  @mauricethewhale Jimmy Ryan set out to play some fun fall lacrosse with his friends without all of the drama that might come from a big-time club team. In the end, he created a movement that is showing players across the country that there are bigger things in the world than the results on the field. In November 2014, Jimmy Ryan was a freshman in high school in Oregon and was burnt out from the typical summer club lacrosse seasons. Wanting to bring the fun back to lacrosse, he decided to put together a team of friends and “friends of friends” for the sole purpose of having fun while playing high level lacrosse. They called their team the Whales, and intended on playing in one tournament that fall together. After building a team of local and west coast players, Ryan decided to dedicate their play in that tournament to Lori Beck, his teammate’s mother who is a Stage IV Breast Cancer survivor. Ryan decided he would donate $2 for every goal scored in the tournament that summer to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Most of the team knew Mrs. Beck and he challenged his teammates to donate or ask for donations too. Although they did not win the tournament, they achieved so much more, as they ended up raising $10,000 to help fight cancer.  Charlie Ryan (Whales 2020), Coach Lorne Smith, and Whales founder Jimmy Ryan What started as a small idea with just one team of friends looking to have some fun playing in a tournament together, led to a huge outpouring of players looking to join the Whales. Ryan and his brothers expanded the program by adding more teams, including girls teams, with a focus on not only lacrosse, but common fundraising missions. The Whales choose a new person to honor for each tournament, and the money raised is donated to a cause of the honoree’s choice. The teams spend time getting to know the honoree, wear the honoree’s name on their jerseys to remind them who they are playing for, and even invite them to games. To date the Whales have had fifteen teams, honored six people, and raised over $120,000 for many different incredible causes. In their most recent tournament, the 2020 Sand Storm Lacrosse Festival in California, the Whales chose Lance Fenderson as their person to honor. Fenderson is a high school senior from North Carolina, and professional race car driver. Although racing is his passion, he was also a lacrosse player in high school. During a high school lacrosse game in May 2019, Fenderson collided with another player and suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the chest down.  Fenderson could not travel across the country for the tournament but he FaceTimed the team during their team dinner and also during halftime huddles. The players and coaches sent him video DMs and texts all throughout the tournament. The Whales made him feel like he was with the team every step of the way. Fenderson asked that the Whales raise money for the Kelly Brush Foundation, which provides adaptive sports equipment for people living with spinal cord injuries. The equipment is life changing physically and mentally for the recipients. The Whales players worked extremely hard raising money for this cause, and the teams managed to raise $20,000! Whales encourages players to raise money in whatever way they are most comfortable. Players have done everything from bake sales, car washes, creating and selling succulent gardens, high school boys making homemade caramels to sell, Christmas tree recycling, lacrosse clinics for youth, Halloween movie nights, and much more. Whales Lax does not collect any charity money, all donations go directly from the player or their sponsors to the charity. Whales provides a link for the charity on their website.  The Whales lacrosse teams are very impressive on the field as well. At the Sand Storm Lacrosse Festival, each Whales team made it to the championship game in their respective divisions (Interestingly enough, the Whales 2022 team played against ADVNC National in the championship. ADVNC was also playing for charity. Their team raised approximately $8000 for the JED Foundation for suicide prevention). Although both Whales teams finished in second, the boys came away knowing they had achieved something far more important than a lacrosse game. For more information about Whales Lacrosse, go to http://whaleslax.com/ 
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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! 2022Brant Satterly - Goalie - Georgia Tigers Elite Robbie Walker - Attack - Georgia Tigers Elite Michael Jensen - Defense - Georgia Tigers Elite Braeden Herriott - Defense - Black Lab Luke Pisani - Midfield - Black Lab Jack Regnery - Attack - Black Lab Kyle Baxter - Defense - East Coast All-Stars LC Danny Kesselring - Attack - East Coast All-Stars LC Joe Meidling - Midfield/FO - New Jersey National Ryan Sininsky - Midfield - New Jersey National Wyatt Christenson - Attack - Frog Eric Pearson - Midfield - Frog 2023Caulley Deringer - Attack - Madlax DC Dogs Colin Burns - Attack - Madlax DC Dogs Jack Weller - Faceoff - Madlax DC Dogs Grant Ettinger - Defense - Madlax DC Dogs Oliver Vanyo - Goalie - Edge Gavin Howard - Midfield - Edge Donny Scott - Defense - Edge Luke McCrobie - FOGO - 3d National Anderson Moore- Goalie - 3d National Jonathon Cox - Defense - UNRL Cooper Mailand - Midfield - UNRL Jordan Fasion - Midfield - Hot Tuna Renegade 2024Anthony Pannetti - Midfield/FO - Madlax-Capital Ryan Duenkel - Attack - Madlax-Capital Jewel Walker - Midfield - Madlax-Capital Robert Bath - Midfield/FO - Madlax-Capital Brayden Lahey - Attack - True Midwest Black Mason Szewczyk - Attack - True Midwest Black Tade Wynn - Goalie - True Midwest Black James Kelton - Midfield - LI Legacy Taz Liam Kershis - Attack - LI Legacy Taz Lad Harper - Faceoff - Florida Krewe Caden Harshbarger - Middie - Florida Krewe Ben McMullen - Goalie - Edge 2025Cameron Kelley - Attack - Madlax Nationals Caden Southworth - Midfield - Madlax Nationals Paxton Smith - Midfield - Madlax Nationals Tay Rodriguez - Faceoff - True Midwest Hayden Houghton - Goalie - True Midwest Jaik Mainquist - Midfield - Stealth Dylan Faison - Midfield - Stealth Casey Gattie - Defense - True Atlantic Ethan Wise - Midfield - True Atlantic Grady Taylor- Midfield - 3d National Devon Satterly - Midfield - Georgia Tigers Elite Campbell Hogan - Attack/Midfield - FCA Palm Beach 2026Kevin Gattie - Attack - True Atlantic Connor Byrnes - Midfield - True Atlantic Rocket Inzer & Reid Powell - Goalies - True Atlantic Taylor Holmes - Goalie - 3d National Jake Hiltz - Attack - 3d National Alex Dimnaku - FOGO - 3d National Colton Sirois - Attack - Madlax Nationals Manny Fernandes - Midfield - Madlax Nationals Keaton Franzen - Midfield - True Midwest Drew Schwitzenberg - LSM - True Midwest Sammy Coluzzi - Attack - 7 Flames Rylan Provenzano - Goalie - Stealth 2027Jason Reitman - Defense - 2 Way Silas Corveddu - Attack - 2 Way Luke Perriello - Midfield - 2 Way Jack Disarlo - Goalie - Shore2Shore Jack Russo - Midfield - Shore2Shore Owen Meyer - Midfield - Shore2Shore Braedon Goloboski - Goalie - True National Jack Dwyer - Defense -True National Archie Andrews- Midfield - 3d National Calvin Haughey- Goalie - 3d National Keagan Delaney - Midfield - Charleston Elite Will Klauder - LSM - Madlax-Capital 2027/28Brooks Bennett - LSM / Defense - True National
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 |
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February 2020
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