When the school year ends, pack up your suitcases because the Vail Lacrosse Tournament is a tournament that your team (and your family!) will not want to miss. US Club Lacrosse is thrilled to be powering the “highest altitude tournament in the country” this summer in the beautiful Vail Valley of Colorado. The tournament will take place between June 16-18th in Vail, Colorado. 
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The Vail Lacrosse Tournament has been going strong since 1995, and draws nearly 2,000 players and 3,000 spectators to one of the country’s most beautiful areas. This family-friendly competition will be an exciting and competitive event, while also giving families the opportunity to experience everything the Vail Valley has to offer. Your family can go from the lacrosse field in the morning, to zip-lining down a mountain in the afternoon, to zooming on a roller coaster down the mountain at night. “At 8,150 feet above sea level the Vail Lacrosse Tournament offers players, coaches, and parents the opportunity to compete against top teams from across the nation in one of the most beautiful places,” explains tournament director Mark Foster. 

The Vail Lacrosse Tournament is one of the country’s longest running tournaments. “This year marks the 26th year of the tournament and we are excited to host another competitive event with great players, teams, and coaches from across the nation,” adds Foster. Around 100 boys and girls teams, 4th grade through high school, make the trip to Colorado for this one-of-a-kind lacrosse tournament. 
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This year the Vail Lacrosse Tournament will add all of the benefits of being powered by US Club Lacrosse. "We couldn't be more thrilled to help power the Vail Lacrosse Tournament in 2020," Denis Noonan expresses, CEO of US Club Lacrosse. "The Vail Lacrosse Tournament is one of the longest running and premier destination events in the country. To have the ability to showcase this amazing event to the rest of the world is something we are extremely excited about," adds Noonan. At the event you will find an Interactive Vendor Village, where you can receive recruiting advice, buy new gear, test your shot speed, and much more. The tournament will also have player and coach post-game interviews, highlights from key match-ups, and national exposure for your program! Start planning your trips now, as this tournament will be one you will remember forever. 

Visit https://www.vaillacrossetournament.com/ for more information.

What is the Under Armour Underclass Lacrosse Tournament? How long has the tournament been in existence?   
The Under Armour Underclass tournament has been in existence for 12 Years. Originally, the underclass event started out as a Baltimore vs. DC rivalry that’s blossomed in to 12 regions across the United States. These tryouts serve as the TOP college recruiting opportunity for players and coaches alike. College Coaches from across the D1, D2, and D3 spectrum flock to these tryouts in hopes of finding their next top recruit!

Which regions are represented?  
Traditional Lacrosse Markets: Baltimore, Washington D.C, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Long Island, Upstate, NY, New England and Conny
Emerging Lacrosse Markets: West (tryouts in CA), South (Florida, GA, and the Carolinas) Midwest and Southwest
The scope of the event is to crown the ULTIMATE regional champion of Lacrosse! Rep Your Region.

Why is this event unique across the high school lacrosse landscape?  
Unlike many other events, EVERY participant has the opportunity to make the team. Evaluators are provided a sheet that only lists the players number (“A Blind Tryout”)—our evaluators are compiled of club coaches, public high school coaches and private high school coaches. This is critical for the integrity of the event as we strive for equal representation from all regional lacrosse folks. Also, we do NOT financially incentivize one club/high school team as we feel this opens the door for that group to solely jam their players on to the team. We want the very best players in each region. 

Describe the tryout process and how players are evaluated. – 
Players are put on to random teams where they play games and are evaluated by 8-15 “evaluators”. These are HS Coaches and Club coaches from that region.  At the end of the tryout, we have the coveted “Call Back Game” which features the best 40-50 players. Those elite participants play 1 more extended game which is heavily attended by college coaches. From there, the 8-15 evaluators re-convene with a CSE team member and select the top 23 players, to round out their final roster! CSE is a 100% unbiased 3rd party in the selection process—our role is to mediate the selections and control the room. It’s our quest to put together a diverse team to best represent that region, while also identifying the very best talent!

What type of attendance do the tryouts get from college coaches?  
100-150 for any given tryout for boys—The all-time record is 167 for the Baltimore tryout in 2018
40-100 for any given tryout for girls
How do Underclass games relate to the Under Armour All-America games?  
The Underclass games feature the top talent from around the USA—the Underclass event begins on Thursday and finishes Sunday with our (4) total Championship games. On Saturday night, we have the Under Armour All-America Senior games at Johns Hopkins University. These games are shown live on ESPNU! The Senior games offer an incredible atmosphere at Homewood Field, which is known as the meca of College Lacrosse.
The Underclass event serves as great way for Inside Lacrosse and others to see the maturation of players throughout their High school campaign—hundreds of Senior Under Armour All-American alumni have been a part of the Underclass event. (Matt Rambo, Shack Stanwick, Taylor Cummings, Caroline Steele, etc.) 

Where is the Underclass event held? And why?
The Underclass event is held at Baltimore County’s Meadowood Park and St. Paul’s School—for years, the event was held at Towson University—in 2019, we we’re forced to move the tournament due to construction. Meadowood will again serve as the events home base in 2020. The unique element that Meadowood Park offers is a cohesive venue—meaning, the girls and boys fields are directly next to each other! CSE and Under Armour have crafted a truly unique activation space where players have the opportunity to interact with UA directly, purchase merchandise, enjoy an air-conditioned tent and visit with other select vendors. While parking was a concern in 2019, CSE has a plan to eliminate the issue in 2020. Baltimore County is thrilled to host the event and has plans to evolve Meadowood Park in to Baltimore’s hub for lacrosse—“Where Baltimore Play’s Lacrosse”
CSE is proud to assist in that initiative by bringing the sports elite event to the park.

If a player makes his or her regional team, what type of experience can they expect? Will there be team practices? Who will be coaching the teams? 
Coaching staffs are made up of 1 Private School Coach, 1 Public School Coach and a Club Coach. Each team has (3/4) practices before coming to Baltimore to participate in the UAAA Weekend Tournament.  All players receive a regionally customized Under Armour uniform, which is modeled after that regions professional team (EX: The West uniforms are purple and gold) The Tournament is generally regarded as the best and most organized event of the summer. 
In addition to the games – The players are also invited to a banquet honoring them—at the banquets we always have a featured guest speaker, in years past we’ve had Marvin Lewis (Long time Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach) Chad Fleming (Special Ops who was 1st guy into Saddam Hueseins palace) Matt Eversman, (real life hero of Blackhawk down) and many more!


What are the dates of the 2020 tournament?

• July 9-12, 2020 in Baltimore
• Senior Games: Johns Hopkins Homewood Field – on Sat July 11, Live on ESPNU
• Underclass Tournament – Meadowood Park and St Paul’s School

Why should a kid tryout for this event? If players have played in the UAA games in the past, why should they return?
There are (3) primary reasons why players should tryout for this event:

1. Pride--- The regional pride and competition is unmatched—Every player across the country has pride in where they come from, having the opportunity to represent your region on a national scale is only found at the Under Armour All-America! 
2. Recruiting–-arguably the best recruiting event of the year—college coaches from all levels flock to the regional tryouts in hopes of finding their next star or role players. Even if you don’t make the team, your skills will be showcased to hundreds of college coaches.
3. Matriculating to be an Under Armour All-American Senior.--The Underclass event is a great barometer for Inside Lacrosse to see players compete against the very best! Being a part of the underclass event is a guarantee that the player you’re lining up against is an extremely talented player and will be a great test of your abilities!

REP YOUR REGION IN 2020.

Lee Corrigan
President
Corrigan Sports Enterprises
www.underarmourlacrosse.com 

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By Eric Black

US Club Lacrosse is excited to announce that we will be powering The Club Lacrosse Nationals 2020 in January near Orlando, Florida. The new tournament will be held from Jan. 3-5 and feature boys club teams from 2022-2029.  It is a collaboration between US Club Lacrosse, Madlax and LI Legacy, who already own and operate experienced event management companies in MDLX Events and Top Lacrosse Tournaments.

The top 100 teams in our 2022-2025 rankings will be automatically invited to participate, while all 2026-2029 teams nationally are welcome to join. Thanks to the tournament being the first of the calendar year, it’ll also serve as the first piece of results for our 2022-2026 rankings next season. 

Located just 20 minutes away from Disneyworld, the tournament will take place on luxurious Bermuda grass fields at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex. Teams will play games over the span of three days, allowing for off-the-field fun in and around the area.

By Eric Black

When Brian Langtry first moved to Colorado 20 years ago, few people were involved with lacrosse at the youth level. Aside from a handful of coaches and a high school scene dominated by only a few teams, lacrosse was a largely-unexploited sport. 

“Then everyone went all-in on the club scene,” Langtry said. “And I felt like there was a piece of development that wasn’t really getting done.”

Langtry, a Long Island native who played over two decades of professional lacrosse, noticed that while there was a lot of team building going on, there wasn’t a big enough focus on individual development. A few years ago, he began training players on the side before their parents spoke up, wanting more. They told him he should start putting club teams together and when his brother, Rich, doubled down on the thought, Langtry committed to the idea. 

Today, 6 Star Lacrosse has boys teams at the 2023, 2025, and 2026 level with tryouts for 2024 and 2027 teams set to take place in August. At the core of each of their practices is specialized training based on what each specific player needs to work on or what the team struggled with in their last game. Langtry’s commitment to player development and training is what he believes sets 6 Star apart from other programs. 

“I spent 16 years as a teacher, knowing that each kid needs something different,” Langtry said. “So I try to look at the player as an individual and meet their needs.”

Langtry played attack for two seasons during his lacrosse career - his senior year of college at Hofstra and his last year with the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse, when he was 35. In order to adjust to playing the position, Langtry focused in and studied the game.

After starting in the MLL when all midfielders had short sticks, he had to break down how to carry against a long pole, especially in the latter stages of his career. To do so, he began to watch more lacrosse, something he still does today. If he’s not going to a high school or youth game he’s watching college games, either live or taped.

“I played 21 seasons of professional lacrosse, and I'm not exactly the most athletic person on earth,” Langtry said, laughing. “So I know the skill aspect of the game.”​

By Eric Black

Recently, US Club Lacrosse has been notified of the issue of players switching club teams for a weekend, game, or tournament. Often, these players are some of the stars of their teams, and their absence or presence could decide a game one way or another. These “ringers” are becoming apparent all around the club circuit, and raise the question over whether or not the practice is fair or in any way undercuts the value of tryouts or the sportsmanship of competition. 

On one hand, it’s important to remember that at the end of the day, most players compete in these club tournaments in order to get exposure from college coaches. Many tournaments are even deemed showcases, rather than tournaments, because the ultimate goal is to have players display their skills. 

Tad Doyle, the founder of Rising Sons lacrosse, is generally not in favor of adding players to load a team, despite the fact that he’s seen it been done at the younger ages. That being said, he permitted one of his players to briefly switch teams in an effort to improve his college hopes. 

“We did just have one (player) who Amherst wanted to see play,” Doyle said. “So I called (the team) to see if they would let him run with them.  They were short kids and obliged. That is how and why it should be done. Not to stack a team versus regular club teams.”

Patty Daley, the head coach of the 2020 Check-Hers Elite team, has seen her players been recruited by other teams in the past. While they’ve never decided to change teams, Daley’s players are given the opportunity to make the decision for themselves and consider the pros and cons of doing so. 

She believes that ringers defeat the purpose of a team’s tryouts, and no matter what team a player decides to play for, they’ll always receive exposure and recognition. 

“It really comes down to the team and coaches a player wants to play for,” Daley said. “And the philosophy of the club. All three things are considerations for players.”

Daley thinks that the mid-season recruitment of players shouldn’t occur as much as it does, but there isn’t really any plausible way to police it. Another coach that has seen his players been recruited in a similar fashion is Andy Pons, the Director of Lacrosse Operations for Thunder LB3 lacrosse. Teams have reached out to the kids on their Elite teams in the past through social media, something Pons described as “slimy”.

Thunder LB3 Elite, based out of the Atlanta area, never recruits kids outside Georgia because that would “hurt their overall mission.” While they do have a national team, with players outside of the state, Pons explained that they only play in one tournament (Naptown Challenge) and instead enjoy weekends filled with college tours and training. If a player is already on a team scheduled to play in the Naptown Challenge, Thunder LB3 doesn’t take him. 

“The topic of ‘ringers’ is always a hot conversation,” Pons said. “Personally, I don't understand the attraction. Our guys get the best training in the country and we have developed a great track record of college commitments...We do not want to develop a reputation for ‘stealing kids.’”

Dave Mitchell, the President and Owner of Next Level Lacrosse, often sees ringers at big-time recruiting events in the November, June, and July months, he said. Many of these kids are likely on a different team than usual because their original squad either wasn’t playing in the event, or they thought they’d get more exposure on the new team. 

If this was the case for all ringers, there’d likely be less brushback from opposing coaches, parents, and players. Although winning games is always important no matter what the setting, that concept may need to be viewed through a different lens when it comes to the future careers and college choices of teenagers.

Mitchell doesn’t think ringers are a problem for club lacrosse, but he does think they “undermine the value of the team,” and its long-term chemistry. What do you think? Is the increasing frequency of ringers in club lacrosse good or bad for the sport?

By Eric Black 

​Greer Hanlon was the only one of his friends who owned a stick when he began playing lacrosse in the suburbs of Chicago in the late ‘90s. They didn’t know the game, nor did they have much opportunity to watch it, and instead opted for more popular sports. Hanlon had to work on his game by himself.  

He ultimately committed to play the sport collegiately at the University of Denver and played there for four years before moving to Charleston. There, last July, he started Charleston Elite, a new club lacrosse program for boys and girls in the area. Although it’s still early on in its stages of development, the program is already inspiring kids to start playing the sport of lacrosse at a young age.

The first call Hanlon made before he started the program was to Matt Brown, the current associate head coach at Denver. Brown is also one of the founders and directors of Denver Elite Lacrosse and the Denver Elite Box Lacrosse Program. Despite the distance, Hanlon knew he wanted his program to be connected. 

​“I said, ‘Matt, look. I want to start a club. Can I affiliate with you?’” Hanlon explained. “And he said ‘absolutely’...One of our players is going to play for their box team this summer and we hope to have them down for some clinics and things of that nature to help promote the game by us.”

Box lacrosse is a major part of the plan to teach the game and develop players by Charleston Elite, which runs a box lacrosse academy in the winter. If Hanlon had it his way, all kids in 5th grade and below would play box lacrosse instead of field lacrosse, where many kids could take a number of trips up and down the field without even touching the ball. 

​With box, they can develop their comfort with and without the ball in constant high-pressure situations, which field lacrosse games feature significantly less often. The skill aspect that box lacrosse can help with is something the program is really trying to expand in with its teachings. One of the ways they’re doing this is by going to schools, classrooms, and specifically physical education classes to teach the game. Hanlon’s found that it’s a great way to organically introduce the game to young kids. 

“I talk about it with PE teachers all the time,” Hanlon said. “(The kids) like sports, they’re okay at sports, but they’re really enthusiastic about lacrosse. Whereas they’re not enthusiastic about soccer or football or basketball or whatever else. For me, that’s awesome. If we do that for one person, we’re doing our job of growing the game.”

Hanlon explained that they’ve ventured to four different middle schools so far, all with about 700 kids in them, in addition to a high school. He’s been helped by the fact that there’s “no better place” than Charleston to play lacrosse because of its climate, aside from some rain. So far, Hanlon estimates that they’ve introduced lacrosse to over 2,500 kids that otherwise would’ve been unable to play due to barriers of entry such as cost and equipment. 

Charleston Elite features six boys teams and two girls teams in the program, numbers that are expected to grow in the near future. The girls' teams are specifically of interest to him because he’s noticed that there’s a drop between 8th and 9th grade in the level of participation. 

“What we're trying to do is garner that interest early on,” Hanlon said, “so that we can push through that drop-off.”

Another way Charleston Elite is trying to establish interest in the game is through the free clinics they offer, which kids can just show up to and play at. After the first clinic, there are five or six sessions of only stickwork that follow, so the key is just trying to get the kids to stay with it. Using freelacrosse.org to spread the word, they got 75 kids to come to the first clinic and play the sport for the first time, of which 50 signed up for the next clinic. 

After the interest has been garnered and the fundamentals established, Charleston Elite’s goal is to ultimately compete at the regional and national levels. To do so, Hanlon hopes to be able to grow the game organically around Charleston and attract kids from all over the region to come play for the program. Even though Hanlon had to create his own path into the lacrosse world, Charleston Elite is making sure kids in the area don’t have to do the same. 

​"There is a lot of similarity, so what I see is the same thing Illinois had, is athletes that just haven't played the game very long or don't know the game very well,” Hanlon said. “So if we can just capture those athletes, teach them the game the right way, foster the growth, I think the success will come, it's just gonna take a bit of time.” 

By Eric Black

​​Ryan Flanagan didn’t last more than a quarter through a high school lacrosse game in the spring of 2012. The North Carolina graduate had just graduated and was interested in continuing to work with lacrosse, so he decided to check out the quality level of high school teams in the area. It was so difficult to watch that he left before the first buzzer.

​Seven years later, the former NCAA division-I defenseman of the year is back watching high school games and nowadays, he can watch contests from start to finish. 

“I went and watched Weddington High School play Mallard Creek,” Flanagan said, “and I’m watching a kid who’s going to Towson covering a kid who’s going to Duke...It’s a pretty good lacrosse game.”

Flanagan, a three-time All-American with the Tar Heels and current player with the Chrome of the Premier Lacrosse League, started Team 24/7 Lacrosse when he graduated from Chapel Hill. Nearly a decade since, Team 24/7 has partnered with Team Carolina at the high school level, now has 12 travel teams and puts sticks in the hands of hundreds of kids who otherwise never would’ve played lacrosse. 

From the get-go, he’s encountered those cultural differences regarding the sport in the area compared to where he grew up, in West Islip, N.Y. On Long Island, lacrosse dominates the youth sports landscape and most kids, from fifth or sixth grade on, even walk down the street with a stick in their hands. In the Charlotte area, Flanagan explained, lacrosse takes a backseat to baseball, soccer, and football. 

“It’s just not as ingrained in the culture,” Flanagan said. “You have a handful of guys that are playing lacrosse, but up and down your roster, your kids aren’t as committed to it.”

That lack of commitment has lead to a significantly smaller pool of athletes than areas like Long Island or Maryland have to choose from. The best athletes in the area or in schools are playing football or baseball and focusing on it, as opposed to up north, where many kids play lacrosse as a “1A” sport and another sport as a “1B”, Flanagan explained. 

The next offshoot of the cultural differences is stick skills that aren’t as good, if only because kids are rarely working on them on a consistent basis. While there are always top players that will lead the team and be mostly, if not entirely, committed to lacrosse, the talent gap is more apparent as you go down the roster. That’s despite a lot of players being great athletes - they’re just unable or unwilling to play lacrosse year-round or close to it. 

Flanagan described the growth and future growth of the program in terms of a pyramid. First, you have to attract more athletes to build a bigger pool of players to choose from. After that, those players have to practice and be trained and build consistent skills. 

“Part one is always build the base,” Flanagan said. “Then develop the base. You have to have your pool and develop it, and then a byproduct of that is going to be consistently competing at the national level. And then another byproduct of that is going to be more recruiting opportunities.”

To build the pool of athletes, Team 24/7 has employed a number of different strategies. What first started as a singular camp has advanced to a rec league, travel teams, and day camps. Early on, they worked with 20 to 30 kids per camp, but now their day camps are filled with upwards of 100 players and their winter league has double that. 

Flanagan made sure to emphasize how important the initiative to grow the game at the youth level is, both to him personally and his program. Team 24/7 has partnered with South Park Youth Association, the same one NBA star Stephen Curry was a part of as a kid, to build a lacrosse program. When Curry was younger, there was no lacrosse program. Now, Flanagan hopes that in the future, the next Stephen Curry will take advantage of the opportunity. 

Team 24/7 also began Little Stix Lacrosse, an after-school lacrosse program for kids at the elementary school level. It’s one hour, one day a week, and last year, it gave 400 kids the ability to have a lacrosse stick for the first time. 

“As that grows, and those kids come through the youth programs and into the high school program,” Flanagan said, “it’s gonna be huge for the sport.”

It’s not always as simple as just putting sticks in kids’ hands, however. During the first practice Flanagan ever ran, he told his team to go into a clear and none of them knew what he meant. Between shapes and positioning, some kids need to be taught the game from the ground up. But as those fundamentals have become more known in the community and at the youth level, the quality of play has improved in addition to the jump in numbers.

Flanagan’s long-term goal is to improve the recruiting process and success for kids in North Carolina. He doesn’t understand why places like Atlanta, which doesn’t have a college team nearby, should have so much more success on the recruiting stage than North Carolina, which has schools like Duke, UNC, and Limestone in the area.

He hopes that one day, there will be someone like Peter Baum, a Seattle native who was the first West Coast player to win the Tewaaraton Trophy, from North Carolina to give kids someone to look up to and emulate. 

“We’re years away from that, but that’s a working process,” Flanagan said. “And there’s all the parts of the process to get there.”