As time went on and drills progressed, I realized I still had no idea what was going on. As the first games approached, I began to realize I don’t even know the rules that well. Here’s what I’ve gathered so far:
· It seems like a mix between lacrosse, soccer, and hockey. You can catch the ball in the air but can’t throw it to a partner (Instead there’s this thing called a ‘hand pass’ where you kind of slap the ball at your teammate).
· You can’t pick it up directly off the ground with your hand but you can scoop it with your stick (much like in lacrosse) and then place it in your hand (But if the ball is rolling it seems like the refs let it slide? These are just observations I’ve made).
· You can hit people at a certain angle and there’s a solid chance you’re going to be hit during games. A lot.
· You only get four seconds to run with the ball in your hand unless you solo and run with it on your stick (Which is really cool to watch others do it but when I attempt this advanced skill, I look like a fish out of water; all jerky and struggling while trying to keep the ball balanced on my stick).
· You can hit it on the ground with the stick, too, and you have to wear a helmet (And good thing too. I’m 5 for 5 in games played and getting nailed in the head with a ball, stick, and/or human body part).
· There’s defense and offense and you pretty much stay on your side unless you’re a middie, in which you basically run the full length of the field (Yeah, no thanks).
· The best news of all? You can kick it (THANK GOD. Sixteen years of soccer is finally paying off. It’s all I’ve got out there).
The scoring is particularly unique. There’s one point for hitting a field goal type thing and then there’s three points if you score in the soccer goal. On the scoreboard, they show up separate and then some math needs to be done to get the total score. For someone who floundered in remedial math her entire life, it becomes quite a challenge for me during games to even know if I’m winning or not unless the total score is posted.
continued on following page