Intro to lacrosse

When I moved to Harrisburg, PA in 7th grade, I was introduced to the sport of lacrosse. I had heard of it in NJ, but never seen or played it. In PA, we started practice on a snow-shoveled parking lot across from the school. It was freezing and even the smallest slap checks smarted incredibly. Maybe it hurt so much just because that was my first encounter with contact sports (soccer isn't 'contact'), but I doubt it- it was COLD. Stick heads were brittle and broke regularly. We weren't bad, but it wasn't pretty. We had poor mechanics and preferred to lay each other out rather than string two to three clean passes together for a highlight goal. We used our sticks like bats and our heads like battering rams. Watching the older high school guys was fun, but for now, just the idea and concept of lacrosse was good enough for us as we practiced our boyish muscles, courage, and testosterone.
**Side note: One day after a number of guys on the team had been quarreling for a while, the coach had all 20-25 of us stand shoulder to shoulder in a tight circle (so no one could see in from the outside). In full pads and helmets but no sticks, guys who had beef with each other would enter the circle, one on one, and beat the shit out of each other. No kicking or dirty fighting, but otherwise full force. The coach would break it up after it was over and make the two guys shake hands. I'd imagine he would've gotten fired if the school or parents found out about that day, but I thought it was a great thing to let the boys do. Looking back now, it reminds me of the warrior training that you see in the movie '300'. Young boys are taught how to fight, deal with fear, and be honorable in that Spartan society, and I'm glad we got a small taste of that in our own Circle of Death. Funny- our schools mascot was the Spartans...**
Florida lacrosse was a completely different game. Of course everyone still appreciated a good bell-ringer from time to time, but it was much more about skill and finesse. This was 'beach lacrosse'...