Junior Wes Sorrell gives a description of fall lacrosse
By Charlie Houk
While other lacrosse players in Central Ohio are sitting on their couch watching T.V., junior Wes Sorrell is working hard to avenge the state championship loss of last season. Sorrell, a sophomore varsity letter winner last year helped the Golden Bears reach the state championship. Sorrell and other lacrosse players choose to spend their fall nights working on their skills, rather than lounging around. I decided to take a look into what goes on at these fall ball sessions.
Q: So Wes, I have a little bit of understanding about fall ball and that its really just a couple players on the team getting together and playing around but can you just describe fall ball to me.
Sorrell: Yes, fall ball is similar to an open gym for basketball or an open turf, where lacrosse players can go out in the fall and just scrimmage around, play around and work on their skills and what not.
Q: All right, so do coaches attend this or is it just players, run by captains?
Sorrell: Yes, the head coach is there but the captains are really in charge of all the players to make sure everything works out. Sometimes the assistant coaches show up too.
Q: Now are the coaches allowed to evaluate you? Or do they sit there and watch, making pointers and such. What exactly do the coaches do?
Sorrell: The coaches, I don’t believe, are allowed to say anything to us or coach us or anything because of the rules of the Ohio High School Lacrosse Association. Basically they’re just standbyers, part of the audience there to watch us play lacrosse.
Q: How does this help you and your team get ready for the upcoming season even though it’s pretty far away?
Sorrell: Even though we don’t have all of our players, we still get to get together as a team and work on our team skills. We also get to sharpen up our lacrosse skills after not touching our sticks, maybe, for the whole summer. We just get to work together as a team and get ready for the upcoming season.
Q: When is fall ball? What days? And who all is allowed to come, is it a certain amount of players, or any lacrosse players?
Sorrell: Fall Ball takes place Monday and Wednesday from 5:30 to 7. Any high school lacrosse player is allowed to come. Or anyone who’s going to’ try out for the upcoming lacrosse season, but if you do play a fall sport you are not allowed to come to fall ball.
Q: Do you feel like fall ball is very beneficial for you as a lacrosse player yourself? Does it help your skills?
Sorrell: Yes I do. It’s just another opportunity to get better at lacrosse. You can never practice too much; you can never try to get better too much. Very helpful! (Laughes).
Q: Is there a lot of pressure put on by the coaches? I’ve heard Coach Wolford is a pretty intimidating person. So is it a pressure area, where the kids can’t really feel free to play, or is it relaxed?
Sorrell: Well there’s definitely pressure during the season when Coach Wolford is around you. You know that coach Wolford can’t really coach you or anything so you feel pretty relaxed out there. You’re just having a fun time playing lacrosse.
Q: So it’s not as much a tryout, in that he’s checking off names and who’s doing well, who’s not doing well, it’s more of just a practice?
Sorrell: Yeah it’s more of a practice, but I’m sure he’s making a mental note — he’s just not writing it down.
Q: That kind of leads into the next question. Now is fall ball a good time? Your having fun with your friends. How do you like playing fall ball?
Sorrell: I like fall ball a lot. It’s just another chance to be with my friends outside of school. We all like to play lacrosse so it’s just another opportunity that we can play together. I don’t really think there’s any pressure.
Q: Can you walk me through a day at fall ball?
Sorrell: First, we get there at 5:30 p.m. or a little before. We then work on our stick skills for about 15 to 30 minutes, which is what we do everyday in practice so we still do that everyday in fall ball. Then we separate into even teams, depending on how many players we have. Then we have just a scrimmage type situation where we play a real lacrosse game and have fun.
Q: How are the teams made? Does Coach Wolford separate them by their talents or is there picks?
Sorrell: Basically Coach Wolford doesn’t separate them, the captains do. They basically separate them by the talent on each team to make sure they’re equaled out.
Q: Fall ball obviously doesn’t go into the winter. What do you do as a team and by yourself through the winter to keep your skills toned from the fall to the spring?
Sorrell: Our high school team has three different indoor winter teams where we just play indoor lacrosse.
Q: All right sounds like fall ball is a fun and beneficial time! Thank you for your time.
Sorrell: Thank you for having me.