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Thoughts on the US Lacrosse Convention
Submitted by walax on Tue, 2007-01-16 15:37.
2007 US Lacrosse National Convention found some interesting groups of Northwest Lacrosse players, officials and coaches in Philadelphia together. The usually strong Seattle contingent was noticeably smaller on the boy’s side, while the girls involvement grew significantly. Oregon was also represented well, with a vast number of attendees.
2007 US Lacrosse National Convention found some interesting groups of Northwest Lacrosse players, officials and coaches in Philadelphia together. The usually strong Seattle contingent was noticeably smaller on the boy’s side, while the girls involvement grew significantly. Oregon was also represented well, with a vast number of attendees.Along with the Northwest attendees, more colleges and international representation were present. Often people remark about the journey and expense of coming from the Northwest is remarkable; they are dumbfounded we travel to Philadelphia to participate in the Convention. Much of what the attendees get from the convention is cross-pollination of coaching/officiating ideas from around the country in what can only be called, a Lacrosse melting pot. Not only does the convention give people from all over the opportunity to interact with one another, but also the ability to relate local problems to other areas.
Jamie Gagnon, a Bainbridge Lacrosse Alumnus, is now coaching in South Florida, and cites the challenges of not enough officials, and field space as major problems he sees in the growth process in South Florida. Ironically, the sport may be sanctioned by the Florida Athletic Association as early as next year, though these limiting factors are concerning should that happen.
I spoke with one of the founders of the Irish National Team, about some of the challenges they faced in Irish youth development, finding that coaches are the most challenging part for them. Seattle player Erik Timmreck is currently living in Ireland. He played on the Irish National Team in the world games this summer. Fundraising for the games with travel costs, rounded out to a sum of 100,000 dollars for the team, just for the world games. Jim offered that the reason there was such a huge problem with getting the younger kids to play was this same problem of money. Coaches can’t stay in Ireland to help coach year round, and the development of the sport clearly has been affected by the inability to have access to good coaches. Head coach of the Irish National Team Richie Moran, legendary coach from Cornell felt the best way to combat the development of the game, lies in engendering support in the UK. Another option he thought included internships, but that the travel problem for teams to play competitively would prove difficult to overcome, hurting the ability for Irish native Lacrosse players to benefit form the cross-pollination other fledgling Lacrosse beds have enjoyed such as Japan.
Harry Mazahari remarked the second largest Lacrosse event held anywhere, was the Japanese National Championship, boasting around 20,000 people in attendance, really second only to the NCAA championships in the US. The Japanese Lacrosse Association has invested time and money in getting teams over to Hawaii for their college teams to play against some of the best players in the world, a fun and laid back tournament with clinics fostering the development of these younger teams as well as the youth program in Hawaii. It is no wonder that Japan’s Lacrosse talent has dramatically increased with such efforts.
In discussion with several club coaches from around the country, similar concerns have been raised not just on the cost of travel, but also the cost of tournaments. If the world games bankruptcy were any indication, travel and expense becomes more difficult to justify for local teams in the US to travel to other climbs much like the Irish National Team challenges.
One group included in this would be the US National Indoor team. Both Tom Ryan and Kevin Finneran both commented on the need for fundraising, and both were present to help promote fundraising both in the vendor village and in fundraising meetings. The US Indoor team, coached by Ryan and Finneran, hopes to regain some of the prestige lost by the US National team in their iconic loss to Canada for the gold during the field Lacrosse World games. Fitting the games in with the hectic NLL schedule is another challenge for the players themselves, many of whom, also play in the field league.
It seems that several of the challenges nationally are felt as locally as the Oregon Lacrosse market bustles with the growth of a local NLL team. An influx of coaches and professional players will help advance the game through such players as Brodie Merrill, and RP. Seattle may get the same stimulation to the market when the NLL comes to Seattle, with coaches and players coming to the area. As an aside, I asked Tom Ryan if he would consider the coaching position in Seattle and he was open to the idea. Lacrosse is an expensive sport, but without fundraising to support the younger players in their efforts to expand their Lacrosse outside their own backyard, the growth locally may be inhibited as it is in Ireland, and even the US Indoor team.
Stay tuned for interviews from this year's convention from locals!