The McCann parking lot is a weird place to be before sunrise.
My alarm was set for 4:45 a.m. five days a week for about four months straight. Typically, college students who are awake at four in the morning are either just getting back from the bar or playing video games in their dorm room.
In my case, it is neither of those two. In the dark, cold and windy parking lot, I met the other freshman; from there, we headed down to the locker room to get the ball buckets. The field would be set up 30 minutes before the 6 a.m. start time.
Memories replayed in my head from training in my backyard at eight years old. And now there I was, playing on the Tenney turf.
Being a Division I athlete is not just about getting to walk around campus in your team clothes. It’s not about missing class to travel for an away game or getting special help from an academic advisor or a massage in the training room. Sure, those are some of the perks, but there is a lot more to it.
In third grade, my best friend begged me to try out for the lacrosse team with her. Extremely hesitant, I knew that if she was going beside me, I would probably have a good time. Besides, I was eight years old; it seemed like a fun choice.
11 years later, I’d be signing autographs for girls the age I was when I learned about lacrosse.
About a week out from the tryouts, I asked my friend about the whole thing, and she said she never even signed up. Since I was already registered, I wasn’t going to back out.
After that first tryout, I never looked back. Being from northern California, lacrosse was not very competitive in my area, but it seemed to grow more and more each year. I played for Southern Marin Wolfpack for six years, before going into high school where my lacrosse career began to accelerate.
When I got into high school, I made the varsity team my freshman year. At the time, I knew I wanted to play at the Division I level. From that decision on, every day on and off the field counted.
Like every freshman in high school, I had big aspirations of what my high school career and beyond would look like. Unfortunately, the year was 2020.
The Covid-19 pandemic put everything on hold. My team was projected to win our county championship and state conference that season, and before we knew it, the whole season washed away.
Even though my freshman season was taken away, I didn’t let it stop me. Within the first week of being in lockdown from the pandemic, my dad and I put a lacrosse goal in my backyard and built an at-home gym.
I spent every day working out, training in my backyard, and practicing for what was soon to be my first full high school season. I watched videos on my computer in my backyard trying to learn new footwork, practiced new dodges and ultimately learned anything that would benefit me. Spending hours ripping up the grass in my backyard with my cleats and throwing countless balls into my neighbor’s yard became an everyday occurrence.
My sophomore year was as good as it could be, yet what I was truly focused on was the recruiting season ahead of me. I spent the summer between my sophomore and junior years on the East Coast, competing in front of hundreds of college coaches.
My recruiting process was long and tiring, to say the least; between May and August, I flew to and from the East Coast five times solely for recruiting purposes. I played around 50 games that summer, with most of my off days being consumed by traveling or a last-minute recruiting camp.
As quickly as my life was moving, everything slowed down as soon as I stepped foot on Marist’s campus. I made my visit to Marist and fell in love with the school. I remember entering campus: Tenney Stadium on my right, the McCann Center on my left, I immediately pictured myself calling this place home for the next four years.
The day I visited campus was frigid, to say the least, with snow covering the field and a much different climate than my home. The river had an arctic appearance as if it were frozen over completely. I observed the team practice for two hours that day, I vividly remembered walking into the locker room after the practice and the whole team chanting “Cali, Cali, Cali,” since my coach had told them a girl from California was visiting that day. From then on, I knew I was home.
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Playing lacrosse at Marist has been one of the greatest experiences and I feel so lucky to be able to continue playing the sport I love for these next three years. During our second fall ball scrimmage, multiple youth teams came out to watch us play. Signing those signatures for the little girls with big dreams just like myself at eight years old is as full circle as it gets.
The 4:45 am wake-up is just a small fraction of what this experience is all about. I know here at Marist I will continue to grow as an athlete, a student and a person. This team has allowed me to surround myself with 35 other girls who all share the same passions as me. That is one of the most motivating things about this chapter in my life.
Without a doubt, my teammates make this entire experience worth it. Being able to push myself and my teammates to work hard, accomplish our goals, and become better every day are just a few of the reasons why I love being a part of this team and being a California girl in Poughkeepsie.
Edited by Aidan Lavin and Dan Aulbach
Photos Provided by Annie Shine
Graphic Credit: Quinn DiFiore
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