I had the great pleasure of making a presentation at a high school/middle school coaches clinic at the Collegiate School in Louisville today, thanks to Coach Chad Wabrek at Collegiate for the opportunity to speak. Coaching education has been a huge factor in what success I've had & I appreciate the opportunity to pay forward. I got to catch a few presentations from Coach Mike Caravana of Denison University & Razor Lacrosse & he was terrific.
http://blogs.insidelacrosse.com/2010/01/14/helping-jack-mcgetrick-fundraising-clinic-scheduleinformation/
It was for a great cause. Coach Jack McGetrick at Bellarmine University is fighting cancer & today's proceeds from the clinic go to his fight.
If you're in Louisville tomorrow, the River City Indoor Sports Arena is holding another benefit, including an auction, around its middle school lacrosse league that day.
http://www.rivercitysportsarena.com/page/1q95b/Lacrosse/Sunday_MS_LAX.html
Go Jack & Go Knights!
http://www.bellarmine.edu/athletics/team.asp?team_no=90
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
So...Why Here, Why Now, And Why You???
I'm proudly Jersey born & bred (fist pump!). But somewhere back in the 1990s, Louisville adopted me, or I adopted it, or something along those lines.
I've observed lacrosse's growth in Louisville with great interest over the last decade. When I started coaching in 2001, there were 80 players that played against each other as four high school teams during the week, then traveled to Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Nashville to play as a single team on the weekends. We also had a middle school team with another 40 players. We played in a state park, because that was the only place that would have us. I was volunteering as the treasurer for the newly-formed Kentucky Lacrosse Association at the time. For the first treasurer's report, I had to break the news to the Board that we had $800 in the checking account & $1,300 worth of bills to pay.
With the addition of the Oldham County High School program to the Kentucky Lacrosse Association this week, we are now up to 13 boys high school teams & 13 boys middle school teams in the Louisville area. For the first time, there will be a Bantam league for 3rd & 4th-graders. Bellarmine University has a D1 mens lacrosse program & will host games with traditional powers Maryland & Loyola. There are also two boys travel teams, two indoor facilities running lacrosse activities year-round, and a lacrosse retail store. Thanks to a lot of work by a lot of people, Louisville is becoming a great lacrosse success story for an area that's considered to be pretty far removed from the sport’s traditional hotbeds.
Many of Louisville's high school & middle school players have designs on playing at the next level. And I can help their efforts by adding structure, providing analysis & specific feedback to the hard work that players are putting in on their individual skills & their general physical preparedness. I can match them up in small groups (<5) with similarly-motivated players & can help them push each other. High school teams have about 100 days in the season to work on playing together as a team & to win games. Over the other 260 days, I can help players refine & increase their talent. Those 260 days a year can make or break your upcoming season.
I started the lacrosse program at Trinity High School in 2002 & it’s exceeded all of my expectations. We’ve won four state titles, had two US Lacrosse All-Americans, four US Lacrosse Academic All-Americans, five US Lacrosse Senior Showcase participants, numerous players named all-state. I’ve created & directed Trinity's middle school lacrosse camp for the last four years. I’ve volunteered as an assistant coach with the Bluegrass Bats & Derby City travel teams. I’ve coached players who have gone on to play in college at all levels (D1, D3, MCLA etc). I’ve coached players who have now gone on to coach in high school and coach in college. It's been a true blessing to work with so many terrific kids. It's increased my enthusiasm to teach the game.
This new venture is really just a part of a logical progression of where the game is going in Louisville - a great opportunity to increase the level of play, prepare more players to capitalize on opportunities to play collegiately & help kids chase their passion for lacrosse.
We’re organizing instruction for the first time in the spring of 2010. I can. not. wait. to get started! Call/txt/e-mail me for details & let's go.
- - - - -
I've observed lacrosse's growth in Louisville with great interest over the last decade. When I started coaching in 2001, there were 80 players that played against each other as four high school teams during the week, then traveled to Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Nashville to play as a single team on the weekends. We also had a middle school team with another 40 players. We played in a state park, because that was the only place that would have us. I was volunteering as the treasurer for the newly-formed Kentucky Lacrosse Association at the time. For the first treasurer's report, I had to break the news to the Board that we had $800 in the checking account & $1,300 worth of bills to pay.
With the addition of the Oldham County High School program to the Kentucky Lacrosse Association this week, we are now up to 13 boys high school teams & 13 boys middle school teams in the Louisville area. For the first time, there will be a Bantam league for 3rd & 4th-graders. Bellarmine University has a D1 mens lacrosse program & will host games with traditional powers Maryland & Loyola. There are also two boys travel teams, two indoor facilities running lacrosse activities year-round, and a lacrosse retail store. Thanks to a lot of work by a lot of people, Louisville is becoming a great lacrosse success story for an area that's considered to be pretty far removed from the sport’s traditional hotbeds.
Many of Louisville's high school & middle school players have designs on playing at the next level. And I can help their efforts by adding structure, providing analysis & specific feedback to the hard work that players are putting in on their individual skills & their general physical preparedness. I can match them up in small groups (<5) with similarly-motivated players & can help them push each other. High school teams have about 100 days in the season to work on playing together as a team & to win games. Over the other 260 days, I can help players refine & increase their talent. Those 260 days a year can make or break your upcoming season.
I started the lacrosse program at Trinity High School in 2002 & it’s exceeded all of my expectations. We’ve won four state titles, had two US Lacrosse All-Americans, four US Lacrosse Academic All-Americans, five US Lacrosse Senior Showcase participants, numerous players named all-state. I’ve created & directed Trinity's middle school lacrosse camp for the last four years. I’ve volunteered as an assistant coach with the Bluegrass Bats & Derby City travel teams. I’ve coached players who have gone on to play in college at all levels (D1, D3, MCLA etc). I’ve coached players who have now gone on to coach in high school and coach in college. It's been a true blessing to work with so many terrific kids. It's increased my enthusiasm to teach the game.
This new venture is really just a part of a logical progression of where the game is going in Louisville - a great opportunity to increase the level of play, prepare more players to capitalize on opportunities to play collegiately & help kids chase their passion for lacrosse.
We’re organizing instruction for the first time in the spring of 2010. I can. not. wait. to get started! Call/txt/e-mail me for details & let's go.
- - - - -
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