Junior April Serrano started playing varsity lacrosse as an attack player her freshman year at Birmingham Community Charter High School and she has not failed to impress anyone.

With a 3.8 GPA, Serrano takes two AP classes and still manages to play well on the field. However, this doesn’t exclude her from the range of emotions athletes experience before a game.

“You get nervous,” Serrano said. “You get excited. You get upset. Just a bunch of emotions swirl around. But it’s all worth it once you get a goal.”

Serrano has also heavily influenced the way her teammates play with her leadership skills and positive spirit. She inspires her teammates to try their hardest and play the best they can.

“She pushes us to our fullest potential,” junior Andrea Escamilla said. “She’s not shy to step up to the plate and take charge.”

In practice, the team stretches, runs, then does their warm-ups. After the warm-ups, the coach then decides whether the team will be playing a defense day or an attacking day.

“Defense day means that we work on defense primarily,” Serrano said. “So attack holds back all that defense does.”

On an attacking day, defense holds back what attack does, while attack runs drills figuring out how they would move around the field in different situations.

“Attack works on the way defense forms itself and how to get around them,” Serrano said.

Serrano plays on the lacrosse team with four other students from Daniel Pearl Magnet High School: juniors Andrea Escamilla and Tahra Hunter, sophomore Marilyn Vielma and freshman Bella Feinstein.

“It’s great to be on a team with classmates,” Serrano said. “Everyone gets closer when you’re on a team with each other.”