Colette O'Brien

Sports

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a mans determination"

-Tommy Lasorda

Sports have always been a part of my life. At a young age I started playing soccer but I wasn’t very into it atfirst because I was more of a girly-girl, so I took dance lessons along with it. Once I got a bit older I decided I wanted to try out basketball and softball. I ended up liking basketball but I really disliked softball. All throughout high school I played three sports. However, the sport a I love the most was lacrosse and I still play today at Elmira College!

Lacrosse- "the Fastest sport played on two feet"

I only started playing lacrosse about 5 years ago because I was only a freshman in high school when lacrosse was introduced to my school. I have always wanted to play but the public school wouldn’t allow children from the catholic school to play with them. I grew up around lacrosse because both my brothers’ played since they were about four years old but I was always too afraid to play with the boys.

When I first started playing lacrosse I was about 15 years old. I remember my first day of practice I was so nervous because I had never played before and did not really know the rules. Even though I had never played before I picked up the game easily and knew that I wanted to continue on with it. My first season in high school was a little rough because many of the girls had never played before but after that first year I began playing summer lacrosse and I even joined a travel team called the B.C. Groggers. My travel coaches taught me all I know today and they have helped me improve my game tramendously. Over the years I have basically played every position except goalie. I enjoy playing defense and offense, so I usually play midfield. Lacrosse in College was much different than high school lacrosse. The girls we played agaisnt were much better; they were faster, stronger, and definatly more effective with their shooting. My first practice in college was just like my first lacrosse practice in high school; I was nervous because i didn't want to mess up. After the first practice everything turned around; I got to meet my new teammates and we all got along right from the start.