This spring, following the unexpected coronavirus intermission that nearly all athletic teams had to endure, the BV district’s girls lacrosse team returned to the field. Apart from the lockdown hiatus, sophomore Carson Marquardt has enjoyed participating in the sport every season since sixth grade, allowing her to have experienced both the easier and more challenging elements of the game. 

“Initially trying to pick up the sport is definitely the hardest aspect [because] there are a lot of different terms,” Marquardt said. 

The complexity of the rules and the dedication required to master them are due in part to the nature of the sport itself, but lacrosse’s obscurity in the Midwest is also a factor. 

“Lacrosse isn’t a very popular sport [in Kansas],” Marquardt said. “It’s more popular on the East Coast, so we don’t have a lot of people, and that’s definitely hard because we don’t have a lot of subs.”

With local prevalence clearly not being the reason Marquardt started playing the sport, she gave an alternate explanation. 

“It was something different that not a lot of people took part [in] at the time when I started in middle school, so I thought it would be something cool to try,” she said.

As with any athletic activity, coaching talent has the ability to make or break a lacrosse team; fortunately for Marquardt and her teammates, it’s been a “make” situation thus far. 

“Two of our coaches actually played D1 lacrosse, so they know a lot about the sport and are super helpful and encouraging on the field,” she said. “If you make a mistake, they’re not going to scream and yell at you — they tell you how to do it differently. They do a very good job of conveying what to do across the field.”

When the team is not in-season, the work doesn’t stop. Thanks to a variety of options, players can continue honing in on their skills without getting rusty.

“There are a lot of players who play on competitive teams [throughout the off-season],” Marquardt said. “There is also a fall-ball team that’s 7 vs. 7, so that’s really fun for the people who want more experience.”

As a result of the relatively small number of players, all of the BV schools combine to create one district-wide team. Despite early challenges stemming from unfamiliarity among the players, the team has transcended the now non-existent barrier and continues to grow closer through unexpected avenues — such as the senior water-gun event, Assassins.

“During assassin, we would all bond [with] people from different schools trying to come get the seniors on our team,” Marquardt said. “That’s really fun to be a part of.”

Furthermore, Marquardt made the case that having players from across the district is ultimately a strength for the lacrosse team, not a weakness. 

“I think it’s actually brought us closer together,” Marquardt said. “We’re all coming from different schools, getting to know each other, and getting to know the different aspects of each school.”