Hold the Rope

“When you can look at every member on your team and say to yourself that they would all hold the rope, you are destined to win a lot of lacrosse games.”  (Hold the Rope Poem- Anonymous)*.

‘Holding the Rope’ has great significance because it is the final component to making this season the best in program history.  If we do this one thing, we have all that we need to be a winning team. 'Holding the Rope' means that we are all on the same page when it comes to the amount of work that we put in. 'Holding the Rope' is about being a family and being there for each other. It is more than just working hard but it is that place deep within yourself where you remember that it is not just about you, but it is about the whole unit, the nineteen other teammates that are right alongside you. 'Holding the Rope' is for them, it is a way of remembering that you will hold it for them and that they will hold it for you. It’s a form of trust, respect and integrity.

As a team bonding exercise we all explained to one another what holding the rope means to each of us. Here are a few teammates quotes from our bonding exercise.

Erin Campbell 17’ explained what ‘Holding the Rope’ means to her, “During running, if I feel like slowing down, I say to myself ‘hold the rope.’”  This means to not give up and push through whatever tasks we are given, because we know it is about more than just us as individuals.”

           

“This team is my family away from home.  It is as if I have a family on campus, which is very important to me,” says Ebie Lowery 17’during one of our team bonding nights; and she is completely right. 

 “Holding the rope is a way of life for our team. I would do absolutely anything for these girls because they are my sisters,” says Ashley Edwards 14’, a senior captain. 

Each of us has an actual piece of rope that we wear on our bags and on our sticks to remind us daily of 'Holding the Rope'. We want to be there for one another through it all and we want to live out ‘Holding the Rope’ for one another. When a teammate earns an A on a Chemistry test, we are just as excited as they are. When a teammate is having a hard time at home, we are all there for her with whatever she may need, whether it’s driving her home or just being a shoulder to cry on.

We have such high expectations for this season and we know that every single person on this team is going work as hard as they can to make this team successful because we are all holding the rope. 'Holding the Rope' is when you can say that every member of this team will not let you fall off the ledge and we believe that every member is willing to hold that rope through it all. 'Holding the Rope' is more than a phrase it’s a way we live out being a family. 

*“Hold the Rope” is a poem that was written by an anonymous author. We do not claim ownership for writing this poem as it is just a poem we use for team encouragement.