Quick Hits
-Documentary on the 'Bill Tierney Era' at Denver University to air
-MCLA Coach Fired Mid-Season
-1Lacrosse.com Donates Equipment to Istanbul Lacrosse Club
-Lax.com Website Sold to Marketing Professional
-New MCLA Fan Website Launched
-NLL to Release Video Game in April
-Lacrosse Growing in Grand Valley, CO
Utah's Daily Herald Examines Growth in Utah
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Georgia Sports Program Takes A Look at Growth in The Peach State
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Quick Hits:
-University of Richmond club program transitioning to 'varsity club', seeks to join MCLA
-More info on LXM's next showcase in Austin, TX
-Article on growth in San Jose, CA
-2nd year DI program University of Detroit gets their first home win
-A summer academy specifically for indoor lacrosse launches
Posted in: California,Camps,College,Division I,Georgia,LXM,MCLA,Michigan,Professional,Texas,Virginia,YouthCommercials, Commercials, Commercials
Thursday, March 25, 2010
As Lacrosse grows and televised games increase, lacrosse-specific commercials are becoming more and more commonplace. Below we have four commercials that are new for the spring:
Quick Hits:
-Lacrosse is growing in Arizona
-Active Marketing Group outlines how companies can connect to the lacrosse demographic
-Colorado HS coach seeks to increase lax interest in region
-Washington D.C. debuts its first lacrosse team at a public high school
-LaxBuzz article on growth of Women's Lacrosse out west
First Lacrosse Sportscenter Top 10 Play of the Year
Sunday, March 21, 2010
While the Syracuse-Hopkins game was somewhat anti-climatic and the Orange's control never really in doubt, Cody Jamieson did make a memorable goal which landed the #9 spot on Sportscenters Top 10 plays:
Also, a Connecticut town which has a strong youth league but no public high school lacrosse team is formally requesting it's board of education to add the sport. The Growth Blog wonders if this is a microcosm of actions that could be taken to move along addition of the sport at some public universities. For example; a public university which does not support lacrosse is located in a region or state which has a substantial amount of high school lacrosse teams. Could the formation of an alliance among these high schools and a formal request to such a university be a deciding factor in adding the sport? Is such a public university obligated to sponsor a sport that is popular in it's region? Food for thought.
Saturday Night Lights and an Olympic Timeline
Friday, March 19, 2010
Television coverage is huge for lacrosse. Prime time live television coverage in front of a sold out crowd...that's about as good as it gets, and that is what we can expect Saturday night on ESPNU when Syracuse travels to Homewood field to face Johns Hopkins at 8pm. So far the Cuse-UVA game has been the class of the televised schedule, we'll see if Cuse-Hopkins can live up to the hype Saturday.
NLL Insider has a very interesting article on lacrosse and it's potential to be an olympic sport. When you break it all down, Tom Hayes who oversees development for the Federation of International Lacrosse predicts that the year 2024 is a likely goal for lacrosse to be an Olympic sport.
Quick Hits
-An touching story about two high school lacrosse teams from Georgia
-John Gagliardi in Fortune Magazine discussing how his company Maverik stays afloat among their competition
-Custom mouthpieces for Women's Lacrosse. What will they think of next.
Piedmont College Announces The Addition of Men's Lacrosse
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Piedmont College a Division III school located in Demorest, GA has announced the addition of Men's Lacrosse to it's varsity offering. The college is already planning a new practice facility and renovated locker room facilities for the team. Piedmont has been rumored to be on the verge of adding Men's Lacrosse for several years now and it has been said that the school actually made the announcement in 2005 before rescinding.
Also
-ESPN Attacks On Lax (MediaWeek)
-Lacrosse movie 'Crooked Arrow' targets 2011 release
Michigan's Proposed Lacrosse Facility
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The Growth Blog came upon the below clip of a proposed lacrosse specific facility for the University of Michigan Men's Lacrosse team (MCLA-1).
From the Michigan Website:
"Plans are under way for Elbel Field to be converted to FieldTurf within the next few years. Stadium lighting and a permanent scoreboard will be added, along with seating for 3,000. This will finally give Michigan an outdoor lacrosse facility. Most exciting, the team is finalizing plans to construct a new lacrosse-only service building next to Elbel Field that will include locker rooms, offices, meeting rooms, equipment, training and a 5,000 square-foot weight room. Once the new building is completed Michigan lacrosse will have the best facilities in the nation, at any level."
Parity and Growth
Sunday, March 14, 2010
For the sport of lacrosse to become mainstream it needs teams besides the usual suspects to succeed. We have seen examples of parity creeping into the sport, but this year talk has heated up more than ever. Trevor Tierney defines parity in the sport of lacrosse as "when different teams are in the final four each year". While we are probably some time removed from seeing that definition become reality, we are slowly getting there.
The Orange Blog has a revealing article about Dave Urick and his discussions with (ex Hobart Lacrosse player) Florida A.D. Jerry Foley about the growth of the sport of and UF's lacrosse future (or lack there of).
Gillette Stadium will host the 2011 NCAA Championship Men's Lacrosse Quarterfinals. Gillette will be the first professional football stadium to host a quarterfinal game.
Quick Hits
-1st year program Jacksonville wins again and is undefeated at the Ashley Sports Complex
-MLL's Bayhawks have new owners and a name change
-Gay lacrosse player comes out
-Iowa Men's Lacrosse (MCLA-1) featured in school newspaper
-7th Grader starts his own lacrosse apparel company
-NCAA Lacrosse teams attracting more Canadians
-EA Sports cancels NCAA College Basketball video game series
Attendance, LeMoyne is staying in DII, and Lindenwood has a varsity Clay Target Shooting Team
Thursday, March 11, 2010
An impressive weekend for game attendance, nearly 8,000 people saw No.2 Virginia defeat No.1 Syracuse 11-10 in Charlottesville and the Konica Minolta Face Off Classic saw a crowd of just under 20,000.
Drexel shocked Notre Dame with a 7-6 OT victory. With teams like Drexel, Lafayette and Stony Brook making waves has parity finally made it's way to NCAA DI Lacrosse?
DII power LeMoyne College has completed their Division I feasibility study and has concluded that they will remain in Division II. On the other hand Lindenwood University in Missouri has applied for NCAA status at the Division II level. No word yet as to if they plan to have their successful MCLA teams compete at the NCAA level. The article states that not all teams will be promoted to NCAA/varsity status, sorry Lindenwood Roller Hockey, Table Tennis, and Clay Target Shooting team.
MCLA game webcasts seem to becoming more common. The Growth Blog remembers when the only MCLA games one could watch not in person used to be BYU on BYUTV on Direct TV 1,275.
New youth leagues popping up in Chicago and Florida, but a Maine district is dropping their middle school lacrosse team due to budget issues.
St. Louis Today asked it's sport staff to make predictions for the next decade and journalist David Kvidahl predicts lacrosse will grow for among other reasons it is a safer alternative to football.
Quick Hits
- New stick regulations, are they making any difference? A players perspective
-IMG wants to create a High School Lacrosse National Championship Tournament
-A great article by Inside Lacrosse's Sean Burns about the affects of Title IX on college lacrosse
-Arizona High School girl becomes 2nd ever from state to play Division I (video)
-2nd edition of Lacrosse For Dummies due out in April
Checking in on the NCAA's Newest Programs
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
The Atlanta Journal Constitution discusses growth of the sport in the state of Georgia and specifically highlights some of the new college programs in the state. Also, two of the states newest Division III Women's Programs debuted against each other this past week.
Athletic Management Magazine takes a look inside lacrosse at Lenoir-Rhyne University and how they are preparing for their 2011 debut . They are one of North Carolina's newest lacrosse programs.
Recently, Adams State College Announced ex BYU Coach Jason Lamb as the Director of Lacrosse. Other MCLA Coaches to get hired by a new NCAA program include Matt Holtz/Detroit and AJ Stevens/Mesa State. Speaking of Mesa and Adams State, both schools are set to debut in 2011 and have seen positive coverage of their decision to add the sport.
New Division I program Jacksonville University is good, real good. New Division III Program Milwaukee School of Engineering, on the other hand, has some work to do.
DII Dominican University (CA) gets some love from their local news outlet.
IMG to Add Lacrosse to Sports Academies
Monday, March 01, 2010
The International Management Group has added lacrosse to it's IMG Academy sport offerings. The IMG Academys offer boarding, non-boarding, and weekly programs for current and intending professional athletes. According to the Sport Business Journal, IMG began showing interest in the sport of lacrosse last year. Kevin Finneran has been tabbed to oversee the program at IMG. Below see him and Paul Rabil put on an instructional at the academy.
Posted in: Industry