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Austin Sims
Austin Sims Checks In From The U-19 World Championships
July 09, 2016 | Men's Lacrosse
Austin Sims, an All-Ivy League midfielder and Princeton's second-leading goal scorer in 2016 with 23 goals, is currently representing the U.S. at the U-19 World Championships. He offers his thoughts from British Columbia:
This summer future Tiger Mike Sowers '20 and I are competing with Team USA U-19 Lacrosse in British Columbia for the World Championship. So far at the tournament we have beaten Canada 12-5 and have a game against Australia today. Our remaining schedule pits us against England Monday, the Iroquois Tuesday, and then semis Thursday and hopefully championship Friday.
Although this is a 10-day tournament, our journey to get here has taken well over a year. We have had five separate camps over the span of 13 months, which included two scrimmages. In those scrimmages we actually lost to the Hill Academy, and the Canadians. It felt great to get a win against them in the opening game of the tournament for a little payback.
Though lacrosse takes up a large portion of our time here in Canada, it is not the only thing that we do. Our coach, Nick Meyers from Ohio State, preaches the idea of an "unbreakable brotherhood." As you can imagine, this is the principle of teammates' looking at one another as a brother, and having their back as a family member would. This principle comes easily when you are with your teammates every day of the week for 9 months of the year as we are at Princeton, but when you only have 20 combined days together it is tough. That is why in our spare time we rarely go out and hole up in our own rooms and watch TV. Instead, you can find guys watching movies as a large group, playing cards against humanity, or just simply hanging out exchanging stories from their own schools.
Playing for Team USA is something that I have dreamed about since I was a little kid. When the U19 team last played in the World Championships in Finland, I followed their games closely knowing that in four years I would have the same opportunity to try out and play for a World Championship.
Playing for Team USA, and being here in British Columbia has made me realize that lacrosse is a more than just a sport for a lot of people. There are 14 different countries competing here, many of which you would not expect to have lacrosse.
Sure there is Canada, the Iroquois, and the USA, but also teams like Mexico, Hong Kong, Korea, and Germany.
As college kids we often forget that we are role models for many kids across America, and even the world. The first day of practice Team Mexico stopped their practice to come over and meet us. They asked about what schools we attended and with each response they gave "oohs and aahhs." For many of the kids in other countries, this lacrosse tournament has given them an opportunity to travel the world and enjoy a host of new experiences. For me, that is what lacrosse is all about; meeting new people and having fun playing the game is the reason why people love the sport.
I will be checking back and update you guys on how we do. Mike and I will do our best to bring home the gold.
Go USA and go Tigers!
This summer future Tiger Mike Sowers '20 and I are competing with Team USA U-19 Lacrosse in British Columbia for the World Championship. So far at the tournament we have beaten Canada 12-5 and have a game against Australia today. Our remaining schedule pits us against England Monday, the Iroquois Tuesday, and then semis Thursday and hopefully championship Friday.
Although this is a 10-day tournament, our journey to get here has taken well over a year. We have had five separate camps over the span of 13 months, which included two scrimmages. In those scrimmages we actually lost to the Hill Academy, and the Canadians. It felt great to get a win against them in the opening game of the tournament for a little payback.
Though lacrosse takes up a large portion of our time here in Canada, it is not the only thing that we do. Our coach, Nick Meyers from Ohio State, preaches the idea of an "unbreakable brotherhood." As you can imagine, this is the principle of teammates' looking at one another as a brother, and having their back as a family member would. This principle comes easily when you are with your teammates every day of the week for 9 months of the year as we are at Princeton, but when you only have 20 combined days together it is tough. That is why in our spare time we rarely go out and hole up in our own rooms and watch TV. Instead, you can find guys watching movies as a large group, playing cards against humanity, or just simply hanging out exchanging stories from their own schools.
Playing for Team USA is something that I have dreamed about since I was a little kid. When the U19 team last played in the World Championships in Finland, I followed their games closely knowing that in four years I would have the same opportunity to try out and play for a World Championship.
Playing for Team USA, and being here in British Columbia has made me realize that lacrosse is a more than just a sport for a lot of people. There are 14 different countries competing here, many of which you would not expect to have lacrosse.
Sure there is Canada, the Iroquois, and the USA, but also teams like Mexico, Hong Kong, Korea, and Germany.
As college kids we often forget that we are role models for many kids across America, and even the world. The first day of practice Team Mexico stopped their practice to come over and meet us. They asked about what schools we attended and with each response they gave "oohs and aahhs." For many of the kids in other countries, this lacrosse tournament has given them an opportunity to travel the world and enjoy a host of new experiences. For me, that is what lacrosse is all about; meeting new people and having fun playing the game is the reason why people love the sport.
I will be checking back and update you guys on how we do. Mike and I will do our best to bring home the gold.
Go USA and go Tigers!
Tuesday, June 02
Sunday, May 10
Friday, May 08
Friday, April 17