When the world shut down
Improvise, adapt, overcome
A picture of me when I really didn’t know what I was doing. As opposed to know, when I only sometimes don’t know what I’m doing.
If you’ve been not only following along, but also paying attention, the last post about my lacrosse journey (not the one lamenting the death of the Oswego River Hawks, and that one will have an update post shortly…), we discussed the Webster box. And if you recall (this was actually mentioned in the post prior), my first time there was January 6, 2020. I’m sure no one will remember what happened shortly after that - the world shut down due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
When that happened, it also affected the lacrosse facilities where we played. I remember the Sports Garden shut down first - we played on a Saturday morning, and left unsure if we would be back the following week (we wouldn’t). Then shortly after that, the Webster box shut down as well - it was chained and locked, and we weren’t allowed to use it. That put lacrosse on the back burner for a bit.
Then someone remembered that Penfield also had an outdoor box. Built in 2019 (in the nick of time, actually) at Rothfuss Park on Five Mile Line Road, it was a bit smaller than Webster, and didn’t have glass or fencing going all the way around (just at the ends and corners), but it also didn’t have locks. Admittedly, there were signs up saying the box was closed, but we didn’t care. We wanted to play. And play we did.
I can’t remember when we started going to Penfield, and I can’t find any trace of it on my phone (I switched from iPhone to Android a couple years ago and can’t remember my iCloud login). I do know based on a random Facebook post that it was sometime before the end of June, but how long before, no idea. Probably not too long, if we’re being honest - I do remember it being during the school year (I stopped by after dropping Kasey off at school one day), and it was fairly warm (so definitely not winter, but could have been first spring), bur it was probably sometime in the mid- to late-May timeframe.
One of the disadvantages to Penfield compared to Webster is lights - they don’t have them. This meant starting earlier, so we could get a good run in before it was too dark to play. Early starts led to two issues - the first was rushing to get there after work. At the time, I would frequently work past 5 - sometimes until 7 or 8. On lacrosse nights, though, that didn’t happen. I clocked out at 5 and promptly left for the park. Fortunately, we had transitioned to fully remote work at that point, so I didn’t have to run home for my gear, just had to throw it in the car.
The other issue with playing during sunlight is the heat. Obviously the temperature is warmer during the day, and generally cools down once the sun sets, especially during the summer. Sometimes significantly. So when you’re playing in the daylight, it’s noticeably warmer than at night. I’m sure if you’re reading this, you’ve made this observation yourself, and if you haven’t, maybe get outside once in a while. So think about how much warmer it tends to be during a summer day as opposed to night.
Now think about how much different that would be when you’re wearing roughly 40 pounds of equipment, that doesn’t breathe. At all. Obviously physical activity generates heat (and sweat), and goalie equipment just traps it inside. So much so that when playing in colder weather, you can see steam rising off every part of me when I remove my pads. For me, the ideal temperature to play outdoors is usually somewhere in the mid-40s to mid-50s range - it’s cool enough that I don’t overheat while I’m playing, but not so cold that I’m freezing during breaks. But at Penfield? We were frequently playing with temperatures in the low- to mid-80s, and probably even higher a few times. It’s a good thing I’m a firm believer in hydration!
The Webster box crew carried on playing in Penfield all summer and into the fall, and there may have been some crossover when we would play at either Penfield or Webster once Webster reopened. For a short while (about six weeks), the Krewhawks even used Rothfuss Park, until the Sports Garden reopened - that was September and October of 2020. The above picture is from one of those Krewhawks runs.
And because some of the guys can’t get enough lacrosse, a tournament was spawned from this. The “Pandemic Invitational Lacrosse Tournament” (or PILC) has become an annual-ish tradition. The first iteration took place that August in Penfield, but has been held at the Webster box since, at least once a year, but maybe twice? I can’t recall. I’ve not been a part of all of them for various reasons, but I have been both a player and a spectator, and will be playing in the next one coming up next month (let’s go Cherry Pickers!). It’s low stakes and a lot of fun, and a great way to get a lot of people together for some high-energy lacrosse - this year there looks to be nearly 50 participants!
Admittedly, playing lacrosse during the pandemic may not have been the wisest thing to do, but (for me anyway) it’s undeniable that the Medicine Game helped get me through that period of isolation.
There’s more fun to have come out of the COVID shutdowns, but I’ll save that for another day…
Thanks for reading, and follow along on my lacrosse journey on Instagram at @smokeylax. And be good to each other!