BAMALAX LACROSSE

Great write up about the SoCo tourney we attended..

2009-12-07T21:09:00.001-06:00

SOUTHERN COMBAT FALL TEAM SHOWCASE ALL-STARS
The Alpharetta Raiders (Georgia) were led by two strong midfielders: DJ Nuckolls (AHS ’11) and Stephen Dolbow (AHS ’10).Both players are multi-purpose middies with a propensity for faceoff dominance.“Brass” Nuckolls was a ground ball hog throughout the weekend while Dolbow collected All-Tournament honors.

The BamaLax Select team didn’t have to travel far as they hail from the Birmingham area, much to the delight of attending recruiter Birmingham-Southern head coach Andy Bonasera.The gargantuan John Somerall (Mountain Brook ’10) led the way for BamaLax as he controlled the game between the boxes with strong offensive play from the midfield as well as several faceoff wins.Somerall’s high school teammate Walker Cox (’11) added to Bama’s midfield play, as did the versatile Trent Chrane (Spain Park ’10).Brendan Conway (Hoover ’10) was the 4th Bama All-Star nod with solid play at the attack position.

Will Char (McIntosh ’11) enabled his Brothers of War (Georgia) team to shut down several opponents throughout the weekend with a staunch defensive effort.The 6’1” longpole stripped numerous attackers and picked up several GB’s along the way.

Claddagh LC was comprised of players from MA, VT, TX, FL, and WA.Leading the way for the fine Irishmen was Tyler Galownia (Plano, TX ’10) on defense.Galownia showed a great ability to inspire transition on the offensive end after picking off several passes throughout the weekend and playing great position defense.Leading the offensive charge for Claddagh was sizeable (6’1”, 185) yankee attackman Jake Waldie (Lawrence Academy, MA ’11), who powered through defenders for multiple scores on dodges and feeds from X.

The Copperhead North (Georgia) team was led on the offensive end by the due of Jay Desnoyers (Eugene Ashley ’11) and Hunter Edens (Hoggard ’11).The athletic Reid Bass (’11), goaltender for state runner-up Harrison HS, shut the door on opposing teams with great play in goal.

With 6 all-star selections, the Copperhead South squad cleaned house. Tournament MVP attackman Scotty Smith (Grtr. Atlanta Christian ’11) used a big body (6’3”, 185) to back down foes as he scored multiple goals in each game.Jay DeBole (E. Coweta ’11) and Connor Squires (Collins Hill ’10) rounded out the All-Star attack unit, with Julian Gonzalez (Peachtree Ridge ’10) and John Avent (Newnan ’10) adding midfield firepower. All-Tournament Goaltender Mike Nugent (Milton ’11) communicated greatly while making many saves.

The Tennessean D1 Destroyer team was led by defenseman Michael Plisco (Franklin ’12).Plisco ignored the discomfort of a recent hand fracture and instead gave pain to his opponents en route to an All-Star selection.

Peyton Klawinski (Memphis Univ. School ’13) was one of the top players at the Southern Combat showcase despite being the youngest player in the tournament field by several months.The freshman midfielder got on the radar of several D1, D2, and D3 colleges by lighting up the scoreboard all weekend.Joining him as All-Stars from the Flying Elvis (TN) team were midfield teammate Drew Connors (MUS ’11), goaltender Francis Nayan (Christian Bros. ’10), and the defensive tandem of Chase Schoelkopf (MUS ’11) and Mike Shelton (Christian Bros. ’10).

The Minnesota Lax Loons traveled nearly 1,115 miles but left with no disappointment after having two All-Stars named, defenseman Kyle Mork (Totino Grace ’10) and big midfielder Mitch Sierakowski (Champlin Park ’10).

The well-rounded Samurai Black (St. Louis) squad received 5 All-Star nods.Division I Manhattan College commit Gerald Leonard played his way to the All-Tournament team with Top Midfielder honors.Joining Leonard were the defensive trio of Andy Kihn (Christian Bros. ’10), Craig Harris (’11), and Jared Crowley (’10).Attackman Christian Tubbs (’10) added great offensive play as well.

The Southern Combat Solider team (Georgia) was paced by the great play of defenseman Bryce Patterson (Milton ’10).

Players who were named All-Star at last June’s Southern Combat 99 Invitational Showcase were assembled in a new edition for the Fall Showcase.Eight of the SoCo99 All-Stars got an encore appearance on the Fall All-Star list.Memphis University School (TN) teammates stood together with honors, FO/Midfielder Ben Charpentier (’11) and keeper Rob Dickinson.Kyle Clemenza (’12) of national power St. Andrew’s (FL) was one of the top midfielders at the event, and was joined by middies Richard Mallory (Christian Bros., TN ’10), Matthew Cummings (Milton, GA ’11), and Bryce Busey (Stadium HS, WA ’10).All-Tournament defender Russell Scott (Memphis Univ. School, TN ’11) was joined by All-Star Alex Utt (Mariemont, OH ’11).

These players, and several other standouts from the SoCo Fall Showcase, can count on receiving invitations to the next edition of Southern Combat 99 which will be held June 12-13 at the picturesque Darlington School in Rome, GA.

The season is getting close

2009-12-06T13:37:00.002-06:00

Football is finally over and everyone can start thinking about lacrosse. Five years ago my Hoover team was made up of mostly football players but over a dozen of them quit football to focus on lacrosse. Last year our varsity team had only 4 football players but the majority of our JV team was footballers. Now those JV kids are moving up and these kids aren't quitting football since many of them see significant playing time and several of them are starters. League wide we have always had a "gentlemen's" agreement between the coaches not to practice during the fall/winter and some of us that are majority football players can't. For whatever reason this year we have had breaches of that agreement and the practices continue even though everyone knows it's wrong. Well, no use complaining about it, I'm looking forward to the season and it's just one of those things you have to deal with. Hoover high won the state football championship Friday night and I got to see some of the boys after the game that are pumped for the lacrosse season to get underway. I'm sure we have a lot of work to do since many of them haven't been able to pick up their sticks for a few months. We don't start practice until mid-January and we are having our first pre-season meeting next week so needless to say, we are way behind those that are already on the field. I've been spending a lot of time in league meetings and conference calls helping make decisions for the upcoming season, I think this will be the best season of Alabama lacrosse, registration opens today, I'm sure we will see record growth in our league, can't wait to get out on the field next month with the majority of the teams that follow the rules.

Derek Pieper Memorial tournament

2009-11-19T14:57:00.002-06:00

Heading to Tampa with Bamalax U11 and U13 boys as well as our high school girls for the Derek Pieper Memorial Cup. Looking forward to the trip, looks like we have a great hotel close to the fields and Maverik is going to be on hand doing clinics with Dan Hardy, John Gagliardi and Casey Powell. Overall there will be 56 teams on hand, should be a great time !

Last year our high school girls won the tournament and should have a good shot again this year. Our U13 team has been together for a long time and has been able to get a lot of practices in so they should be in good shape to compete for the title. U11 was looking shaky at one point but has really come a long way and did very well a few weeks ago in Atlanta so I'm actually expecting a lot from all of our teams down there. Should be fun !

Heading to Atlanta

2009-11-05T20:36:00.002-06:00

Heading to Atlanta tomorrow with the high school Bamalax boys for the Southern Combat. The event is a little different than the tournaments we usually attend since it is really intended for recruiting. Sounds like the organizers of the event have a good amount of college coaches coming so it should be a great opportunity for our boys. It's going to be a long weekend, check-in is at 7AM and warm ups start at 7:30 ! The NCAA coaches will run a team practice and then games begin at 9AM. After lunch there will be a skills session and then more games in the afternoon. I'm looking forward to meeting the coaches and watching our kids play against good competition. Our Bamalax team will be solid, midfielder Trent Chrane commited to Navy last week Trey Atkinson had already commited to Robert Morris University (DI)but John Somerall is still choosing but leaning toward Hampton Sydney and Brendan Conway is still weighing his options visiting Lenoir Rhyne University (DII) this past week. After this weekend I think a lot of our players will get noticed, I'm hoping our younger players do really well to get on the radar for the future and it would be nice if our upper classmen step up and give themselves some more opportunities. On Sunday there will be an all-star game which I think we could have at least a half dozen or more of our kids earn a roster spot in. Well, time to pack....

Full swing

2009-10-23T12:34:00.003-05:00

Well, fall ball is well underway with all of our age groups in the Birmingham area playing on Sunday. Some of us high school coaches are coaching JV teams and then getting to play in an "open" division which includes our better varsity players. The games have been a ton of fun and very competitive, some of our high school kids have improved so much over the summer that I'm a little nervous about facing them in the spring during our normal season ! Tomorrow the Washington & Lee head coach, Gene McCabe will be in town running a clinic for 80 of our best players along with the W&L women's coach who will be instructing about 30 of our high school girls. Gene does a great job, I enjoy his coaching style and I'm looking forward to being a spectator tomorrow for a change.

The next event we have coming up in town is a shooting, feeding, defense clinic run by Liam Banks and Andy Bonasera at Birmingham Southern college. The clinic is November 14th at BSC and there will be other former Syracuse players in attendance including recent graduate Pat Perritt who was part of that amazing overtime national championship victory.

Bamalax has been busy this fall with the high school boys and girls preparing for tournaments, the boys will be in Atlanta November 7-8th and the girls as well as our U11 and U13 boys will be heading to Tampa Nov 21-22nd. Looking at my schedule I don't think I have a free weekend for several weekends in a row but we'll manage.

While everything else is going on we are preparing for the regular spring season trying to schedule games, organize fundraisers, get uniforms together, etc. I'm holding a Hoover new player clinic November 15th at Hoover high school to help recruit more elementary and middle school boys and girls to try to keep up with Vestavia and the east side of Hoover which feeds into Spain Park high school. Don't know what we are going to do with all these kids and what fields they are going to play on but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. More to blog about later but got to head back to work...

Lacrosse video game

2009-10-09T16:31:00.003-05:00

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/collegelacrosse2010/video/6232549
Looks like the developers of the 2010 college lacrosse video game are getting close to a finished product. I'm sure the first game will be a little "old school" looking without all the flashy graphics but it's a start. I'm thinking if the sales are good on the first version it won't be long until others jump at the chance to capitalize on the growth of the sport and tap the 10-16 year old demographic. Looks like they did a decent job on the actual realism of the play and the movement, it just looks a little rough compared to todays standards of video games. For me, i just think it will be great for the sport when I see the game on the shelf at the local Walmart !

2010 Maverik Maybach review

2009-10-04T10:21:00.002-05:00

All I have to say is "wow" ! I received a sample glove today for the 2010 Maverik Maybach gloves and I have to say, they are awesome. The gloves are extremely soft, they are very comfortable and do give decent protection. The palms are soft leather but do not appear to be as vulnarable as the 2008 K18's that were comfortable but the leather wore out almost immediately. The Maybachs have a small strip of added protection call Shark gel right across the thumb which should help the protection. I'd recommend Maybach's for advanced players, due to their comfort and light weight, they aren't going to have the most protection but definitely more than Brine Silos. The other thing I really like about the Maybach's is that they aren't super tight. The trend seems for glove manufacturer's to make gloves smaller and smaller, King II's and K18's run very small and the new GAIT RECON gloves are rediculously tiny. All the gloves I mentioned are good gloves, it really comes down to what the player feels most comfortable with but I really think Maverik has come up with a winner. If you are reading this blog and you are interested in custom gloves, e-mail sales@bamalax.com and I can help you out.

AHSAA meeting

2009-09-24T16:13:00.002-05:00

Had an opportunity to meet with the Executive director of the AHSAA yesterday, along with a few other GBYLA members, and I was very encouraged by his excitement toward lacrosse in Alabama. The AHSAA created an emerging sport category recently and a letter has gone out to schools informing them that they can choose to participate in the sport during the 2010/2011 season. We only need one school to say they will participate when their annual declaration is made (May 1st) for lacrosse to be considered an official emerging sport. Once a school participates they will have to completely adhere to AHSAA rules and regulations but it will not be considered a championship (or varsity sanctioned) sport until at least 10% of schools in the state participate. With Huntsville's growth, what we already have in Birmingham and what is coming in Prattville and Mobile, we may be closer than everyone thinks to that number. The AHSAA won't effect anything below the high school level, all of our current youth programs will stay the same and working within AHSAA rules there may even be opportunity to have recreation lacrosse at the high school level to accommodate players that don't have participation at their schools. The AHSAA has begun preparing and during the meeting the head of officials even passed out federation rule books and other information which shows they know that it's coming and they have a plan in place to be ready for lacrosse. The GBYLA has done a great job working toward this goal and I really feel we are close to taking the sport to the next level which should be exciting to our younger players and parents. Fall ball is finally starting this Sunday, with about 200 new players and many more ready to start playing in the spring we are exploding, can't wait to opening day !

Love the game

2009-09-15T21:27:00.002-05:00

It's really interesting being in an area where lacrosse is growing as rapidly as it is. This past Sunday the league hosted a new player's clinic and almost 200 new kids showed up ! We have players being recruited by DI, DII amd DIII schools and we are adding high school, middle school and even elementary school teams. Fall ball is always a challenge because you want to use the time to develop new players but you also don't want to bore veteran players or frustrate them by sticking them on a team with beginners. Some of our kids have the right attitude, they love the game, don't care who they are playing with or playing against, they just want to play. Back in New York as a kid we didn't have the luxury of having organized youth leagues but we never stopped playing. Fortunately I grew up in an area where just about everyone in my neighborhood played lacrosse and we had 6 on 6 scrimmages and sometimes full field games often. The ground was usually the street in a culdesac and we didn't have store bought goals so usually our hand made hockey goals made from left over 2X4's with chicken wire as a net had to do. One of our favorite things to do was to grab plastic milk crates that were about 2'X2', place them about 30 yards apart, get a tennis ball and play what we referred to as box lacrosse. No equipment, modified checking but trying to catch and throw a tennis ball with old school leather and then hit a 2' target from 10 yards or so out made you pretty deadly come the spring season. We'd run around for hours but what else were we going to do without computers, Playstation, 300 TV channels, cell phones and everything else that keeps kids from just playing in the neighborhood nowadays. I'm excited for the start of fall ball, long Sundays ahead for me, 1PM daughter #2, 3PM daughter #1, then 7PM I get to run around with the men and our better high school kids. Should be fun, the fall tells you a lot about who really loves the game, lookinf forward to it

The 50 Lacrosse Commandments

2009-08-28T12:23:00.000-05:00

1. Thou shalt never hit the goalie in the chest when shooting.
2. Bounce shots are best.
3. Listen and talk to your stick; this will insure good stick protection.
4. A goal proves that you can beat the goalie; an assist proves that you are smart.
5. Always look to make the extra pass.
6. Thou shalt never pass the ball close enough to the goalie or the cage such that the goalie intercepts your pass.
7. Thou must have the ability to catch and throw with both hands.
8. Thou must move whenever you do not have the ball; in other words, keep your defenseman thinking and occupied; remember the words of wisdom from the cavemen: He who stands still, is lunch!
9. Never "telegraph" a pass.
10. Thou must practice "on the wall" in order to be good.
11. Thou shalt always move towards a passed ball; never stand still.
12. The best players pick up ground balls.
13. "Vee in and Vee out" in order to be open for a pass.
14. Never get caught offsides.
15. Poke check and slap check on the hands and gloves of your opponents.
16. Always congratulate your teammates; you are nothing without them.
17. Thou shalt always keep your head up; don't look at the ball inside your stick.
18. Always stay in front of your fellow midfields on a fast break. They will not be able to pass to you if you are behind them.
19. If the goalie comes out of the cage, turn him to his weak hand by shutting off his strong hand side.
20. Never, never, never hang your stick.
21. Always be alert of your man and the ball's position on defense.
22. Play the Ball-You-Man triangle.
23. Always be ready to slide to a teammate to help him on defense.
24. You have a stick, use it: poke, slap, push.
25. Use your stick not as a caveman's club or ax, but as a surgeon's scalpel.
26. Don't lunge at the offensive player, be balanced, poke, wait for his move.
27. Do not allow the offensive player to crowd or push you. If he is too close, push him out.
28. Remember this: thou shall be intimidating on defense.
29. If your man beats you and there has been a slide, go to the hole and pick up a player.
30. Always talk and communicate. The best players are talkers.
31. Choke up on your long stick if you have difficulty handling it.
32. After picking up a ground ball, put it to your face, and run to an open area.
33. Defensemen, stay tight on the fast break.
34. Every time the ball moves, you must move.
35. Stay intense by anticipating what the team will do next.
36. If you double team, do so with authority; ask yourself, do I want to be a hammer or a nail?
37. Great defensemen, like great offensive players, see the entire field: keep your head up when you're clearing the ball. Impress fans with your smarts.
38. Keep players out of the funnel.
39. Be economic with your checks.
40. Great defensemen do not take the ball away, they prevent their opponent from scoring. Simple!
41. Love the game and play and practice with passion. Ask your coach for magazines, books, and tips. Be a student of the game.
42. A great man once said, "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." In other words, give everything your all.
43. The saying "Practice makes perfect" is incorrect. "Perfect practice makes perfect!"
44. When in a game, never dispute a call or argue with an official for any reason.
45. Always know the score of the game.
46. Always congratulate your teammate. As well, encourage and uplift your teammates who are not playing well.
47. When coached or told to do something in a practice, ask yourself why? You may then come to a better understanding of the game.
48. Always have your equipment ready prior to a game.
49. Accept the responsibilities of being an athlete: work hard in school, represent your family, community, and team with pride and honor.
50. Practice, practice, practice, then practice some more.

Inside lacrosse may have crossed the line

2009-08-20T12:38:00.003-05:00

Wow, Inside Lacrosse magazine is now ranking RISING sophomores ! Apparently the trend for college coaches is to start the recruiting process at the high school freshman level. This year there were Blue chip events for rising sophomores which in my opinion is just way too early. I'm thinking back to my high school days and the egos that were formed when players received a couple of letters from interested colleges but I couldn't imagine the ego of a kid who is ranked in a National magazine when he is only 14/15 years old ! Setting the ego aside, I think it is damaging to a sophomore to think he is "all set" for college with 3 full seasons still left to play in high school. How can a sophomore stay focused on school work when they think they are lacrosse God's ? What happens when they get injured and no school is interested in them ? There are so many things that can change in 3 years it is just surprising that college coaches would even spend time looking at freshmen players. The recruiting process is crazy, I don't know how the big time coaches find time to do all the recruiting they do but I guess that's what assistants are for. If you get a chance, pick up a copy of Inside lacrosse or go on-line and check it out, other than ranking sophomores I think it is a great magazine !

College recruiting

2009-08-13T14:27:00.002-05:00

It still amazes me that in a very short period of time Alabama has been able to develop some great college prospects. This year we have several rising seniors receiving interest from DIII, DII and even DI schools. Each team in the state has players moving on to play in college and with Birmingham Southern College's successful inaugural season, many of the state's best players are committing or at least considering staying home and attending BSC.

There is a lot to consider when choosing where to play lacrosse in college especially for players that are not true blue chip prospects. The following is a portion of a letter from a DIII coach interested in one of our Bamalax standouts. This coach makes some great points about school and a few things to consider when choosing that I thought were interesting and worth sharing.

"It is with great enthusiasm that I write you this note. I was very impressed with your play this summer and think that you would be a great fit for our school. In this exciting time of our program’s development, you have the chance to make a difference for us on the field immediately.

Selecting a college is likely the first major decision you will make in your life, so let’s stop to consider some important questions: What distinguishes one school from another? What is the educational experience going to be like? How will a given college help prepare you for your future? And finally, because of the commitment required of a college athlete, you need to believe in the direction of the program and understand how the program will help you develop as an individual."

Great points, tough decisions - wish I could go back and do it all over again !

2010 season just around the corner

2009-08-11T19:49:00.002-05:00

2010 is just around the corner, I have all my ordering for the upcoming season done and will be posting some reviews soon. I've added some Warrior apparel to the www.bamalax.com web site and put some of the FIT 2 WIN NCAA shorts on sale along with the women's FIT2WIN shorts that we also have in stock at the store. This time of year is tough to be a lacrosse retailer because sales are slow waiting for fall ball to start but you have to make commitments for purchasing items that will come in late fall, winter and spring. The 2010 gear is really awesome, the lacrosse head situation is a pain because each manufacturer has 3 different types (HS only legal, Universal-legal for HS and NCAA and the NCAA legal only) My store will be stocking mostly the Universal heads but we will also have some of all the other one's as well. The universal heads are 6.5 inches across the top and 3.5 inches down low. NCAA heads only need to be 6 inches across the top but to me the heads look too narrow and I wouldn't feel comfortable using one but that's a personal choice. Well, if you are looking for some back to school sales on Warrior shorts and NCAA lacrosse shorts, visit www.bamalax.com and look for the 2010 stuff to be rolling in soon.

Pic of the day

2009-08-06T14:20:00.003-05:00

Finger Lakes classic, the Central New York Nike team defeated Atlanta 10-3 and this goal was scored while the CNY player was diving, shooting behind the back, one handed. Not much the defense or goalie can do. Thanks Coach Hines for sending the picture

Today show segment

2009-08-04T20:53:00.004-05:00

In case you missed the TODAY show this morning, lacrosse was featured. It was a quick piece but excellent for the growth of the sport. Here is the link you can view it at:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/32282175#32282175

It's amazing that my high school team started in 1970 and in 1980 I remember how lacrosse was considered the fastest growing sport around. Back then it was growing but I remember graduating college in 1990 in Vermont where there were no youth teams and very few high school teams and while living in Cincinnati in 1996-1999 there were only a handful of teams. When I moved to Alabama in 2000 I didn't think there was any lacrosse here but was happy to find a men's team in 2004 and a small youth program with about 150 kids playing. In just a few short years the sport has just exploded, everywhere ! I look back at Cincinnati and there are youth programs in every community, varsity teams at almost every school and several men's and women's college teams. Vermont has Division I and Division II varsity programs and Alabama is moving toward sanctioning with over 1200 kids playing and a very competitve DIII college program in Brimingham Southern College. Amazingly there remains under 60 division I men lacrosse programs and to think that kids from Alabama are playing and being recruited by DI and DII coaches is just incredible ! 2010 is going to be a huge year for lacrosse, it is exciting to be part of it.

John Pepper tournament

2009-08-01T11:44:00.002-05:00

Getting to watch Walker & Crawford Cox, Eli Stevens and Max Hines at the John Pepper memorial tournament. Games are streaming live at WWW.LIVESPORTSVIDEO.COM. It is half-time and the Atlanta team is down 3-2 to Carthage (home of the Powell brothers). The Atlanta team is 1-1 on the day so far with an upset over Lafayette and a loss to Skaneateles. Eli just had a solid play on defense and Crawford had a nice clear. Overall it looks like Atlanta is holding their own and were in the game with Skaneateles until they opened it up and took advantage of a bunch of Atlanta turn overs. Steve Hines was instrumental in putting this trip together for the Bamalax boys, the opportunity came up when Bamalax played the Southern Empire men's team and their goalie mentioned the tournament to Steve and he invited several of the Bamalax players to join the DoubleStixx Atlanta team. What a great opportunity for the Alabama boys to get to play with the great talent. As I type this, one of the Cox boys just tied the game up at 3 !! Can't tell if it was Walker or Crawford because they are twins but it was a nice left handed shot regardless !

Back from camp

2009-07-31T09:14:00.002-05:00

It's been a busy lax week in Alabama for several of us. Sunday started with the 3rd annual Laxapalooza event that was created by Vestavia's Dave Link. Several years ago all the high school teams started using a web service, Varsity networks, for their team web sites and our rep has been Tim Byrnes who played for the Long Island Lizards and Philadelphia Barrage. Dave set up his YMCA web site and since Tim and Dave were both Syracuse grads they put their heads together and decided to do a new player camp here in Birmingham. Since the coaches were flying in on Sunday, it just made sense to create some type of event to promote the sport and the camp and Laxapalooza was born. Tim, who just retired this year has come down all three years along with MLL all-star Chris Fiore and former Syracuse All-american Billy St. George. Last year Liam Banks attended along with Kevin Levielle. My job during Laxapalooza is to hold the radar gun and try not to get killed. This year Dave had the net strung with a 4mm net but Fiore still ripped through it. Chris' shot went through the net, my Warrior plastic banner that was hung on the back stop fence and then proceeded to go through the fence just missing me. Last year he hit 100mph, this year he was at 99mph and I was surprised that Tim's shot hit 96mph but for some reason wasn't as scary as Fiore's (go figure).

Monday Dave took his group to Libery park for Primetime lax camp with Fiore and Byrnes and I checked in my campers at Lightning lacrosse camp at the University of Alabama. Scott Urick from Georgetown and Dan Chemotti from Loyola have run the camp with me the past three years and for the past two, PT Ricci (Loyola All-american long pole and teammate of Scott and Dan's on the Washington Bayhawks) and Jake Hagelin the starting goalie at Loyola have been counselors as well. Both camps went very well, lot's to blog about but need to get back to my real job and try to de-lax for at least a few hours....

Big news for Alabama high school teams

2009-07-23T19:28:00.002-05:00

The Alabama high school athletic association (AHSAA) Unanimously approved allowing schools to add club teams in "emerging sports" beginning with the 2010-11 school year. Once a sport has 10 percent of member schools fielding teams, a championship program will be added. This move will allow schools to sponsor club teams in sports such as lacrosse, bass fishing, rodeo and bowling, among others. New sports will be designated as "under jurisdiction," meaning they must follow AHSAA rules and use approved officials.

This is really good news and something that the GBYLA President, Ralph Yeilding has been very helpful in obtaining for the players here in the state. Many of our GBYLA high school teams have had loose affiliation with their schools being allowed to use the name and even gaining field access at times but being recognized by the school as an official club will help the growth tremendously.

As with all good news, there will be some challenges. Ralph will have the board busy working things out but this is a great step in the right direction.

Ready for Syracuse

2009-07-22T12:51:00.002-05:00

I'm excited for our local Alabama kids heading up to the Syracuse area to participate in the John Pepper tournament at West Genessee high school next weekend. Max Hines (Spain Park), Walker & Crawford Cox and Eli Stevens from Mountain Brook will be making the trip there. The four of them will be playing for an Atlanta Elite team run by Double Stix lacrosse. Several of our players were noticed when the Bamalax team played the Atlanta Southern Empire men's squad in the Nashville tournament and were asked to play on the team. We had a few others that were asked to play but couldn't make the trip for various reasons but these four are looking forward to the trip and I'm sure they will represent us well. The tournament is at West Genessee high school which has always been one of the top teams in the country even back when I was in high school. As a kid growing up I had the opportunity to play against some of the best teams around even by today's standard, teams like Yorktown, Garden City, John Jay, we even played Ward Melville once but I never had the chance to play against "upstate" teams but all through college I had to hear about how good they were compared to us Hudson valley guys. Anyway, my Alabama kids now get to do what I never had a chance to do which I think is really awesome. The boys will play teams like Carthage (home of the Powell brothers) Penn Yan, Lafayette (home of the Thompson boys that I have blogged about in the past) Baldwinsville (where my Magic City teammates Dave Brandt and Chris DiCicco attended) and ofcourse West Genney. Hopefully the Lax to the Max blog will have good coverage so we can follow the boys but looks like a great chance to once again show how far Alabama has come in a very short period of time. Maybe Mr. Cox will be my guest blogger again since he did such a great job from the Adidas tournament !

Laxed out ??

2009-07-18T16:07:00.002-05:00

I heard a term yesterday that I didn't think was possible. One of my former players said his brother is "laxed out" and is taking a break. Some of the "laxed out" issue is laziness, I can understand a break but when you want to play the sport in college or "think" you want to play in college, you can't afford to be "laxed out". Lacrosse is not work, lacrosse is fun, you truly need to love the sport to be good at it. While I'm typing this, I'm watching the MLL all-star game and it is clear that none of these players have ever been "laxed out". Guys like Paul Rabil and Brett Queener just absolutely love what they do and want to be around the game as much as possible. I'm hoping more players in Alabama grow to truly love lacrosse and really want to put in the work that is necessary to be a great lacrosse player. I'm a little discouraged that more of our players are not jumping at the opportunity to go to camp. Our University of Alabama camp last year had over 100 campers and keeps growing but this year our parents are waiting until the last minute to register and it is driving me crazy. We have top Division I coaches and MLL players coming and out of the 100 campers we will have, I bet more than half of them attended another camp already. So, out of 700 boy's playing lacrosse in Birmingham, I'm guessing a total of only about 200 will attend camp which means 500 of them will not improve one bit over last year which really sucks !

It's crazy to imagine that players like Trey Atkinson are good enough to play division I lacrosse (he just verbally committed to Robert Morris in Pennsylvania) but during his regular season he will play on a team that right now doesn't have a goalie ! Spain park's Trent Chrane's summer included Top 205 camp, Combat 99 camp, Bamalax tournaments, Fellowship of Christian athletes, Adidas National tournament and a trip to Syracuse to play at West Genessee high school in two tournaments next weekend. Trent will then be on a team in the spring that a good portion of his teammates haven't picked up their stick since the season ended in May. As a coach I can not wait until Alabama makes lacrosse a sanctioned varsity sport so that the majority of the players will HAVE to go to camp and play a good portion of the year.

If you live in Alabama and are reading my blog, register for camp at WWW.LIGHTNINGLAX.COM or for the younger kids, don't miss Primetime camp, register at WWW.PRIMETIMELAX.COM

Lax Power National on-line tournament

2009-07-15T16:56:00.002-05:00

If you haven't seen it already, Lax Power created a National On-line championship bracket that is very interesting. The link for it is www.laxpower.com/laxnews/news.php?story=15814
Hoover was matched up against the #1 team in the country, West Islip and needless to say, Hoover lost. I'm thinking Alabama is a few years away from competing with Long Island but the area is improving tremendously. St. Andrews in Florida has been able to compete and beat some national powerhouses so it's not out of the question to think that someday Hoover could hold their own against some top tier teams.

If you look at the forum it explains how teams were selected but just like all forums you will see some knucklehead kids who are just plain nasty and think that lax life revolves around the hotbeds and no one else playing the sport is worth a damn. I'm not sure why there is always negativity toward non-traditional hotbeds especially when you see rosters on all D-I teams that include players from Georgia, Tennessee, California, Texas and even Alabama. In my opinion lax is lax and where you live contributes to your skills but athletes are athletes and speed, strength and coachability are things that are unique to only a handful of kids regardless of what state you live in. Oh well, check out the Lax power tournament, will be interesting to see who wins and I'm sure there will be some interesting postings from those that don't win !

Adidas National tournament

2009-07-07T22:02:00.002-05:00

With 4 Bamalax players in Baltimore (2 playing for Atlanta and 2 playing for Nashville) I'll try to give updates on what is happening. Today's guest blogger is Taylor Cox, a Mountain Brook parent who's son, Walker is playing for the Nashville squad:

It was a pretty good day. The teams all got in about an hour of practice and then scrimmaged for maybe 15-20 minutes against just one opponent. Atlanta scrimmaged NorCal and probably scored 9 goals to none in 15 minutes. Nashville played Baltimore Prep and let up one cheap goal and I think it ended 2-1 (advantage Baltimore) after about 15 minutes. Both of our teams look to be able to compete.

Most of the teams seemed very well mannered. They had a 3 vs 3 single elimination tournament which is basically a Braveheart with an extra attack guy. You had to shoot in under 5 seconds after crossing midfield. The faceoff was good for one point, a goal was worth two and a goalie save was worth one. The games last 7 minutes. Atlanta only had 3 players show up and lost 11-10. Nashville beat Boston, Baltimore and Columbus but lost to Orlando in the semi final. It was fun for the kids, but the games start tomorrow.

Nashville plays Denver, Columbus, Baltimore and Boston. (morning games)
Atlanta plays Baltimore, Long Island, Philly and NoCal. (evening games)

The top 8 teams out of 20 advance to play on Thursday. Everyone else is on the bleachers.

Hopefully I'll get more updates from Trey Atkinson (Homewood), Trent Chrane (Spain Park) and Brendan Conway (Hoover) that I can post to keep everyone up to speed

Charlotte Southern Sizzle

2009-07-06T21:41:00.002-05:00

Drove to Charlotte with the family Friday and arrived around 7PM at the Marriott. Things were a little hectic, I had planned to give all the players lanyards with a laminated roster and schedule but ran out of time so my wife and I spent an hour laminating and cutting rosters before we headed to dinner. At 9PM our U15 team had a meeting and I passed out uniforms. Around 9:30 the U13 parents came by to get their uniforms and I had a chance to hang by the pool and relax before going upstairs to bed for the evening.

The first games of the weekend started at 9AM, I checked in our U13 and U15 team's and got to watch our U15 team beat the Copperheads from Georgia. The high school boys played at 10:20AM and they really took it to the Triad Blackhawks 10-0. The victory was a great start but I think we got a little over-confident and played absolutely terribly against Winston-Salem and lost 6-2. I'm not sure why we can't get motivated and we start most games without any emotion. The game really upset me because we should have won and I knew that losing that game was going to make it difficult to win the championship. We came out at 2PM playing much better against a much better team but ended up tying Old North state. The boys played well, we had a lead with under two minutes left but got two penalties that unfortunately cost us the game. With the tie we still had a chance to win but needed to win all three on Sunday.

Saturday night was great, the boys had a blast hanging in downtown Charlotte. Everyone was hanging by the pool and the hot tub and then several of us went to watch the fireworks. It was great to see about a dozen of our high school boys, all from different schools, walking around downtown and just hanging out. Unfortunately I enjoyed myself a little too much and lost track of time getting in a little later than I should have. Our first game started at 8AM so needless to say, I wasn't thrilled when that alarm clock went off.

On Sunday the weather was rainy and it was cool so we had no excuses. Once again we came out flat and were lucky to tie the Winter Park team that we really should have been able to beat. The game really ticked me off because we were so much better than we played, we acted like we didn't care in the beginning of the game so I called time out and blasted the boys. I'm a little too emotional at times, I was just fed up with the lack of leadership and emotion, the boys showed a little more emotion after the time out but still not enough to win.

The U15 team won their morning game and had a shot to get to the playoffs but lost their second game of the weekend and finished with a 3-2 record. The U13 team had it tough, they lost their first game 2-0 but won their second. The teams for the U13 group just seemed to keep getting tougher and they lost 3 straight but had a great learning experience and a lot of fun.

After the terrible performance against Winter Park, the high school boys came back and played much better against the Copperheads. Bamalax lost 6-2 but it was a tough game and we played with a lot of emotion which made me feel much better. The Copperhead's goalie was excellent, he really kept us out of the game. The tournament ended with Bamalax tying Top Tier in a really good game. The lead changed hands several times with Bamalax having a two goal lead that we gave up with only a couple minutes left. The boys showed a lot of heart and really fought for the win but just missed a couple opportunities at the end of the game. Overall I was happy with the performance and I think we are building a good base for the future teams of Bamalax. Bamalax is on a break for a couple weeks but we are considering opportunities in the fall, I'm looking foward to some time off and recharging the battery a bit.

Getting ready for Charlotte

2009-06-30T10:38:00.002-05:00

Bamalax is ready to hit the road this weekend heading to the Southern Sizzle in Charlotte. Summer time tournaments are great but it is always tough to get good quality practices in with so many camps and vacations to plan around. Bamalax has entered teams at U13, U15 and high school elite. Our U13 and U15 teams have had a few more practices than the high school team but most of the high school players have been attending camps and tournaments so they should be in decent shape. Our high school team is down a few good players but overall I think we should be OK. Losing our top face off guy will hurt but if we can get over that hurdle and our defense and goalies step up, we should be able to contend for the championship. I'm excited to see our U15 players, I think we have a good shot at that age group as well as the U13 division. Alabama is slowly getting there, with players now starting in first grade and high school players with 7+ years of playing experience we are able to compete with most teams out there and often surprise teams that don't expect Alabama to have quality players. Our high school team has 9 players that attended Top 205 rising junior or senior camp and at least 3 legitimate division I prospects which is a far cry from where we were just 3 short years ago. As quickly as we are improving, everywhere else in the country is improving just as quickly so we have to work even harder. The number of good players in the US and Canada is staggering, I don't know how college coaches can keep up. One of the boys who came back from 205 said that players were complaining about a new DI program's coach because he never returns e-mails and I was thinking with only 56 DI programs, how could he keep up ? Every player thinks he is better than he probably is and pushy parents probably don't help the recruiting process by overwhelming coaches with videos and e-mails. My goal is to just create a legitimate program with the best possible talent so when I contact a coach about a player he knows I'm not wasting his time. We still have a ways to go to accomplish that but with the athletes we have coming up I think we will have several players playing at big time programs in the very near future. Having Brye French at the Naval academy next year will certainly help raise everyone's awareness about Alabama lacrosse and open doors for the younger Bamalax players coming up following in his foot steps

Opportunites are what you make of them

2009-06-25T12:47:00.002-05:00

Well, can't say our Bamalax kids aren't working hard to get noticed. The next couple weeks are busy for a lot of our players, should be fun but a lot of work and commitment. Last week Walker and Crawford Cox attended Top 205 rising junior camp at Towson and with their speed, I'm sure they were noticed by the coaches in attendance. This week, Haden Smith, Trey Atkinson, Brendan Conway, John Somerall and Trent Chrane are all at rising senior's Top 205. Once they get back in town, they head out to attend the Southern Sizzle in Charlotte. Trent also attended the South's version of Top 205 last week in Nashville and will be playing for the FCA team next week. Once Charlotte is over, Walker, Trent, Conway and Trey will head back up to Baltimore to play in the Adidas National tournament. While those players are busy there, Stefan Pajaro-Van destadt and Eli Stevens will be at Top 205 West and then a handful of the boys will be heading up to West Genesee high school August 1-2nd to play for a Georgia team competing in two tournaments in upstate New York ! Wow, that's a lot of lacrosse ! If you are a player in Alabama who is reading this and hasn't picked up your stick all summer you are going to be really behind your competition ! It's not too late, stop reading my blog, go pick up your stick and register for the Lightning lacrosse camp in Tuscaloosa www.lightninglax.com and start practicing !!