Girls' Lacrosse
My mother and I moved to Baltimore when I was eleven. I entered a private girls school and was exposed to a sport I had never heard of before: lacrosse. Lacrosse is not a sport you stumble into or just happen to be good at. It's a sport that even today is regional to certain states. Most of the girls I went to school with had been playing since 6 or 7. I found it impossible to catch up. Every season, an unpopular girl could become popular if she excelled in lacrosse. For me, it was just a reminder of how awkward and displaced I felt those first few years in my new hometown.

I originally wrote a story about a girl and her stepfather based on my relationship with my stepfather who was a physicist. As I developed the script, I changed many details and came up with a lacrosse player and a house painter. In choosing lacrosse, I found a sport that has never been seen on film and is, as I now realize, an empowering sport for women. It is a team sport, like soccer, and depends on great coordination and communication. It is different from men's lacrosse and is therefore unique as a women's sport.

I was lucky to find Lacrosse Hall of Fame coach MC McFadden and her club lacrosse team, The Skywalkers. What is unique about the summer club teams is that they comprise girls from different schools who usually compete against each other during the Spring lacrosse season. To not highlight one school or one school's team was important to me because I found that kind of competitiveness unpleasant when I was in school. Club lacrosse, on the contrary, captures the girls' commitment to good sportsmanship, the development of their skills, and the excitement, tension and spirit that is at the heart of the game. These young women are driven as athletes, and show a mature dedication to the sport that is inspiring.

I chose to have Miranda be a goalie because it is the unsung position in most sports. As they say, no one remembers the goalie unless she loses the game. The goalie is alone and is a protector. She is defensive. I felt that these qualities fit Miranda and how she feels as a child of newly divorced parents.