Editor's note: Old Lyme High School's Michael Kolesnik, a freshman men's lacrosse player at Assumption College, saw his season abruptly end in March when spring sports were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the sixth of a periodical series of essays written by local college student-athletes who suffered similar fates, Kolesnik expresses his thoughts on the situation.

By Michael Kolesnik

My name is Michael Kolesnik. I was born and raised in Old Lyme, along with attending Assumption College as a student-athlete majoring in finance. Since second grade, I've been playing lacrosse while blindly following the path it takes you on. From Bantams with plastic sticks to 12U when one can wield a 6-foot pole ... then follows your CIAC days for the next four years.

During your high school career, you have two choices which you didn't have when playing seventh-grade lacrosse on a muddy field. Option one: you can continue your career at a college or university. Option two: you can finish your long career at graduation. For me, I couldn't end my career in Old Lyme so I decided to join a club team (while in high school) to see if I could get recruited.

The team I played for was Team Connecticut, a program out of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. When I joined this team, the first day of practice was a shock. The level of play was fast but fundamental. The motions were more confusing for me than the defense. Lastly, the intrasquad competition was fierce.

However, these pieces are all implemented into the program to get you ready for collegiate play. Both my coach and the owner of the club knew what it took to play college lacrosse. Coach (Ethan) McDonnell and (director) Eric Bailey took what they experienced and put it into their program. I am grateful to have played for Team CT because if I had not, I didn't know where or if I was playing lacrosse after high school.

High school lacrosse, club lacrosse and collegiate lacrosse have dynamics that are entirely different. The only similarity is there are 20 people on the field at once. For me, these three stages took a lot of focus and work to adjust to each circumstance.

The hardest circumstance of all was playing as a two-way midfielder for Assumption. Yes, as I said before, club lacrosse had shown me, to a degree, what the style of play would be like. However, it does not show what should be expected of a player under a college coach.

It took me a whole semester of frustration to start feeling like a solid player again. Going from high school lacrosse senior year to any division of NCAA play is an extreme undertaking. You start all over again as you did in high school. You walk into a situation with a new coach, new team, new plays, different competition and a much heavier schedule than a two-hour high school practice after eighth-period chemistry.

My first fall semester playing college lacrosse was a struggle. The play was fast, the practices were tough and the learning curve was immense. Later that fall, though, I gained some confidence and went into the winter break ready and excited for the start of the season.

Sadly, we all know how the Spring 2020 lacrosse season ended. It didn't end in a loss, a win, a game-losing goal or a game-winning goal.

For me, it ended in Logan Airport waiting for my bags to slide down on to the carousel after a promising couple of games down in Charlotte, North Carolina. Coach (Guy) Bourdon had to release the news to us on the hour-long bus ride back to Worcester. At that moment, we all realized this was the last time we were stepping into the locker room for the foreseeable future ... there would be no return.

I was saddened to clean out my locker just four games in. Though I wasn't necessarily sad for me, I was sorry for the seniors: the guys who led the team on and off the field. They stepped into the locker room knowing they wouldn't see the inside of it again.

A season cut short brings a hole that can't be filled to the lacrosse community. No one knows what our seasons would have brought us. All we can do is sit and wait until we can strap up again.