Greetings SMA 7th & 8th grade players. The 2009 Jr A Evaluations will
be held at the Annapolis High School Turf Field. Please arrive
promptly at 1:00 to get signed in. The evaluations will start at 1:30
and will be done by 4:30. I am very excited to share with you that once
again we will have two of the Navy Women's Lacrosse Coaches with us as
our Guest Evaluators; Kelly Coppedge and Allison Valentino.
I am *ALSO* very excited to announced that the new St. Mary's High
School Girls Lacrosse Coach, Megan Lewis, will be joining us for the
day. She will be bringing with her several members of the 2009 SMHS
Varsity Team. All of us at SMA are working hard to plan a fantastic
Evaluation Day for all of you. Certainly it will be hard work, but we
also want you to learn and have fun.

Here are a few important reminders for Evaluation Day:
1) Arrive on time!! That means 1:00.
2) Dress WARM. Think lots of layers. Hats, gloves, sweatpants,
jackets, turf cleats or tennis shoes. Anyone that shows up in shorts &
a t-shirt will be sent home. Unless of course we have some freak
weather and it's a balmy 70 degrees outside. I can dream can't I?
3) You MUST bring your stick, goggles and multiple mouth-guards. We
will NOT have mouth-guards for the girls. No mouth-guard means they can
not play. You might want to consider brining a second stick just in
case. With the cold weather, it sometimes results in stick heads
snapping. Not pretty.
4) IF YOU ARE A GOALIE and will need goalie equipment, please email me
ASAP.
5) Hydrate the day before & the morning of. Although it's cold out,
you can still get dehydrated. Bring LOTS of water/Propel/Gatorade with
you. We will NOT have any water for the players.
6) PARENTS...this is a "DROP and GO" event. Do not plan on staying to
watch. Your player will not benefit from your watching them. Please
make sure you have your cell phone with you so you can be reached if
needed (last year there was the stomach flu that sent several girls home
early) and/or if we finish earlier then planned.

I would encourage all of you to get your sticks out NOW and start
practicing. Find a friend, family member, a wall...anything to play
catch with. Remember, you need to practice with both your dominate and
non-dominate hands. ALSO, start running so you have the endurance for
the evaluations. The cold weather makes it a little more challenging to
run.

Finally, DO NOT STRESS OUT about the evaluations. Relax, do your best
and have fun with the day. This should be as much about enjoying the
day/experience as it is striving to make the Jr A team.

See you on the field!!