Meditation on the Lake Placid Lacrosse Tournament

The Lake Placid Lacrosse Summit is an annual tournament held in Lake Placid, NY. Running for thirty-five years now, it is one of the oldest and most prominent adult lacrosse tournaments the game has. It features unrestricted Open Divisions through the 70+ age brackets. It is an annual gathering for people from across the lacrosse community.

Only this weekend,

once per year,

he buckles the chinstrap

of his old bucket,

pushes the padding up

his arms and fits

his hands into the gloves

which have been stored

somewhere (garage,

attic, spare room)

since the last August.

It takes a few minutes,

longer and longer

every year,

a couple reps

of high-knees, 

butt-kickers, lunges,

skips and jogs,

but his body remembers

the weight and feel

of it all, the way

the world looks 

through the cage

of a helmet,

and suddenly

he’s one of twenty,

ten versus ten,

lined up and gripping

the stick, waiting

for the whistle’s go. 

DANIEL JOHNSON is a writer, teacher, and lacrosse coach living in Winooski, Vermont. A graduate of the MA in Creative Writing program at University College Cork, he teaches and coaches at Saint Michael’s College. His work has been published in places like Agenda, Southword, Literary Matters, and TIMBER.