A little over a year ago our world came to a screeching halt, including our journey to the European Championship. One day we went from scheduling flights and scouting opponents to then focusing on the health of our family, friends, and country. Suddenly, lacrosse, the thing that kept us together and focused on a common goal, became an afterthought. Wall ball, shooting, practices, games, post-practice hangouts all just... stopped.
Now, as we await confirmation that the European Championships will be held this summer, we are once again coming together to make sure we bring our best to Poland. Training is now largely done individually; players are responsible for policing themselves and making sure that corners aren’t cut. Wall ball and shooting is limited and practices are still far from the “norm”. But I couldn’t be more proud of the work that our guys have put in to make sure we have the best showing possible this summer. I’m amazed at the ingenuity of our players. I’ve seen some great “at home gyms” they’ve put together with limited resources and the creativity of workouts is second to none. Obviously it doesn’t hurt to have great training apparel to workout in either (thanks to pD, which we’ve been fortunate enough to have outfit us at our last few events).
While there are still major hurdles to overcome and tons of questions to be answered (including whether the European Championships will happen in 2021 or 2022), we hope that when all is said and done we get to represent Hungary in Poland, but more importantly, we’re looking forward to coming together as a family to play this game that means so much to us. It’s called the medicine game for a reason and I think we could all benefit from its healing power now more than ever.
The best part about this squad is that many of us have played together before, so we already have that brotherhood that pushes each of us to compete with and against one another. Over the last year we regularly have email and text chains about different workouts people have done, challenging each other to who can do the most reps or have the fastest time. While we would much rather be able to play and practice together in person, this has proven to be a great team building experience. So all in all we feel pretty good heading into the pD Showcase 21’ this summer.
Stay safe
@hungarianlacrosse