Lacrosse in a Hurricane: The MLL's High Risk/High Reward Gamble

One would imagine that this last week was one of the most trying of MLL Commissioner David Gross' career. With his leagues marquee weekend only days away and a Category 2 hurricane heading straight for Maryland, all options had to have been on the table.

Adjust the start times to work around the storm's expected landfall? Not unless you want to lose your national broadcast with ESPN and possibly anger sponsors who pay for the expectation of national tv exposure. Move the game to the following weekend? Not with Navy football set to open their 2011 season at home and with no alternate venue secured. Make no bones about it, if this was an NCAA championship game it would be postponed and ESPN would work with the NCAA to secure a new start times that could be broadcast. However the MLL has no such clout, and so every time David Gross reviewed a cost-benefit analysis of the options before him, in every scenario that involved changing the game time, under the 'cost' column was 'lose ESPN broadcast'.

Posted in: MLL,Professional,Viewpoint

Video of Lacrosse in Uganda

Quick Hits:

-Should Cutting the Palms Out of Your Gloves Be Legal?

-City is Losing Bet on Baseball

-MLL Expansion Draft Details

-Midwest Realignment in the MCLA?

-Lacrosse Film A Warriors Heart Getting Great Reviews

-Grow the Game: Operation Mexico

-Push for HS Lacrosse in One Minnesota Town

-New Report Shows Lacrosse Growth in England

-Illuminating Stick Heads in MLL's Future?

-MLL Semi's Played in Hurricane

Posted in: Conferences,England,Equipment,High School,International,MCLA,Mexico,Minnesota,MLL,Movies,Professional,Rules,Uganda

The State of Lacrosse: Alaska

The State of Lacrosse features a state-by-state look at lacrosse growth in the US. In each post we'll interview individuals involved in growing lacrosse in their home state. Today we focus on Alaska and speak with Mike Driscoll and Brandon Cota. Mike runs the Anchorage Lacrosse League which oversees a Men's, Women's and Youth league in the Anchorage area. Brandon is a member of the Anchorage Lacrosse men's team and earlier this summer uploaded a YouTube helmet cam video of one of their games.

Tell us a little bit about lacrosse in Alaska?

MD: The men’s lacrosse program up here started around 2005. With the youth program starting out about a year later. We play year around, playing on indoor turf October through April. I think both indoor and outdoor are equally popular. Our men’s league is about 20-40 guys from year to year and about the same for our youth league. The last few years we’ve tried to start up a women’s league with luke-warm results.

Right now our men’s league is just a pickup game once a week. Who ever shows, plays. Our Youth league is basically the same. We usually run drills and work fundamentals for an hour and then have a 30 minute scrimmage.

There is a youth league in the near by town of Eagle River. In the summer time we will set up a couple scrimmages between our youth teams. In the winter time, we all play under the same roof.

Last year we got in touch with a Kenai/Soldotna youth lacrosse team and scheduled a little 3 team tournament in Anchorage last year between Anchorage, Eagle River and Kenai/Soldotna youth lacrosse teams. We’d love to do that again in the future.

BC: Lacrosse in Anchorage is quite new. They are a great bunch of guys with a lot of combined experience. I know most of the guys played NCAA lacrosse so it has been an awesome experience getting to play with those guys, and get a taste of the next level.

I think some people were surprised to see a helmet cam clip come out of all places Anchorage, Alaska. Can you give me a little background on the video?

BC: My buddy who you see in the very first part of the video (Connor Meyer) had a GoPro Helmet cam he uses for longboarding videos, and he approached me on doing one for lacrosse.

Posted in: Alaska,College,High School,The State of Lacrosse,Youth

Alderson-Broaddus College (WV DII) Add's Men's and Women's Lacrosse

Philippi, WV -- Alderson-Broaddus College is excited to announce the addition of five athletic teams to its current roster. Football, men’s and women’s lacrosse, women’s tennis and men’s volleyball will begin play in 2012.

“This is a new and exciting time here at our school,” said Athletic Director Dennis Creehan who will also serve as Head Football Coach. “We will be adding these sports immediately as part of a new academic business model at A-B to help leverage growth of our institution.

Full Article

Posted in: Division II,West Virginia

Dodging the Defense - Oglethorpe University's Strategic Plan to Add Lacrosse

This past spring, we jumped on the bandwagon here at Oglethorpe University by starting a men's lacrosse program. In 2012-13, we'll be introducing a women's lacrosse team to our campus. The fastest-growing game from the high school to college levels, the sport has been a boon to our campus and our athletic program.

But the process of getting to the first face-off took a lot of strategizing, planning, and communication. In fact, it took five years and a lot more energy and patience than any of us in the athletics department ever anticipated.

Despite all the hard work, adding this new sport has been an exciting process that has taught us about partnering, compromise, and coming up with unique solutions. And we know that being one of only two NCAA Division III schools in Georgia to offer men's lacrosse and one of only four to sponsor women's lacrosse puts us on the map.

Full Article

Quick Hits:

-Outlaws Set MLL Single Season Attendance Record

-Hamilton Definitely Did Not

-Lacrosse Seeing Growth in Western PA

-Maryland Lacrosse Player Yeatman Getting Shot in the NFL

Posted in: Canada,Colorado,Division III,Georgia,MLL,Pennsylvania,Professional

Depauw University to Add Men's and Women's Lacrosse

Men's and women's lacrosse will be added as varsity sports at DePauw University effective with the 2012-13 academic year, President Brian W. Casey announced today. DePauw students have been playing club lacrosse, and will continue to do so through the coming academic year.
The addition of lacrosse as a varsity sport is made possible by a generous gift of one million dollars from trustee Steve Trulaske '79, and by leadership gifts from James K. Baker '53 and Joe and Nancy Hollingsworth '71 & '72. Their gifts will fund start-up costs and the initial operational expenses of the two teams.

"Interest in lacrosse has been increasing among our students for some time, and we're also hearing from more prospective students who are interested in participating in the sport at the varsity level in college," notes Page Cotton, director of athletics at DePauw. "Also, lacrosse is a conference sport in the North Coast Athletic Conference and this provides us with a complete offering of programs for our student-athletes."

Full Article

Posted in: Division III,Indiana

University of Flordia Releases Concept Video of New Lacrosse Facility

Quick Hits:

-MLL Expansion Team Ohio Machine Names Head Coach 

-The MCLA and Recruiting

-New Men's Lacrosse League in St. Louis

-Overview of MCLA National Meetings

-Delaware, OH Welcomes the Machine

Posted in: Division I,Facilities,Florida,MCLA,Missouri,MLL,Ohio,Professional,Recruiting

Ohio Machine to Play at Selby Field at OWU

Delaware, OH is positioned to become a professional sports town as the city is expected to host a new Major League Lacrosse franchise.

The league has scheduled a press conference Tuesday morning at Ohio Wesleyan UniversitybizWatch Ohio Wesleyan University Latest from The Business Journals 3 Ohio colleges ranked among nation's bestOhio Wesleyan joins crowd accepting Columbus State gradsCentral Ohio colleges abound with changes at top Follow this company in Delaware, with sources telling me the outdoor pro league will announce that the Ohio Machine will play at the school’s 9,100-seat Selby Field next year.

Full Article

Quick Hits:

-Now Charlotte's NALL Team is Doing a Naming Contest

-Jerusalem Defeats Tel Aviv in First Ever Lacrosse Game on Israeli Soil

-Crooked Arrows Filming Underway

-MCLA Championships Covered by Greenville, SC Newspaper

-Title IX a Roadblock to M. Lacrosse Growth?

-Lax at the Olympics....in 1928

Posted in: Facilities,Gender Equity,International,Israel,MCLA,MLL,Movies,NALL,Ohio,Olympics,Professional,South Carolina

Lacrosse Featured on Spike TV's 1000 Ways to Die

Beware, lacrosse stereotypes ahead

Jock Shock
Get More: Jock Shock

Quick Hits:

-Introducing Lacrosse to Cuba

-Crooked Arrow Lacrosse Movie Starts Filiming

-Growth on the West Coast of Canada

-Adding Women's Lacrosse on UGA's Radar

-Federation of International Lacrosse Recognizes Uganda

-Discussing MCLA Head Coaching Job Security 
(we've touched upon this before)

-Defining the Difference Between MCLA D1 and D2

-Connor Martin Spends Time With Harlem Lacrosse

-and Rabil Does East Boston with Metro Lacrosse

Posted in: Canada,Coaching Hires,Cuba,Division I,Georgia,International,Massachusetts,MCLA,Movies,New York,Stereotypes,TV,Uganda,Urban Growth

ASA College Adds Men's Lacrosse

Brooklyn, NY– ASA College Athletic Director Ken Wilcox announced the addition of a men’s lacrosse program. The Avengers will begin National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) competition in the 2012 spring season. The program becomes the first junior college lacrosse team in New York City. In addition to winning games, the goal of the program is to graduate student-athletes so they can continue their academic and athletic careers at four-year colleges and universities.

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Posted in: JUCO,New York

Transylvania University (KY) Adds Men's and Women's Lacrosse, Hires Coaches

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Terry Justice, the head boys’ lacrosse coach at Lexington Catholic, has been named to lead Transylvania’s new men’s lacrosse program, athletics director Jack Ebel said Wednesday.

Justice has served as Lexington Catholic’s head coach since 2004, building the program from scratch. He was the Kentucky High School Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005 and led the Knights to second place finishes in the KHSAA State Tournament in both 2006 and 2008.

His record at Lexington Catholic was 74-33, including an 8-5 mark this season.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Former University of Cincinnati standout Haley Marvine will be Transylvania’s first women’s lacrosse coach, athletics director Jack Ebel announced Tuesday.

Marvine is a 2011 graduate of Cincinnati, where she was a four-year letterwinner for the Bearcats. She was a team captain and a Big East Conference Academic All-American.

A goal-keeper, Marvine is a native of Georgia and has extensive experience working lacrosse camps in the South and Midwest as well as at Duke and Georgia Tech.

Full Article

Posted in: Division III,Kentucky