While most students are sleeping, Tim Shove is up early, preparing for his 5:00 am workouts before school. He, as well as sophomore Aeden Harkins, meets four days a week with Mr. Harkins, a Clinton town police officer and the Offensive Line coach for the MSW football team, hoping to become stronger and faster. Only, Shove isn’t in the off-season – he’s down the stretch of a long lacrosse season.

Unlike other starters, Tim Shove didn’t start playing lacrosse till 8th grade, when he joined the Clinton travel boys lacrosse team. Starting several years later than many of his teammates, he realized if he wanted to be better, he needed to put in more work than others, “putting that extra work in when no one was watching. Going in my backyard, 7 o’clock at night, playing wall ball,” and his early morning workouts, said Shove, made all the difference. 

As a freshman, Tim played most of his year on JV, coming into varsity games when needed. Tim’s biggest struggle has been getting comfortable with upperclassmen on varsity. Shove has experienced difficulty in gaining the confidence to compete, no matter what his level is.

This season, he has earned his spot to hold this position with other senior defenders, such as Chayton Katterman and Nick Maenza. 

To prepare for this year, this summer Shove played with the HK club team, CT HK Cougars, practicing during the week and playing in tournaments on the weekends, something he has used as motivation in his current season.  “Even when I’m losing to the best players in the summer league or 8th grade, I take that to heart.” 

During the summer, Shove and Coach Mike, head coach of HK travel, really connected, which led Tim to connect with some HK players. Throughout this season, Shove and Coach Mike grew closer, and Tim learned what he needs to train on and what his main job is. 

Going into freshman year, Shove expected to only play JV. But as the season went on, Shove began to step up in varsity games and play with the upperclassmen as a freshman. 

Tim’s effort isn’t going unnoticed. A big difference in Shove’s in-game performance is “confidence,” said senior captain Braeden Steahle. As a sophomore playing at a senior level with two senior defenders and a senior goalie, Steahle said they keep a connection by “keeping them involved, no matter what, they’re all out there. They’re playing the same game as we are.”

Senior captain Braeden Steahl believes Shove’s experiences this year will transfer to next year’s season. “He communicates with us, which is always important, and that’s a part of leadership. 
And I think that’s gonna carry over when all of us are gonna be gone, and he’s gonna have to lead the rest of the defensemen in years to come,” said Steahl. 

This offseason, Shove shares some ways he has worked on to improve. For example, “working out personally, ground balls, and passing with my friends.” Shove also claims to have watched many games at the professional level. Shove said, “Learning how the actual professional players get better and how they play defense, that’s a big thought that I need to work on.”

This lacrosse season, the Morgan boys’ team has a 6-7 record so far. But, for Shove, he is comfortable working through struggle. “We have to put in more work; we can probably win a handful of games this season if we pay attention to film more and strategizing.” 

Shove believes that the time the team puts into film will affect their record and future performances in games. Shove also acknowledges how he can improve on his own by watching film and paying more attention to what he can do as an individual.

The main focus of Shove’s achievements has been on how hard he has worked. He worked through the offseason to be prepared for the next season. Starting a little late last year had given him a sense of where his spot on varsity would be this year. Shove continues to want this season to end with a Shoreline title and even better, a State title, but he knows he will have to put in the work and play his part for the team even as a lowerclassman.

Shove sees himself becoming a captain of the Morgan boys lacrosse team in one of the next two years. Tim believes that a major step he can take for this team is to recruit members for the future program.