Two years ago, the UTSA Club Lacrosse team was suspended for allowing a high school player to replace one of their team players. This is the first semester the team is allowed to play again. The Paisano sat down with two of the players, business major Drew Graves and chemistry major Zach Smith to ask them about the new team.
What are the team’s expectations for the upcoming season?
DG: We are going to try to dominate every team. We still have some problem to work on but I am not really worried about it.
ZS: To win games and keep our team focused. We need to show that this team has improved and that we are ready to go far in this league.
For those who don’t know much about lacrosse how is it better than football?
DG: It reminds me about hockey. Lacrosse has big hits and very exciting goals.
ZS: If you have ever watched a game of lacrosse it is entertainment on a whole new level. It has big hits and lots of contact but it has more style and a faster pace of play than football ever could.
How do you manage you time between lacrosse and school?
DG: Well I’m usually out studying and if not I’m in lacrosse practice, but I still have time to go out.
ZS: Between school, work, and lacrosse you have to learn how to manage your time well, but in the end it is all worth it.
How do you think lacrosse will help you in the future?
DG: I believe that it will help with our leadership and teach us to work as a team.
ZS: It will help me with problem solving and team building. It also helps me keep my cool when everything goes out of control and I believe that will help me in the long run
If you could play another sport what sport would that be?
DG: I would probably play either baseball or football.
ZS: I would probably play hockey. I really enjoyed it when I was a kid and I would really love to get back into playing it again.
How do you think you could bring UTSA students to watch the games?
DG: We need to show that we are actually a good team first. The better we are, the more people will be interested in lacrosse.
ZS: Well we are going to promote our team by selling T-shirts and let everyone know that the lacrosse team is back.
How would you describe the chemistry of the team?
DG: I believe we work well as a team. There are some things we do need to work on but overall I believe we have great chemistry.
ZS: It is good. We are all great friends and hang out together even outside of lacrosse.
Now two years ago the lacrosse team was suspended for letting a person from high school play on the team. Do you think it was a fair punishment?
DG: No, I really don’t believe it was a fair punishment. I am pretty sure that more than half the team didn’t know that he was in high school so I don’t believe that the whole team should have been punished for one person’s mistake.
ZS: Yes and no. It was a self-managed team and you had to be responsible for your own actions. I believe that a one year suspension would have been good enough though because it ended up affecting the new team as well.
What do you think this lacrosse team could learn from what happened two years ago?
DG: We need to look before we leap. We are in college now and need to take things more seriously. In other words we need to be responsible for our actions and communicate everything that happens to the team.
ZS: We made sure to tell every player on the team that if you are having trouble with your classes to make sure and talk to us and as a team we will find a way to help. We understand that as a team that the same thing that happened two years ago will not happen again.
