Scourge Of The Past/Breaking The Cycle
Title
Scourge Of The Past/Breaking The Cycle
Creator
Eric Alvarez
Date
10/3/2022
Text
Scourge Of The Past
The Slow rolling fall season ends, and the fresh spring air fills your lungs with every breath. Football season ends, and lacrosse season is around the corner, the best and the most fun part of the year. As a freshman, I did not know what to expect; Everything seemed new, and there was so much to learn. The weeks passed, and the team was made; Everything went well until the varsity team went on their retreat before the season started. During the retreat, the seniors snuck alcohol into the retreat house and trashed the place.
Word got out as the retreat house called the school, and later after firing all the coaches involved, the team was left with no leadership, remorse, or regret. Not long after that event, all of the other lacrosse teams in Miami eventually got word and heard about what happened with our team. That season we heard an earful of comments from other schools about what had happened and what type of culture the lacrosse players exuded. It did not stop there; even teachers inside the school heard about what had happened. As an effect, the teachers now labeled the lacrosse boys as "bad and misbehaving." After that primary catalyst, the program would adopt this new cycle of a mediocre toxic culture and zero sense of pride.
After new management changes the following year, everyone had a consistently bad attitude and lack of motivation. This new atmosphere led to people getting kicked off the team and continuing our reputation and label in the school as the kids who did not care and were disrespectful. The state of the program was in shambles. All the players did not take themselves seriously, and even our coaches gave minimal effort to the program. Every player thought about quitting because playing lacrosse at Columbus seemed like a waste of time. We had a lazy work ethic and a loser mentality due to us not caring. That would show how our culture changed into a bad dark state. Furthering our curse after the abysmal offseason, the team continued our bad habits, and we still did not care.
During the school season, every practice was toxic, and instead of bringing each other up with helpful criticism, we would fight and try to put our teammates down. This team adopted a negative attitude and culture, which led to us having a mediocre season, leaving players asking themselves the question, do I want to play anymore? If so, why? It reflects how us living in a place where we were given Everything made us take what we had for granted. With the stereotype that Hispanic people are lazy and do not strive to be greater than what we are, these teams of white kids in Miami give us the negative stereotype of the Hispanics that do not play lacrosse and do not care. It had seemed that our program was cursed with a constant cycle of mediocrity, and with no drive to succeed, my future in the program looked grim.
Breaking The Cycle
The fall months are inching closer, with every day passing faster than before. Our hopes were down, but with a new word of a coach coming during the offseason, that would spark a new lively attitude to everyone's routine. After the spring season, we start to head into the new summer months, where we are pretty excited as a team. Our new coach was an alumnus that was part of a great team many years before any senior probably even played lacrosse. So with great haste and determination, we started to practice during the summer. In past seasons, summer practices were underwhelming and did not contribute much to our fundamental game skills.
This time it was different, and the whole team could feel it. We would work on different drills that made us better players instead of just running and working on our cardio. Our new coach would always tell us that we have to play for something greater than ourselves. That meant that we were playing for our reasons. He wanted us to play for each other and to be assured that someone else was playing for us. This sense of community and culture gave our team a new life and chemistry together.
Our team was fully prepared for the upcoming school season during the fall season. My class of seniors never had a coach that genuinely cared about the program and demanded respect from all of us. Coaches were either not engaged with the team or cared about it but let the players walk all over them. It was a change in pace with the new habits and mindset we were building during the fall. You could tell as an outsider that our team was changing; we were not doing the same things literally and in a more personal sense.
The team wanted to break the negative stigma of lacrosse players at the school. We wanted to be remembered as a great team that will serve as a model team for the younger players to aspire to be. Unfortunately, we were ingrained with the mindset that we should be playing for something greater than just trying to win a game. We wanted to play for our reputation, our school, and to clear our name. We showed that we were not the same program as before and would not be chained by mediocrity.
As the season progressed, we lost four games and went just as far in the playoffs as our coach did. So I would attribute our success to our coach because without him breaking the cycle, our team would not have progressed or done as well as we did.
The Slow rolling fall season ends, and the fresh spring air fills your lungs with every breath. Football season ends, and lacrosse season is around the corner, the best and the most fun part of the year. As a freshman, I did not know what to expect; Everything seemed new, and there was so much to learn. The weeks passed, and the team was made; Everything went well until the varsity team went on their retreat before the season started. During the retreat, the seniors snuck alcohol into the retreat house and trashed the place.
Word got out as the retreat house called the school, and later after firing all the coaches involved, the team was left with no leadership, remorse, or regret. Not long after that event, all of the other lacrosse teams in Miami eventually got word and heard about what happened with our team. That season we heard an earful of comments from other schools about what had happened and what type of culture the lacrosse players exuded. It did not stop there; even teachers inside the school heard about what had happened. As an effect, the teachers now labeled the lacrosse boys as "bad and misbehaving." After that primary catalyst, the program would adopt this new cycle of a mediocre toxic culture and zero sense of pride.
After new management changes the following year, everyone had a consistently bad attitude and lack of motivation. This new atmosphere led to people getting kicked off the team and continuing our reputation and label in the school as the kids who did not care and were disrespectful. The state of the program was in shambles. All the players did not take themselves seriously, and even our coaches gave minimal effort to the program. Every player thought about quitting because playing lacrosse at Columbus seemed like a waste of time. We had a lazy work ethic and a loser mentality due to us not caring. That would show how our culture changed into a bad dark state. Furthering our curse after the abysmal offseason, the team continued our bad habits, and we still did not care.
During the school season, every practice was toxic, and instead of bringing each other up with helpful criticism, we would fight and try to put our teammates down. This team adopted a negative attitude and culture, which led to us having a mediocre season, leaving players asking themselves the question, do I want to play anymore? If so, why? It reflects how us living in a place where we were given Everything made us take what we had for granted. With the stereotype that Hispanic people are lazy and do not strive to be greater than what we are, these teams of white kids in Miami give us the negative stereotype of the Hispanics that do not play lacrosse and do not care. It had seemed that our program was cursed with a constant cycle of mediocrity, and with no drive to succeed, my future in the program looked grim.
Breaking The Cycle
The fall months are inching closer, with every day passing faster than before. Our hopes were down, but with a new word of a coach coming during the offseason, that would spark a new lively attitude to everyone's routine. After the spring season, we start to head into the new summer months, where we are pretty excited as a team. Our new coach was an alumnus that was part of a great team many years before any senior probably even played lacrosse. So with great haste and determination, we started to practice during the summer. In past seasons, summer practices were underwhelming and did not contribute much to our fundamental game skills.
This time it was different, and the whole team could feel it. We would work on different drills that made us better players instead of just running and working on our cardio. Our new coach would always tell us that we have to play for something greater than ourselves. That meant that we were playing for our reasons. He wanted us to play for each other and to be assured that someone else was playing for us. This sense of community and culture gave our team a new life and chemistry together.
Our team was fully prepared for the upcoming school season during the fall season. My class of seniors never had a coach that genuinely cared about the program and demanded respect from all of us. Coaches were either not engaged with the team or cared about it but let the players walk all over them. It was a change in pace with the new habits and mindset we were building during the fall. You could tell as an outsider that our team was changing; we were not doing the same things literally and in a more personal sense.
The team wanted to break the negative stigma of lacrosse players at the school. We wanted to be remembered as a great team that will serve as a model team for the younger players to aspire to be. Unfortunately, we were ingrained with the mindset that we should be playing for something greater than just trying to win a game. We wanted to play for our reputation, our school, and to clear our name. We showed that we were not the same program as before and would not be chained by mediocrity.
As the season progressed, we lost four games and went just as far in the playoffs as our coach did. So I would attribute our success to our coach because without him breaking the cycle, our team would not have progressed or done as well as we did.
Citation
Eric J Alvarez, “Scourge Of The Past/Breaking The Cycle,” Everything Speaks To Me , accessed September 18, 2026, https://everythingspeakstome.com/items/show/141.