Lacrosse is a sport that is relatively new to the Chapin area. The school started up a district team of Dutch  Fork, Irmo and Chapin four years back, and the sport has been growing ever since. Players from all over the midlands have picked up on lacrosse and haven’t stopped since. The boys team used to be a part of Irmo lacrosse. The teams names were under the school that had the most interest; Chapin for girls and Irmo for boys. This season will be Chapin’s first season as an all Chapin team for both the girls and the boys team.

Junior Hannah Martin said, ”To prepare for the season we have done a LOT of conditioning, practiced hard, and now have a lot of team strength and speed.” Players have worked continuously since October conditioning for their spring season. With conditioning four to six days a week, the players are sure to be in shape and ready for the next couple of months.  Tryouts ended recently, and now players are working hard with practices all throughout the week and sometimes during the weekends.

Both players and coaches are eager to get the season started. Freshman Josh Mims said, “It will be a good year. It was rough in the beginning but it’s all good now.”  The seasons may have been off to a rough start because of getting back into the swing of things and figuring out what players played what positions. The players are all working in an effort to win as many games as possible.

This year is Chapin’s first year as an all Chapin team. Isolating Chapin alone was a big change for the players and coaches, but the team has done a respectable job adjusting to it.

Girls Varsity coach, Jeff Mirgon said, “By becoming a team associated with one school you can only expect the pride and intensity of the girls to increase from previous years. Can Chapin alone convert that to victories? I like our opportunity to prove that the girls can.”

Players especially are excited to play against Dutch Fork and Irmo since this will be the first year not having them as team mates.

Senior Geneva Kalinowski said “It will make it more competitive for us because we will be playing against them instead of with them.”

The change to all Chapin teams for both boys and girls does not have a huge effect on the teams. Junior Jack O’Neill said, “Splitting up will not affect us at all. We have a pretty solid team here at Chapin.”

Overall the split was definitely positive for both the girls and boys teams. There is a larger number of players on Varsity than ever before, and a lot more talent and positive attitudes. The players will miss their old teammates, but look forward to playing against them in the near future.

Many players can agree that this season will be an adjustment. However, having players on the team that are good friends who share the love of the game is important. Luckily that atmosphere exists at Chapin, and the players (hopefully) are ready for playoffs.