Saturday May 8th, the moms and dads, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends of the minor lacrosse players began arriving at the Onondaga Arena -Tsha’ Honnonyendakwha’ ….
early in the morning for the days action. Allegany had made the trip to kick off the 2010 minor lacrosse season.
The Peanut of the North American Minor Lacrosse Association division of 4-6 year olds faced off at 10am. These young lacrosse-ers don their helmets and jerseys that expand past their shorts for end to end action. The coaches of the Peanut teams see just as much action as their players as they areon the floor with their team. Running down the floor, shouting encouragement, and picking up a fallen player, dusting him off, and sending him on his way are just the norm of a Peanut Coach.
With each passing hour, new teams come on the floor, each a little bit bigger than the last. The passes get sharper, catching gradually replaces chasing, but the energy of the players and fans remains high for both teams. The Onondaga and Allegany players battle each other on the floor, then after at the chicken barbeque can be seen sharing a laugh next to the tables of macaroni salad.
It was a great day for lacrosse.
Scores from Saturday:
Division Redhawks Allegany
Peanuts 11 4
Tykes 7 7
Novice 8 2
Peewee 9 3
Bantam 5 2