For the first time in years, both the boys lacrosse team and girls softball team will be spending four days in Florida from March 23rd to the 27th. Four consecutive days spent focusing solely on each of their respective sports should surely prepare the teams for success in the regular seasons.

The last time girls softball participated in the trip was 2020, but the tradition was unfortunately cut short due to Covid. They will be training at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports at Disney parks. There, the team plans on practicing and scrimmaging other unknown teams from around the nation. When they are not playing, however, the team will enjoy many of the Disney parks as a form of team bonding.

“I hope the trip is a great bonding experience for the team and really gets us ready for the regular season,” shared Alexandra Pagonis, the junior first-baseman. “I am most excited for the opportunity to play teams from different states and see how we do.” Expanding their range of opponents will be a really great test to see what the team does well and what they need to work on.

The boys lacrosse program has similarly awaited the trip. The last time they took to Florida was in 2017 to Disney for ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. This year, however, the team will be staying in Clearwater, where time will also be spent practicing, conditioning, and team bonding. On top of this, scrimmages have also been scheduled against St. Paul’s and Tower Hills, both schools out of Florida.

“The boys and I are super excited to go to Florida this year,” said sophomore attackman, Finn Vaccaro. Junior goalie, Caden Kirst, adds that “the trip will really just bring us, the team, closer together.” After only losing two starters last season, Caden is excited to keep building team chemistry on the trip.

There is no doubt that the hours spent practicing during the four days will be valuable during the regular season, but the time spent bonding is equally as important to the teams overall performance in the regular season. Although talent, hard work, and determination play a large role in a team’s success, team chemistry is truly what will bind all of those factors together. The trip to Florida will formulate chemistry for both teams. David Brothers, junior attackman for boys lacrosse believes he speaks for both teams as he expresses his views toward the trip in one simple word: “amped.”