US Club Lacrosse is proud to announce a partnership with PrimeTime Lacrosse on three major tournaments in 2020. PrimeTime has been running some of the most competitive tournaments in the country each year, and this year they are sure to grow even bigger!  The first tournament US Club Lacrosse is partnering on is the Galactic Games. Just because it is winter, doesn’t mean that there isn’t an opportunity to play great lacrosse! The Galactic Games is a boys box tournament on February 22 & 23 at the Seacoast United Indoor Arena in Hampton, NH. This box tournament will feature some of the best lacrosse competition this winter. You won’t want to miss the high flying action this February.  Following the Galactic Games will be a series of PrimeTime summer tournaments where your club will find prime competition, a wealth of college coaches in attendance, and extraordinarily fun experiences. First up, on June 13th and 14th at Babson College in Massachusetts, will be the PrimeTime Shootout. This event will draw the biggest clubs from around the country, as well as top college recruiters. You will also not want to miss the Lake George National Invitational. This event will be played just minutes from beautiful Lake George and will bring together the best teams of the US and Canada for a scenic but fierce competition.  These PrimeTime tournaments are events that your club will not want to miss in 2020. “Our staff is made up of former players, current college coaches, parents, and club coaches, and because of that, we are able to identify and improve on areas of the tournament experience that other events overlook,” explains Spencer Low of PrimeTime Lacrosse. Low continues, “The group we have truly works to make each tournament just that; an experience. While the tournaments all feature top talent from across the US and Canada, what really sets us apart is what happens between games. The organization, communication, and focus on the details allows attendees to fully take advantage of everything each tournament has to offer, be that world class venues, local beaches and amusement parks, nearby city attractions, etc.”
Expect most of the top 100 US Club Lacrosse teams from each grade level to be attending these tournaments this year. This will lead to the best possible competition, but also the best experience for the players, being able to prove themselves on the big stage. “We have numerous programs who attend each of our summer events because the experience is so high quality, and even though they attend all three, they will still play new programs at each tournament” adds Low. “Each of our events plays to a championship and it’s always awesome to see how much harder the kids play knowing they’re competing for a medal!” US Club Lacrosse is thrilled for the opportunity to partner with PrimeTime in these events. Each tournament will see all of the benefits of a US Club Lacrosse powered tournament, including pre-tournament players to watch, live in-game commentary, all-tournament teams, and much more!
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Quinn Burns - Goalie - True National Easton Miller - Attack - True National JD Berry - Faceoff - True National Quinn O'Neill - Midfield - Madlax-Capital Luke Duffie - Defense - Madlax-Capital Colton Maddux - Midfield/FO - Madlax-Capital Luke Campbell - Attack - Madlax-Capital Max Palmisano - Defense - Stealth Chase Lofurno - Attack - Stealth Nash Hanlon - Midfield/FO - Charleston Elite Brodie Hooff - Midfield - Charleston Elite  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.
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. 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?
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:
REP YOUR REGION IN 2020. Lee Corrigan President Corrigan Sports Enterprises www.underarmourlacrosse.com  US Club Lacrosse is excited to announce that it will be powering the Legends Freakshow & Western Invitational this July in beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah. This showcase and tournament will be the premier events of the West this coming summer. The best clubs from the US and Canada will be coming to Utah to showcase their talents. US Club Lacrosse is thrilled to be joining Legends Lacrosse in these two unparalleled events. Salt Lake City will be a huge influx of college recruiters between July 7-9th, not wanting to miss any of this high level lacrosse action. The Western Freakshow will take place on Tuesday, July 7th, and will be an elite showcase with over forty NCAA recruiters. This showcase will be for 2021s through 2024s and will be an opportunity that top athletes of the West will not want to miss. “The Western Freakshow will provide for about 45 college coaches to work directly with the players. Players will participate in skill and positional work, collegiate style practice settings, full field scrimmages, a recruitment seminar, and more, all directed by the NCAA coaches themselves,” explains Reid Doucette of Legends Lacrosse. Players participating in the “Freakshow” will also receive custom gear packs and all of the benefits that come with a US Club Lacrosse powered event, including player interviews, highlights from the action on US Club Lacrosse social media, and an Interactive Vendor Village. The following two days, July 8th and 9th will be the Legends Western Invitational. This top class tournament will feature incredible teams from around the country competing to prove who is the best of the West. “The Freakshow showcase will transition us nicely into the Western Invitational where we will see teams from 10+ states and a couple of Canadian provinces compete at a high level in front of a diverse group of 40+ recruiters. With divisions ranging from 2021-2027, we’ll be seeing 80+ boys teams represent their regions and showcase their talent over 16 fields in the heart of Salt Lake City,” adds Doucette. This tournament will be a great opportunity for teams to move up the US Club Lacrosse rankings. US Club Lacrosse will also be tracking game outcomes, highlighting key match-ups and players to watch, posting video recaps, and holding post-game interviews with players and coaches. Block off your calendars for July 7-9th, as these are events your club will not want to miss. For more information about these events, go to the event websites - Western Freakshow & Western Invitational.  US Club Lacrosse powering biggest showcase of the Midwest this summer - The Chicago Summer Shootout10/29/2019  US Club Lacrosse is excited to partner with US Lax Events on one of the biggest showcase tournaments in the country this summer, coming to the Midwest. No need to travel to the East Coast the weekend of July 11th and 12th, because the Chicago Summer Shootout will have everything your club team is looking for - highly competitive games, premier college recruitment, and the chance to move yourself up the club rankings! This high school level event is sure to draw the best teams and college coaches from the region and beyond.
The 2020 Summer Shootout will take place July 11-12 at the Frontier Sports Complex in Naperville, IL. Just a short trip from downtown Chicago, this great central location is easily accessible to all of the Midwestern programs. Henry Sitkiewicz, US Lax Events Director of Business, is excited to continue the great tradition of this tournament, “The Chicago Summer Shootout is where Midwest teams play to get ranked by US Club Lax. An extensive list of college coaches from across the country make the trip to the Chicago Summer Shootout knowing future collegiate players are in attendance.” Last year's tournament saw an impressive list of over 50 Division I through Division III college coaches on the sideline, and this year that list will grow as these coaches now know they can’t miss this event. US Club Lacrosse will be powering the Summer Shootout for the first time this summer. “The partnership between US Lax and US Club Lax brings a whole new level of tournament experience to everyone in attendance, creating the best Midwest recruiting event”, adds Sitkiewicz. The 2020 Summer Shootout participants will benefit greatly due to the US Club Lacrosse partnership. Player and team profiles and highlights, All-Tournament teams, video recaps, coach and player interviews, an Interactive Vendor Village, and much more can be expected at this year’s event. For additional information on this event, or to register you team, visit https://www.uslaxevents.com/page/show/1141479-summer-shootout.  The Legends Lacrosse National Cup has quickly become a can’t miss winter event for boys and girls teams across the country. “We are thrilled to officially be powered by US Club Lax and are excited to elevate the event experience on and off the field. By working together we will create a truly unique atmosphere that cannot be replicated anywhere else,” says Rory Doucette, Co Founder of Legends Lacrosse. The National Cup is held at one of the top facilities in the country, the Surf Cup Sports Park, which is home to 20+ manicured grass fields and located less than a mile from the beaches of Del Mar. Mix in 35+ NCAA Coaches and 130+ boys & girls teams, there’s no reason to think twice about making this an annual stop on the club lacrosse circuit. This years’ tournament will have divisions open to 2020-2027 teams. San Diego is widely known as “America’s finest city” and is famous for it’s miles and miles of sandy beaches and year round perfect weather. You can feel the ocean breeze while competing throughout the morning, and by the afternoon you’ll find yourself enjoying the beach, visiting the San Diego Zoo, or exploring the historic Gaslamp District downtown. There’s no shortage of off-field attractions for visitors of all ages! "We are so excited for this opportunity to partner with Legends Lacrosse on this event. The Legend's National Cup is one of the premier events on the west coast and we look forward to providing national exposure to all the clubs and players who will be in attendance." says Denis Noonan CEO of US Club Lacrosse. “I wish I had the opportunity to attend something like the National Cup as a kid. Growing up on the East Coast (Long Island), I feel like this would have been the perfect chance to get out of the cold and experience a dual vacation/lacrosse trip with my family” says Reid Doucette. He continued to talk about how the growth of the sport in the West, and non-traditional areas as a whole, has been substantial over the years. It has helped pave the way for the National Cup to be the perfect platform to showcase all of that growth and talent, and furthermore to put some of these high level clubs from hotbed areas to the test against national level teams that they don’t typically see. In just it’s third year, the National Cup will see teams from 13+ states and Canada put on a show in front of some of the top NCAA programs across America.   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.  “We felt teams nationally wanted a warm weather, vacation style, first-class tournament (that was not a recruiting event),” Madlax founder Cabell Maddux said, “but (also) attracted some of the top teams ranked in (the U.S. Club Lacrosse rankings).”
Maddux hopes to expand the tournament to include both girls and boys in its second year. With Madlax already part of the NAL and its tournaments, he hopes The Club Lacrosse Nationals will serve as a fun vacation event that features strong lacrosse. He added that the partnership with U.S. Club Lacrosse makes it extremely exciting and validates the quality of the teams that will be participating. U.S. Club Lacrosse is the go-to site for the lacrosse community to obtain information on tournaments, rankings, tryouts, clinics, and further details on Club teams. It was created to conduct research in order to find the best fit for your player or team's developmental needs. Usclublax.com also provides a forum for club and tournament directors to keep their information up to date with the rest of the lacrosse community. The Club Lacrosse Nationals is the first-ever tournament powered by U.S. Club Lacrosse. “We are really excited about powering this event that utilizes our social media and marketing to make it fun, competitive and exciting for all the boys and teams competing,” U.S. Club Lacrosse owner Denis Noonan said, “and helping make this the biggest event of the new club lacrosse season.”  Langtry (pictured) is heavily involved with the coaching of all three teams currently competing for 6 Star Lacrosse on the club circuit 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.”  Langtry said that he thinks his 2025 team is the best in Colorado, while the 2023s and 2026s are "up there" as well Langtry’s love of watching lacrosse extends into his coaching and training, as at least once per season he’ll break down video of his team’s game, minute-by-minute, writing notes as it goes on. Then he’ll send it out, notes and all, to the players and their parents for them to review. In the fall, he’ll even go over video with the parents and players himself.
During practices he’ll use Coach’s Eye, an app that allows him to film a player shooting and break down their body movements. It allows him to determine the technicalities of how they’re shooting, like if they’re snapping their wrists or not. With help from Chase Clark, another coach in the program, 6 Star also does Black Diamond training, which involves offensive and defensive groups splitting up. The defense goes with Clark while the offense follows Langtry, then the players begin playing 1-on-1, 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 before shifting to a full-team situation. “Practices are really intense, I personally have my hand in everything,” Langtry said. “...My goal is to make every individual player better, and at the end of the day the wins will follow if every player is improving.” Langtry explained that he’d rather have five more kids join 6 Star than have a team win a gold medal or a t-shirt from some tournament. The growth of Colorado lacrosse at the youth level is what’s most important to him, and so far he’s making a difference. There weren’t many kids committed to the sport when Langtry first started coaching in the area - rather, it was more of a “fun sport” that they played on the side. Now, he’s seeing players get to the point where they’re being serious and seeing their potential opportunities with lacrosse. Quality-wise, there’s a long way to go to get to the level of play of their peers on Long Island, but the gap is smaller than it used to be. “I couldn't have played on these teams, like my sixth-grade team,” Langtry said. “When I was in sixth grade I wouldn't have made this team, in Colorado, and I lived on Long Island. They're just a lot better. The level of everything has been raised.” 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? |
AuthorKevin Preston Archives
January 2020
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