Sports enthusiasts of any category like to talk about their favorite sports, sports teams and players. Why not have students write about this? Here's an example of a student's writing about his favorite sport, lacrosse. Miles, now a ninth grader, is a fan of a certain MLL (Major League Lacrosse) player, who also coached him in a lacrosse camp. Miles has a piece of writing below about Chazz Woodson, this MLL player and former Brown University lacrosse player. His writing is based on a Youtube video of Woodson, which has been embedded below. Miles knows lacrosse and has the terminology and lingo about strategies and moves in the sport. He has a lot to say about Woodson's skills and style as a lacrosse player.
You might need to replay the video several times to catch on to the lightning fast moves that Miles is describing. This piece of writing naturally went through some revisions to get it where it is. As a writing teacher, I encouraged Miles to push forward and develop his two topics of fearlessness and creativity. I think he did a great job. In reading this, I learned a lot about lacrosse and was again reminded how passionate and aware young people can be about their sport. Had someone sat me down to write about lacrosse, I wouldn't have known where to begin.
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Chazz Woodson plays without fear of anything, let alone the defenseman. He has one speed, which is fast. He has one thing on his mind and that is to get the goal and nothing can get in the way of that.
Woodson is not afraid to try new things. He is willing to "cut across the middle," even when he is putting his body at risk to make a play. For instance, at the 14-second mark, while diving across the crease, many things could happen. He could get the goal and glory, or he could get body checked. His forward roll at the end of this dive keeps him from face planting. Defenseman do not expect him to dive across the crease and shoot the ball.
Woodson's creativity to invent new moves and try new things helps him be one of the best players in the league but also one of the hardest to defend. Notice at the 17-second point, the element of surprise is also on Chazz's side, because no one expects him to do something like jump from behind the net to the front and score. He is leaping through the air like Michael Jordan would.
In terms of creativity, he also does the "swim move," which is very imaginative but also effective when trying to escape from your defenseman. Notice at the 1:30 second point, he performs the swim move. See how he holds the stick with one hand, but during the swim move, he switches hands so he can get a shot off from his strong hand. This move is effective because the defenseman does not know what hand he wants to shoot with.
Another creative move: notice just after the 25-second mark how Woodson athletically leaps in the air, while at the same time shooting the ball from behind his back, and scores. That was really cool!
So, Woodson's skill, creativity and fearlessness make him one of the most fun players in the MLL to watch.
-- Miles H., Freshman