In between graduation and moving out to San Diego I ran numerous clinics with my former coach from the University of Richmond, Sue Murphy, and several of my teammates. As I've said before, my summer was jam packed with lacrosse mostly because of these clinics. We held clinics in Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut and New York and every stop was a great time. After spending my entire summer on the road, I let Sue know my time as Assistant Camp Director was done until I received a call a couple months ago and what do you know, I'm back on board for one more clinic with Premier Lacrosse but this time Sue was coming to me. I am the youngest of a Richmond lax crew that lives and coaches lacrosse in San Diego so we rounded up the troops and planned a big reunion weekend.

On Thursday, Sue and her assistant coach, Allison Nuzzi, who also serves as one of my best friends, were welcomed to San Diego by six former Spiders and the fun started from there. My teammates and I are like sisters and when you put two of us, let alone seven of us, in one place you are destined for a good time and lots of trips down memory lane. So the seven of us and our former coach took San Diego by storm. We went hiking, shopping, site seeing, dabbled in the night life a bit, and of course ran a coaches and players clinic.

Both clinics were a huge success despite the buckets of rain that poured down on us from the minute we stepped on the field. I, of course, confidently told our east coast visitors that it never rains in San Diego and boy was I wrong. A little rain never hurt anybody though and thankfully both the coaches and players were troopers through it all. I was hoping to get some pictures and footage of the clinic, but being that I was ringing out my clothing I am pretty sure my camera would not have survived, so I apologize for that.

We had about 15 coaches for the 90 players that signed up for the clinic, which was great. The coaches' clinic ran from 9-12 a.m. filled with discussion on drills, philosophies and strategies. The player's clinic ran from 1-5 p.m., four hours filled with instruction, play and demos by the staff. Each Richmond alumni was in charge of a group of about 15 girls for station work. We taught the girls everything we could in the amount of time we were allotted and from the response we received it seemed as though every player learned a lot. It was helpful that we had so many staff members on the same page seeing as though we played for the same coach at the same program for years. In between coaching sessions we brought everyone to one cage where the staff would put on a demo showing what we were going to teach next. Needless to say, we all loved playing together again, so much so that Sue had to pretty much drag us out of the demo and force us back to our stations. As much as we enjoyed doing demos though, it was also really helpful for the players to watch the skills we were teaching before attempting them for themselves.

All in all, a lot was learned without fun being spared by the players, coaches, and staff involved in Sue Murphy's Premier Lacrosse Clinic. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm already pondering when and where the next clinic will be. Good times!

Spiders in San Diego:
Kristy Gallagher - UR '03 - Poway H.S. & E5 Lacrosse Coach
Katie Dolan - UR '03 - La Costa Canyon H.S. & SD Rip Lacrosse Coach
Jen Cielewich - UR '04 - Bishop's H.S. & E5 Lacrosse Coach
Amanda Bourquin - UR '04 - Torrey Pines H.S. & E5 Lacrosse Coach
Libby Berlacher - UR '04
Allison Nuzzi - UR '06 - University of Richmond Assistant Coach
Sara Allen - UR '07 (5th year) - SD Rip Lacrosse Coach
Sue Murphy - University of Richmond Head Coach

Before diving into my blog about my life after college, I'd like to set the scene a bit and introduce myself. So here is a short clip about where I've been, where I am now, and where I plan on going.

I grew up in Radnor, Pennsylvania, as a very active kid. I participated in every sport under the sun. I loved being active and trying new things so my passion for all sports grew as I did. In high school, I played soccer, basketball and lacrosse, and also participated in other sports such as snowboarding, wakeboarding and tennis. I was recruited to play both soccer and lacrosse in college but chose to pursue lacrosse. It was evident right away that I had an amazing opportunity in front of me. I fell in love with the University of Richmond and spent the next five years of my life there.

So life was good. Everything was going smoothly until I got stick checked in the head at practice one day during the fall of my freshman year. This check resulted in my first concussion and would not be my last. One concussion led to another and eventually ended my lacrosse career.

In college I endured another injury: I herniated two discs in my back which led to other problems including a partially torn oblique muscle.

Since I received a medical red shirt my sophomore year, I took a fifth year but didn't want to risk my body anymore. Many of you are probably wondering what took me so long-- I wonder the same thing--but when sports are your life you will do almost anything to keep them from slipping away. My back was so messed up at this point that even if my head was normal I most likely still would not have been able to play.

I was on board as a student assistant coach for the year and although I struggled with not being able to play, I enjoyed teaching, strategizing and creating plays for the team. It ended up being a great experience and I was able to learn a lot about myself. I graduated in May 2007 with a great education, amazing friends and teammates, leadership experience as a three-year captain, coaching experience, three Atlantic 10 championships, three NCAA appearances, a No. 8 ranking at best and, unfortunately, a pretty damaged body.

A few months after graduation and the end of my Richmond lacrosse run, I moved out to San Diego to start working for the Active Network as an online community coordinator, which is where I am today. I plan on doing a lot in the next year, including coaching lacrosse, experiencing new sporting events, traveling and, most importantly, healing my body so I can go back to leading an active lifestyle. Stay tuned and join me on my journey as I begin "life after college."