The captain of the Women’s Lacrosse team, Alexa Orozco, has had a “life-changing” experience during the COVID-19 pandemic juggling her personal life, work and school while maintaining leadership of her new lacrosse team from a distance.

Orozco, 19, is in her second year at Fullerton College, majoring in Administration of Justice. She has been playing lacrosse since her sophomore year in high school and decided to pursue her passion for the sport at Fullerton College.

Orozco has been the captain of the team since last season. Her fellow co-captains are Hailey Hirsch and Alexis Corrales.

Much like many others, Orozco had gained a lot of free time at the beginning of quarantine. It has been a huge change for her from participating in athletics on top of school and work to being stuck at home most of the time. She has been finding new ways to occupy her time at home.

“During my free time I love going on walks with my family, after being home all day some fresh air is amazing,” Orozco said. “I also started to binge-watch The Simpsons, the 31 seasons have kept me busy.”

With the fall semester and athletics being completely online this time around, Orozco said learning to adapt to the virtual environment like many other students, was a bit of a struggle.

“This pandemic has been life changing; distance learning has been a new experience for me. It has taught me that I am more of an in-class, hands-on learner, and seeing and engaging with the professors is the best for me,” said Orozco.

School wasn’t the only challenging thing Orozco had to deal with. “As a captain, some challenges have been communicating with the team; we all have responsibilities, so keeping in touch with everyone has been hard,” Orozco added.

Other than the in-person experience, Orozco said she misses the campus community and being able to go to the library, her go-to spot to study with her friends and teammates before practice.

Study sessions were a bonding experience for the team to sit, do homework and talk about their days.

She looks forward to heading back to campus, seeing her teammates and discussing their lives during the pandemic.

Since the team left campus, they have been conditioning via Zoom meetings with their coach, Pam Lewin, on Mondays and Wednesdays. The rest of the week is time for team members to individually workout on their own.

“I personally have been preparing myself to go back to school, from doing my own HIIT [high-intensity interval training] workouts to eating healthier food choices,” Orozco said. “Keeping in touch with my coach has been really helpful during these harsh times making sure everything is okay.”

The Fullerton College athletic teams have recently been cleared to return to campus, with health screenings and precautions before the in-person practices begin.

The Women’s Lacrosse Team will be returning to regular practice on Mondays starting Oct. 19.

“We are getting ready for this coming up season. Our schedule is going to be a tough one but we are prepared; we are ready to change 2020 around and make it our year. We have some great talent on this team so I can’t wait to see us work,” Orozco stated.

The lady Hornet’s lacrosse had their debut as a team just last year, being the first women’s lacrosse team in Fullerton College history.

They are currently the only community college team to participate in the Western Women’s Lacrosse League (WWLL). This meant that they have to play against division one universities such as San Jose State University, Cal State Northridge and Loyola Marymount University.

As far as the future, the FC women’s lacrosse team looks to continue to make history.