Best of the West.

We left on Thursday afternoon (meaning school on Friday was bust *fist bump*). I spent the seven hour drive with my mother... The car ride actually wasn't as bad as I was mentally preparing myself for. On the way there we took a quick pit-stop at Café Rio with a few of the other girls on my team.

We pulled in to the Hampton Inn at approximately 10:00 PM. Arriving at the hotel is always a process. Finding out who you're rooming with and getting situated is can be substantially draining. Once everyone threw their suitcases in their room, that was all that was the only trace left of them there. Everyone was scattered through all of the second floor, gushing through the halls and jumping from room to room socializing. Eventually the social hour(s) started to die out and I found myself in bed watching the Titanic with my two other roommates. Leonardo DiCaprio is exceedingly attractive, to say the least.

The next morning the team had to be downstairs no later than 8:00 AM for a luxurious complimentary breakfast consisting of stale bagels, over-ripe fruit, and some eggs that resembled something closer to rubber than breakfast food. By 8:45 AM we were driving to the fields for a 9:00 AM practice. Getting to the fields was a little bit of a struggle due to a wrong right hand turn (go mom). The fields were super nice. You could still smell the fresh new paint on the turf. The sky was drowning in blue and not a cloud interrupted the atmosphere. It was decently warm, but nothing exotic. A cool breeze kept us from getting too hot. Our practice went well and our coaches were happy to go over a few things before any of our actual games.

Me: Captured by Julie Shipman

After our practice ended we all went back to the hotel to rest before our first game at 6:00 PM.

Playing under the lights was my favorite part of the whole tournament. I don't know what it is but something about playing on a lit field in the dark of night pumps me up. It's like the lights fuel my fury ;-). Ok maybe not to that extent, but I love the lights. We won our first game 15-3. Needless to say our team jelled. Our first time playing with each other felt like our one-hundredth.

The next several games went quite similarly. Scores like 16-4, 12-3, and 11-5 almost had me feeling sorry.

Play off day was better. We were playing better teams that were seeded. Our first game was against Juan Diego. It got a little rough and I honestly found myself on the ground half the time. We won.

Next game: Herriman. We won. Advancing us to the championship game against Brighton. The game was close. We were tied 7-7 at the whistle. We ended up winning off of a penalty shot in sudden death overtime.

I can confidently say that Park City is the Best of the West.

Photo/Bracket Courtesy bestofthewestlacrosse

Freezing Matters

Yesterday started out like any other January morning. At 6:00am sharp my alarm started blaring and with a nauseating feeling in my stomach I knew the morning had started. It took all of my strength to pry my legs from the toasty comfort my bed provides. As I headed out the front door the headlights from my mom's car streaked through the morning fog. A layer of gray covered anything taller than thirty feet high like a blanket of dish-water cotton candy. The ice fought me as I ripped the door to the frozen car open. I slumped into shotgun and fumbled to smash the heat-seat button as soon as I could.

When I found myself sliding out of the car I remembered thinking the fog looked so pretty. The North 40 Field was hiding and the only thing I could make out was the path up to two to three feet in front of me. I love the mornings like this because it makes being inside at school feel so much more cozy. First period consisted of the same weather.

I have second period at the high school, the walk up to my class was comparable to my walk to school in the morning.

Then it happened.

Half way through second period it was as if the Gods above got into a pillow fight and the feathers were plummeting to the ground on Earth. Huge flakes of frozen condensation started ribboning through the sky. The little window looking out of French class in room 142 didn't even do the storm any justice. The walk back to Treasure was the real deal. As I opened the side door out into the snow globe, the nippy air hit me like a wave and I was immersed in the cold. I knew that is was going to be one of the longest five-minute walks of my life. I was right.

By the time I got back to Treasure, I'd never been happier to have reached those front doors going into school. My jacket went from dry to drenched and the fluff was gathered in piles on my shoulders and the top of my backpack. My braided hair had turned into a snow-caked-popcicle, and the mascara on my eyelashes had migrated to dark circles underneath my eyes.

Photo Courtesy: parkcitymountain.com

The worst part is I had to go back to the high school again for fourth period.

At that point the cotton balls had died down to specks of white sprinkles, so the walk there wasn't as bad as my walk back from second period was. The air was still frigid, I could feel my nostrils freeze shut every time I sniffled, but at least I wasn't layered from head to toe in snow.

When school got out, they made an announcement over the intercom that they were canceling all after school activities, including all varsity sports. The roads were so bad that they canceled everything.

I was hoping that maybe all of this would mean a snow day the next day. Unfortunately I had no such luck.