The Standard

Issue date: 3/31/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Caleb Jobe

For the Missouri State lacrosse team, experience is a quality that's helpful but clearly not required.

Four members of the Bears this season are new - to the sport itself.

Whether it was past connections or a desire to find a recreational activity, all four have hit the ground running this spring season, some faster than others.

Kevin Moss, Clayton Nienhaus, Nick Flaton and Billy Stratton are still getting used to the sport of lacrosse while making up the midfield of the Bears' defense.

Joining

Moss, who played soccer with current coach Austin Holman at Parkway Central High School in St. Louis, said it didn't take much to get him to join.

"Austin said: 'I know how you play soccer. You're an athlete and I can teach you how to play," Moss said. "We had played on the same team in high school and were in the same graduating class, so I decided to try it after I transferred here."

For Nienhaus, it was an opportunity for more physical contact. He played on the football team at Northwest Missouri State before transferring to Missouri State.

After hanging out with current Missouri State lacrosse player Kyle Murphy, Nienhaus joined the Bears.

"(Murphy) finally got me to go out and I tried it and loved it," Nienhaus said. "It was the most addicting sport I've ever played in my life."

Flaton, also childhood friends with Holman, got the invite from the Bears coach this past summer.

"He told me if I didn't like it, I didn't have to play," Flaton said. "I had known him since we were kids so I decided I should probably try out."

Stratton's road to the Bears was much more simple.

After applying to the Naval Academy but not getting in because he didn't play a sport in high school, Stratton discovered the lacrosse Bears and asked current team president Brad Shearman for more information through Facebook.

"I watched it on television before and thought it was cool," Stratton.

Starting out

All four held nothing back in describing what those first few practices were like.

"It was hard to take in at first," Moss said. "I felt like a fish out of water. I thought I couldn't play with these guys."

While he knew some of the basic rules, that knowledge wasn't transferring over to Stratton's play during practice just yet.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools