By Claire Bauer, R

The Rock Canyon High School girls lacrosse team practices for their delayed season.

CHS intern writer; courtesy photo

Although Rock Canyon High School’s (RCHS) 2020-2021 school year has finished and summer break is in session, it’s no vacation for students playing sports that fall under the school’s final “D” season, which was pushed back due to COVID-19. The D season includes sports such as baseball, boys and girls track and field, boys swim and dive, boys volleyball, girls soccer, and boys and girls lacrosse.

The RCHS girls lacrosse teams can be found determinedly running laps around the track, scrimmaging on the school’s turf, and practicing their throws together on the fields. Even with a shorter season, they’ve been training their hardest to represent the Jaguars the best they possibly can.

“With the pandemic, we have a shorter season this year and we couldn’t do as much for our preseason. Normally, we’d be ending our season in May. Now we’re only just starting in May. We got pushed back a lot,” said varsity player Nicole Flocco. “Obviously, our season last year got canceled and a lot of the sophomores this year missed out on their opening game. For our practices, when we’re inside wearing masks and doing things like trying to condition, the COVID restrictions can be a pain,” she continued.

Nevertheless, these girls have been persevering through their practices and games with admirable diligence and flexibility to the new schedule. Their current shortened season practices and tryouts started in late April, and competitions didn’t begin until early May this year. The teams are scheduled to have 10 games, which will last through the rest of June. These new pandemic-related rules and ever-changing dates have arguably tested the players’ love for the sport and have shown who the truly committed girls on the teams are.

“I’ve been playing club lacrosse since about second grade, and I’m on the Canyon varsity team now. I don’t think I’m going to play in college, but I’ll play through the rest of my high school career,” Kaitlin Hicks said. As a member of the Class of 2022, Hicks will be entering her senior year at RCHS in the fall. “My goals are pretty much just to have fun and make the best of it with the years I have left. I just love the team bond of lacrosse.”

“Personally, I really want to get recruited and play in college so that I can continue playing throughout my life. I think it’ll be an interesting ride,” commented Flocco. “My favorite part of lacrosse is probably just the speed and intensity. It’s super fun and super-fast paced, there’s a lot of movement and a lot of energy put into playing it.”

Although the RCHS girls lacrosse program has yet to win a championship, they’ve come fairly close in recent years. Coaches and players seem to agree that they will be able to get back on their feet this year, and potentially take the title of champions in future years. You can follow them on Twitter at @RCgirlslax to watch and support their journey.