As the weather starts to warm up, lacrosse season begins to ramp up. This year, Chamblee’s girls’ and boys’ lacrosse teams will compete with many rival schools and push to do better than they’ve ever been before.

“Our girls’ team especially has gotten really, really good and experienced. It is hard to compete with the private schools, because they’ve had teams for 25 years, but we are definitely very competitive. Our girls have, over the years, gained more and more experience. This year is probably going to be one of our most experienced teams and they’ll definitely hold their own against these private schools,” said girls’ lacrosse coach Theresa Abernathy.

The boys’ team has more new recruits than the last few years, along with another new coach to help them train.

“This season we have a lot more younger guys. Last year, we had three new players. This season, we have I think 12 new players, 10 or 12. So we’ll have a lot more JV games this year. We’ve signed up for some JV tournaments on the weekends in March and also with the addition of our actual Coach Holland, we have more plays, more set offenses and defenses, and someone with real lacrosse experience and knowledge to help us out. So we can definitely win more games this year,” said senior Ashvij Hosdurg (‘22).

In order to improve, both the girls’ and boys’ teams will have to do a lot of conditioning and practice.

“If it rains outside, we’ll do just conditioning. So we’ll run around the track, do Indian runs, and we’ll do push-ups, crunches, bicycles, stuff like that. But when we’re on the field, we do mostly lacrosse skill sessions,” said Hosdurg.

While conditioning is definitely an important part of the practice, most practices focus on different skills to help the team members improve their control and ability to play.

“[I want to work on] stick skills and the ability to just move the ball around the field faster,” said senior Margaret Axelson (‘22).

Even during the pandemic, the team structure and management have improved massively in the past few years.

“When I first started the infrastructure was not there whatsoever. We didn’t have really a coach my freshman year, and there was no middle school program or anything like that. We didn’t have a booster club. And then Coach Swank came in my sophomore year, we started getting actual coaching and the booster club, so the infrastructure has grown since, but other schools have had an actual program since I was in elementary school, like Dunwoody, where most of my friends play. They’ve been playing with Dunwoody High since elementary school,” said Hosdurg.

Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, many Chamblee teams don’t require their players to take precautions during practices and games, but strongly recommend it.

“Last season, we had to take temperature checks before every practice we had. The girls masked up constantly and they still do a good bit. They’re not required to do it while they’re on the field. It’s not as strict maybe as it was when it first came out, but we’re still taking precautionary measures,” said Abernathy.

Despite some tough games up ahead, the Chamblee lacrosse teams are warmed up and ready to take on their 2022 spring season.

“There’s a couple of games that we’re looking forward to, like the Dunwoody game, and playing Norcross, […] and then just this season in general, and practices, and [I’m looking forward to] all the time with all of my teammates and friends,” said Axelson.

For seniors on the team, they look forward to watching the team grow and expand after they leave.

“[I hope] they’ll continue getting better and continue recruiting better players and working harder,” said Axelson.