Maxx Davis is a senior midfielder for the UMBC Retrievers, who enter the 2010 NCAA lacrosse season ranked 14th in the nation. He is looking to cap his career with a memorable senior season after emerging as one of the nation's up-and-coming midfielders as a sophomore in 2008. Maxx finished that season with 10 goals and 13 assists and was named America East Player of the Week after helping lead the Retrievers to an upset victory against perennial national power Maryland. Prior to attending UMBC Maxx, who is former NCAA Player of the Year Kyle Harrison's cousin, was a three-sport standout at the Friends School of Baltimore, where he was named All-Baltimore County in Lacrosse and All-MIAA in lacrosse in soccer. He also was the point guard on the basketball team. Maxx is majoring in media and communications studies at UMBC, and has been nice enough to allow us to take an inside look at his senior campaign for the retrievers. His blog will appear right here weekly, and if you have any questions for Maxx, please feel free to submit them via the Ask Kyle page located on the top navigation bar.

Week 5 - February 3, 2010: Lessons Learned

What's up everyone? What's realllyyy good? I'm still alive and healthy, so i can't complain too much. As I mentioned last week, last Saturday we scrimmaged Navy up in Annapolis in the snow! Literally as soon as we started playing the snow started to fall. By the end of the first quarter the lines on the field were barely visible. It was quite an experience. The snow was so bad that it took us four hours to get home from Annapolis (it took us 25 minutes to get there)! The scrimmage itself didn't go quite as we planned. No official score was kept, but we definitely didn't play as well as we could have. It was still good, however, to be able to get up and down the field against a team as in shape and disciplined as Navy. They really showed us what we were doing wrong and what we need to improve on, which is exactly what we focused on this week. Monday's practice was anything but easy. In fact, all we did was run and do stick drills for two hours, and in my opinion, it was exactly what we needed. A team, not just our team, is built on discipline and our scrimmage against Navy made it clear that we didn't have much of it. Throughout my four years at UMBC, one of our motto's has always been "the little things make a big difference." By little things, I mean touching the line on a sprint, or running through a ground ball with two hands as full speed, or throwing a teammate a pass he can handle each and every time you touch the ball. They may seem insignificant, but in the long run, the little things are the difference between winning and losing. Well, now that Navy is behind us we can focus on our next scrimmage against Villanova. The game was set to be played on Saturday Feb 6th, but due to the snow storm we're supposed to get this weekend, we're actually playing them Thursday Feb. 4th. VIllanova is another team we scrimmage every year and every year they challenge us so hopefully we'll be ready!

The Bull Roast last weekend, unlike the Navy game, was a lot of fun. It was nice to see all of the parents and friends having fun together. The food was AMAZING, but most importantly, we raised a ton of money for the program. The highlight of the night for me was definitely watching the freshman dance to the "Cha Cha Slide" in front of everyone. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. I was pretty surprised at the number of people that actually showed up since there was a bit of a snow storm that day as well. All in all I had a blast. Can't wait to go back next year!

I've officially been to all of my classes as well. They don't seem too hard, but I'll definitely have a lot of reading to do. I had to buy ten books for three of my four classes! It's a good thing I'll have a lot of free time, because I"ll need it to get all of this work done. A huge part of being a studen- athlete is time management. Since we practice from 4-7 p.m., I'm usually too tired to do homework at night after practice, so i have to get it done during the day. It's also important to remember that in the term "student-athlete," the word "student" comes first. In all college sports, one must maintain at least a 2.0 GPA or you can't play! Just something to think about for all of you aspiring college athletes out there.

Well that's all for today. I've gotta meet with my professor before class. Have a great week everyone!

Maxx

Week 4 - January 20, 2010: Gearing Up

Good afternoon everyone! How's the week been so far? Mine has been pretty exciting. As i mentioned in last week's post, this Saturday is our first scrimmage against Navy and I've been looking forward to it for a while now. The intensity of practice has increased as well, as you can imagine. Navy is a team that we play every preseason, and according to Coach Zim, there's a good reason we do so. Yesterday's practice ended with an intense running session, because Navy is a team that is always in shape, as well as very disciplined. I guess you could say that we as a team strive to be like them as far as conditioning goes. Playing them will be a good test to see just how in shape we actually are. Another thing I love about playing Navy is our games are always extremely competitive. Even though it's only a scrimmage and the game doesn't ultimately count for anything, neither team wants to lose. Competition like this is exactly what our team needs to keep moving forward and improving as a whole. Speaking of the team, myself along with a few of the other seniors on the team, Jordan Pierce and Benin Bembry, came up with a pretty cool idea that I'd like to run by you guys. The UMBC Men's Lacrosse team has always taken pride in, as well as embraced, our underdog role. Our blue collar style of lacrosse has undoubtedly gotten us to where we are today. Keeping that in mind, we're having military style "Dawg Tags" made for the entire team to help remind us of this fact. Over the past few years, the recruits we've been getting have gotten better and better. More talented recruits can lead to a change in the overall style of play of a lacrosse team, which is what we're trying to avoid. It's essential that the whole team remembers what got us to this point: out-working every team that tried to defeat us. Hopefully the tags will do just that.

This Saturday also marks our annual Bull Roast. The Bull Roast is a fundraising event that we throw every year right before the season to raise some extra money for the program. Anyone is welcome including parents, girlfriends, alumni, friends, siblings, etc. as long as they buy a ticket. The event is a lot of fun, because we get to see all the people who support our team in one place. There's music, great food, a silent auction, raffle, but most importantly, a dance floor! Once all the parents loosen up a bit they tend to start dancing, which is always hilarious because they have absolutely no shame! We also arrange for the freshmen to do a little something in front of everyone for fun, of course, since they haven't really met the majority of the people there yet. There are new surprises every year, so i can't wait to see what happens this time!

Today also marks the beginning of the spring semester which i can't say I'm terribly excited about. For the past three weeks all I've been doing is playing lacrosse and lifting, so having to go back to classes again is kinda throwing me off, although i do have a really good schedule. Tuesday is the only day that i have more than one class, and I don't have any classes on Fridays, which is a relief. It's hard to believe that my college career is comming to an end. Time really does fly when you're having fun, because it seemed like just yesterday that i was a freshman living in the dorms getting in to trouble all over the place. Now I'm getting ready to graduate college and start my life in the real world. The feeling it kinda scary, but I'm excited at the same time, because I've been preparing for this moment my entire life and I know I'm ready to take the next step. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do when I graduate, but i have been giving a lot of thought to moving out to California! As many of you know, my cousin Kyle lives out in LA now and he loves it. i visited him last year and almost didn't fly home because it's sooo beautiful! My good friend Mike Gvozden (Hopkins) and I have been talking about moving out there together for about a year now, so hopefully we can follow through with the idea.

Alright my class for the day starts in about 10 minutes, so i gotta run. Have a great rest of the week and God bless!

Maxx

Week 3 - January 20, 2010: Practice Woes and Haiti

What's up everyone? Hope your week is going well. Mine has been tiring to say the least. The first two days of practice this week have been miserable, but it's preseason so I really can't complain that much. Luckily, the team is really starting to come together. Having so many freshmen (20) on our team can be difficult at times, and we as seniors may have gotten ahead of ourselves as far as leadership goes. Of course we strive to implement a winning mentality, but we had to learn the hard way, unfortunately, to teach everyone how to practice first. Practicing as hard as you can each and every day is the only way wins are produce,d and now that that fact has been established, we can move forward! I'm really looking forward to making it through this week, because next week we have our first scrimmage against Navy! it should be a great test to see exactly how far we've come this preseason. I can't wait!

On a different note, anyone hear any new songs? My computer has been broken the past few weeks so I'm a little behind on downloading. Also, I still haven't seen Book of Eli! I've heard from a few people that it was amazing, so hopefully I'll be able to see it soon.

Finally, by now everyone has heard of the tragedy that happened over in Haiti as well as the aftershock a few days ago. I've personally donated to the cause, but I'd like to take this opportunity to ask anyone and everyone reading to donate whatever you can if you haven't already done so. Just put yourself in their shoes and see if your perspective on life doesn't change; everyday we have clean water to drink and food to eat. Wel,l in Haiti, people are struggling to find clothes and a safe place to sleep at night. Just something to think about.That's all I've got for now. See you next week!

Maxx

Week 2 - January 13, 2010: Practice Gets Underway!

Hey everyone, I'm back! This is officially my second blog post, and I've got a lot on my mind! First and foremost, today is the first day of preseason for my (UMBC) lacrosse team. I'm not sure if we have a run test today or this weekend but either way, I literally can't wait to get out on the field again. I've worked harder this off season than my previous three years combined and I can definitely say the same for the rest of the senior class. Everyone has the same goal in mind, and since success starts from the top down, we're prepared to hit preseason head on! I'm getting pumped just thinking about all the great opportunities we have this season! I'm not sure how many of you have seen our schedule for this spring, but it's pretty tough to say the least. Not only do we scrimage Navy and Loyola, but we play UNC, Hopkins, Princeton, and Maryland all in a row in that order! No doubt the toughest month of lacrosse for us this year, but we're ready for the challenge! AHHH i'm getting pumped up again, so let's change the subject. 

Last week I told everyone about the class I'm taking over the winter. Well, that's no longer happening. I chose to drop the class after a week for a few reasons, the main one being it was too hard. The class was based on knowledge of a Mac computer, which I have none. To add insult to injury, I was the only athlete in a class full of computer nerds, so I pretty much had no idea what was going on. I wrestled with the idea for a while, becasue I've never quit anything in my entire life, but I ultimately dropped the class becasue I didn't want it to affect my average, so I guess tha'ts a good reason. Speaking of averages, I got my grades back from last semester and guess what I got??? A 3.0! I have to say I was a little surprised at how well I did, but my mom was overjoyed and I love seeing her happy, so that made my grades that much more enjoyable. 

That new movie with Denzel, The Book of Eli, comes out this Friday. I can't wait to see that one, I've been looking foreward to it for a few weeks now. Critics are saying that it's one of Denzel's best performances ever! I'm not sure about that, with classics like Training Day and He Got Game (two of my all time favorites) out there, but there's no doubt that he kills it. 

Ok I'm going to get some food now and maybe take a nap before practice. Until next time!

Maxx

Week 1 - January 4, 2010: HAPPY NEW YEAR ... No Regrets in 2010!

What up everyone?  Happy New Year! The last few weeks for me have been pretty eventful to say the least. The holidays were a time for me to get away from school for a while and spend some quality time with the family. It was nice to have my cousin Kyle back in town from L.A. for a few days. I don't see him as much as I used to, so having him around for the holidays was definitely a treat. Too bad it went by so quickly!

It's funny getting older because some things, like Christmas, tend to sneak up on you. Two days before the best holiday of the year and I had done absolutely zero shopping, not that I had money to shop with...one of the perks of being a college student. Luckily, that wasn't the case for my mom and dad who got my brother Marrio and I some amazing presents! Anyone played that new DJ Hero game? I got that for Christmas and if you haven't played it, scoop it up ASAP! One of the most fun games I've ever played. I also got a new setr of golf clubs, which will come in handy once it starts to get a little warmer! 

Kinda hard to believe that its already 2010. This is the first decade I've lived through that I can actually remember! Kinda makes me feel old, but we all know that's not the case. My New Year's resolution was pretty simple: have no regrets. 2010 marks my final collegiate lacrosse season and I want to go out on top with a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! The past few weeks for me have been work, work, work. We (UMBC) start practice on the 13th and I want to be in the best shape possible. In addition to working out, I'm currently taking a winter class for my major (Media and Communication Studies). It's called Desktop Publishing and the Web and yes, it is as hard as it sounds. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to make it through but i'll figure something out.

Well that's about all I've got for now. I'm about to head to the gym and play some basketball with my teammates (great way to stay in shape by the way). I'll see you next week!

Maxx