MHC: A Rookie Perspective
by Lisa Belltramello
When I approached the field at Uihlein Soccer Park, I had no idea what to expect. I knew nothing about the sport (I kept confusing it with curling, the sport with the brooms and the ice and the round rocks) and I knew no one there (my girl, Sarah Eslyn, couldn’t make it out that day). It felt a lot like the first day of school all over again as so many questions raced through my mind: Would I make friends? Is this a good idea? How did I get here?
As I came over the hill from the parking and looked down on the scene before me, I almost turned around on the spot. The first thing I noticed: calf tats. Everywhere. Never in my life had I seen so many calf tattoos among a group of people (granted, I did grow up in Connecticut where pearls were aplenty and tattoos of any sort were few and far between). There’s no way these people are going to like me. The second thing I noticed: large men with even larger beards. Because if the tattoos weren’t enough to scare the typical Marquette student (aka yours truly), the sheer size of the people that were eventually going to be my opponents was staggering to a girl who is barely 5’2”. These were not the boys I went to college with. These were big men that were going to hit me at some point on the field. What on earth am I doing here?
The third thing I noticed was heard before he was seen. The booming (and terrifying) voice of Dave Olson rang loud and true as he yelled for the group to bring it in. His long, braided ponytail billowed in the breeze as the rookies were quickly divided into a separate group from those that had played before. Skills and concepts were being taught by none other than Tim Sulik, Matt Ebert, and Jerry Miksch, all of whom made things look so easy and effortless. When it came to our turn to try the skill for ourselves, we looked less than impressive. As I struggled to hold the stick the correct way (My right hand on the bottom and left hand on the top is correct? Are you sure?) while hitting a ball on the ground (Like field hockey?), I knew this was going to be a struggle.