A Lacrosse Weekend 3.24.18
Welcome back to another edition of “A Lacrosse Weekend,” a compilation of lacrosse: thoughts, ideas, history, stories, myths and truths. I hope you enjoy it.
Spring Break
For many across the country it’s spring break lacrosse time! I’m currently in Orange County as the Tar Heels are taking on the Terrapins at 7pm tonight an event hosted by long time lacrosse coach and legend, GW Mix. GW is in many ways The Godfather of lacrosse in Orange County and has put on this great event for 5 years dating back to when his son played for ND. Funny story, GW actually picked me up at the airport in October 1984 for my Official Visit to U Penn when he was an assistant coach there under Tony Seaman. GW went on to be the HC of Penn before moving on to a successful sports marketing career. GW was the founder of Champ Camp, which was the first of it’s kind big tourneys in the world of summer recruiting and has been a successful HS coach at Corona Del Mar HS. A small world is the lacrosse world!
Spring Break 2
Nine years ago when I was starting 3d Lacrosse, Spring Break was my big idea… combining great lacrosse coaching/consulting for coaches with high level customer service and a turnkey trip. For 8 years we had a great time down in St Pete Beach getting to know coaches and teams from all over the country, talking lacrosse all day every day for 3 weeks, and setting our kids free among the operation. A few years there when my son was in middle school he literally jumped on like eight different teams and practiced/played/rode the bus etc. Thanks to Pete Newman, John Bayreuther, Jeff Neill, Bill Glennon and many more for taking on a vagabond lacrosse player! My girls got to jump on various teams too and play with future Syracuse and BC stars from New Hampton School. As I think about great experiences for my kids, I think spring break adventures and their being thrust into new team environments was instrumental in building a certain independence and comfort level in new situations.
Judd Lattimore
I’m sure some of you have seen that Judd has been placed on administrative leave by officials at Holy Cross. Let’s keep Judd in our thoughts. It’s incredibly hard being a Head Coach in DI lacrosse… especially at start up type programs. Judd has worked hard and done a remarkable job and he’s obviously struggling with some difficult stuff.
Pinceton-Yale
“Prinstone” vs. “Shale” is the Ivy League match up from the Flintstones when Fred went back to night school and was drafted to play QB, Exhausted, Fred confuses his football signals with his accounting class figures during the big game. The Princeton vs Yale game is today and should be every bit as exciting and remarkably important. Princeton has an offense that is loaded with talent and a defense they feel good about. Yale has been the class of the Ivy League for a number of years. In this day and age, getting into the Ivy Tourney not easy and every game is huge. I’m looking for Princeton to win this one 11-9.
UVA - JHU
Who is good this year anyway? You can make an argument that nobody (other than Albany and Maryland) is that good, but yet everybody is good. This will be a fun game to watch. I feel like UVA is going to figure out how to win soon, but Hop has been playing better and better. JHU 14-12
High Point - Richmond
A huge battle of the SoCon. Just when Richmond beats UNC with a signature win they lose to Furman… High Point starts out 0-5 but seems to have a group that is excited, working hard and getting ready to make a mark on the 2018 season. Asher Nolting, freshman attackman from HPU is a player to watch. This kid is the next Pat Spencer with uncanny hands and feeding ability to go with a 6’2’’ frame.
ND - OSU
This one is going to be super interesting. With ND coming off a loss to Michigan where their vaunted defense gave up a ton of goals. I want to point out that while new HC Kevin Conry should be lauded in doing a great job, previous HC Jon Paul assembled talent and built a culture of doing things the right way for 5 years… it was a lot of heavy lifting and the program wouldn’t be where it is with out JP’s efforts. OSU is coming off a loss to Denver and have had a week to prepare. This is a big boy match up!
Steve Nash
Wanna see a sick hoops video that applies directly to lacrosse? Watch this Steve Nash video … I’ve watched it 20 times… the hesitations, the hip swivel, the way he cuts off his man is all so interesting and applicable! https://vimeo.com/258881587 . I particularly love the “Hip Swivel” concept… this totally works in lacrosse especially when you bounce away and go.