A young player coming into girls lacrosse, sophomore Hailey Jenkins has recently joined the varsity team. She first played lacrosse when she was in eigth grade for her club team. While she will now be facing mostly experienced upperclassman girls, she doesn’t believe that there was much of a difference from when she came from JV.

“It’s not really that big of a difference, because JV and varsity are so close to each other, it doesn’t even seem like we’re on different teams,” Jenkins said. “But, in-game wise it just feels more matured.”

After playing the game for so long, the sport becomes fun for multiple reasons. For Jenkins, she likes to take control of aggressive or defensive moments of the game.

“I’ve done a lot of interceptions that I’m proud of,” Jenkins said. “Blocking and carrying down the field is always a great feeling when playing lacrosse.”

Jenkins is grateful to play the sport, but like anyone else who plays sports, starting out isn’t easy. There will always be something new players struggle with. In Jenkins’ case, it was more of understanding how it’s played and what to do in different situations. Thanks to her teammates and coaches, Jenkins has made great improvements the more she played.

“It seemed complicated at first because I didn’t know anything about it,” Jenkins said. “But then, the girls and coaches started helping me out and explained it to me and they let me go hands-on right away and the more I played, the more I learned.”