Jan. 18, 2008
The 2008 US Lacrosse National Convention, annually the sport's largest educational draw, is underway in Saturday, Jan. 19, 6:26 p.m.
As Clare Lochary blogged earlier, Duke men's lacrosse coach John Danowski shed some interesting - and applicable - tips on developing the "complete attackman." "We lost Justin Turri for six to 12 months, and he didn't even know about it," John Danowski said in disbelief. Saturday, Jan. 19, 4:30 p.m. A popular afternoon session was the Recruiting Seminar conducted by a trio of coaches representing all three levels of the NCAA: Michael Murphy from Division I Army; Mike Pressler from Division II Bryant University; and Ray Rostan of Want to know what it takes to be an elite athlete? Look no further than the Every ground ball was contested, every shot on goalies Amy Altig and Devon Wills was ripped and on one play, Jess Roguski and Quinn Carney literally ran themselves off of the artificial surface onto the concrete floor of the convention center exhibit hall. The competitive juices were clearly flowing. Speaking of competition, a constant theme through the convention has been how insane the college recruiting process has become. "The girls are freaking out," he said. "They don't know what to do." A former standout Division III attackman is now coaching jayvee lacrosse at the high school level. He said, "I love it. I don't have to deal with any of that recruiting mess. It's more pure."
The million-dollar question, of course, was if Danowski's most complete attackman - his son, fifth-year senior and Tewaaraton Trophy winner Matt Danowski - would be healthy enough to compete next weekend when the Blue Devils open their 2008 exhibition slate against the U.S. national team at Champions Challenge in Florida.
He won't.
But as the season draws nearer, John Danowski has become more optimistic that Matt, who had offseason foot surgery for a lisfranc fracture, will be available for Duke's season-opener Feb. 16 against Bucknell.
"Right now, we're looking at the 16th," the head coach said.
Matt Danowski was an alternate on the 2006 U.S. men's team. When I spoke with him in Durham, N.C., this fall, he was still on crutches. But he appeared resolute in his desire to play against the team that benched him during an exhibition game against the MLL All-Stars and did not bring him to Canada, where Team USA lost to the host Canadians in the gold medal match of the ILF World Championship.
"I'll wait for January 27 to talk about that," he told me with a smile.
Foot fractures, however, are unpredictable in terms of recovery. Duke's women's coach Kerstin Kimel warned both Danowskis about the struggles of former Blue Devil and current Bucknell head coach Caline McHenry, who lost almost an entire season due to a lisfranc fracture. Justin Turri, a member of the 2008 U.S. U-19 team who was expected to compete for the third starting attack position at Duke this spring, played all fall on a foot fractured in three different places.
Luckily for the Blue Devils, however, it appears their most complete attackman will return in time for the season-opener, if not in time to begin their ACC slate in March.
- Matt DaSilva
Pressler offered perhaps the most interesting insight, having coached personally at all three divisions. He started his career at Ohio Wesleyan, before moving to Duke and now Bryant.
"Parents need to understand that the Division I landscape has changed drastically," said Pressler. "The top 50 recruits are now gone (committed to schools) by July 1 of their junior year. Schools have eight to 10 players committed by that date. It's ridiculous."
As to what coaches are looking for in potential recruits, Pressler cites three specifics in his recruiting process.
"Athleticism is number one," he said. "We're looking for size, speed and strength. We can always make an athlete into a good player. We also look at a young man's competitiveness. Does he like to compete? An athlete who plays multiple sports usually falls into that category. And third, we want to know what type of character he has. We'll talk to people who know him off-the field; somebody like an English teacher. Unfortunately, if you make a mistake in evaluating character, it can come back to bite you."
- Paul Ohanian
Saturday, Jan. 19, 2:39 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 19, 1:11 p.m.
Before his presentation on Developing the Complete Attackman, Duke coach John Danowski was buzzing around the Convention Center's main ballroom, high-fiving and hugging people. The man is nothing if not exuberant - even his PowerPoint presentation was liberally peppered with exclamation marks (Teaching all aspects of Attack Play! Demand that they work with both hands every day!).
Danowski vamped through some early technical difficulties with good humor before breaking down what he does to ready the Blue Devils for game day. While he's far from a tough guy, Danowski is still a demanding coach who expects his kids to strive for perfection every day. Not everyone is going to be perfect at everything, but everyone has to try. (For example, Duke's natural lefty Zack Greer hates going right. He still has to do it in every single practice.)
For offense, he recommends setting aside 10 minutes in every practice to focus exclusively on attack, and stresses the fundamentals. The best stick protection is to run as fast as you can, and the second best is to use your footwork to create separation between attacker and defender. One trick to teach a player to keep his free hand up under pressure is to have him keep a spare lacrosse ball clamped in his armpit during cradling and dodging drills. Simple, cheap, effective - something any coach can incorporate into his repertoire.
About 1,000 coaches, mostly from the youth and high school level, attended Danowski's presentation. The big man assured them he's not too far removed from where they are.
"I'm the same schmucky guy who went 8-7 with the East Meadow Middle School JV," said the modest Danowski.
Saturday, Jan. 19, 10:32 p.m.
You can call University of Albany head coach Scott Marr the Steven Spielberg of the US Lacrosse Convention. His presentation on fast-break offense had the higest production values of any I've seen at the convention. It even had a twist ending, which I'll get to later. Marr opened with a tribute to his coaching mentors (some stills of Petro and Zimmerman with hilariously out-of-date haircuts and a clip of Maryland's Dick Edell flooring a sportscaster with his typical bluntness) before focusing on the topic at hand.
Anyone who has grown weary of the controlled, pass-heavy Princeton offense will love to watch the Great Danes' attack. Marr emphasizes driving towards the goal at all times, from all positions. To wit, Albany's former goaltender Brent Queener was in attendence at the session. Queener made a habit of jumping in midfield drills to stay fast and agile, and it paid off in games. Queener had two goals and five assists last year, in which the Great Danes advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals only to lose, 12-11 in overtime to Cornell.
Marr's presentation included film from practice to illustrate the drills that underpin those seemingly spontaneous fast-break goals. To emphasize north-south movement on the field, Albany regularly runs two- and three-man breakouts and Marr's personal favorite, the Jailbreak (looks sort of like a stack to this women's lacrosse player).
"Where there is a ground ball in your zone, you need to have an outlet on either side," said Marr. "Syracuse has been making a living this way for years. Guys have to be in position."
Besides practice film, Marr's presentation included games from the early 1990s through last year's quarterfinal loss to Cornell, a terrific example of a fast-paced, high-offense lacrosse game. I covered that game, and it was the best lacrosse I'd seen in six years. Still, I was suprised that Marr (and Queener) could watch the game with any sort of professional detachment. Those guys were wrecked after that loss, on John Glynn's goal in the final seconds of overtime. But even though the result wasn't what he'd hoped, you could tell that Marr loved that quarterfinal. It had 23 goals on 80 shots.
"This game was terrific end-to-end action, two teams playing the game the way it's meant to be played," said Marr. "There could have been a shot clock in that game, and it wouldn't have mattered."
So the presentation was set to wind down on the game winner from the Albany-Cornell game. The Big Red's Max Seibald strips the Great Danes' Tyler Endres and Eric Pittard dishes it to Glynn on the crease...and the screen fades to black. Then the words "GOOD LUCK IN 2008" appeared in gold.
"No way I'm showing that one. It hurts too much," said Marr.
Albany's season starts its 2008 season at Johns Hopkins on Saturday Feb. 23. Getting excited yet?
-Clare Lochary
Friday, Jan. 18, 10:25 p.m.
Judging by the enthusiasm of the audience, which included a standing-ovation welcome and long lines of autograph seekers after his presentation, you would think that Mike Eruzione and his Olympic teammates had won the gold medal last week. In truth, many in the audience of approximately 2,000 that gathered for his 40-minute keynote address on Friday evening may not even have been born when he scored the winning goal against the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York.
Eruzione was the only member of that fabled
"People love to relive the moment," said Eruzione. "Everybody has a story to tell me about where they were or what they were doing when we won the gold. I don't mind, especially when you consider the alternative."
When he's not on the road, Eruzione also serves as an athletics development officer for his alma mater,
"You have to be willing to change and adapt," he said. "When you're not successful in what you're doing, you've got to find a new way. Check your ego at the door."
Eruzione also encouraged the audience to always look for the silver lining. "When things don't go well, find a little something good that you can still walk away with to make yourself feel good. Turn a negative into a positive and build off of it."
- Paul Ohanian
Friday, Jan. 18, 9:43 p.m.
It's not often these days that Mike Pressler is the opening act. But as the thirty- and forty-somethings here breathlessly awaited keynote speaker Mike Eruzione of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team (more on that from Paul Ohanian soon), Pressler spoke and held a Q&A session called "Lessons Learned." Hoarse from his first New England Patriots game, the former Duke and current Bryant men's lacrosse coach was as vehement as ever in delivering his story of adversity stemming from the infamous Duke lacrosse scandal.
Pressler was again the recipient of a standing ovation, as he was when he addressed the convention in 2007. Here are some notes and quotes from his presentation.
- On believing Duke's team captains when they said no crime occurred at the infamous March 13, 2006 team party: "When you shake a man's hand, you accept his word."
- On the way his former players responded - and the way Duke University leadership responded - to the events of the last two years: "Clearly, adversity doesn't build character. Adversity reveals it." Added Pressler, "We refused to lash out. We refused to lower ourselves to that level, and we kept our honor...Leadership is when the needs of a few outweigh the needs of many."
- Asked what he wants his Duke legacy to be, Pressler cited the team's 100-percent graduation rate in his tenure and that no player left after 2006. "Despite all the scrutiny, harassment and media pressure, nobody was leaving. They said they would finish what they were starting. As a coach, I've never had a prouder moment."
- On the immediate aftermath of his being forced to resign in 2006: "The summer of 2006 was the worst. I applied to three different universities and I couldn't even get an interview."
- On being in the Duke locker room following the team's loss, under new head coach John Danowski, to Johns Hopkins in the 2007 NCAA Division I championship game: "Unbridled emotion...I told them the roles had been reversed. They had become the teacher."
- On bowling again (Pressler found out about the party and allegations during a bowling outing with his family): "My daughter Maggie said, 'OK, if you promise us one thing. Please, leave your cell phone at home.'"
- On trusting authorities after the revealed abuses of the Duke lacrosse case: "I grew up as a man who trusts the police and trusts public officials. I'm going to be weary before I trust again."
- On developing relationships with his players: "Ya' gotta keep trustin.' You can't get trust without first giving it."
- On racial stereotypes of lacrosse: "I've coached players white, black, pink - a player's a player. I don't see things in color. I never have."
- On the perceived small-time nature of coaching now in Division II (Bryant is in the process of reclassifying to Division I): "On my flight here, I sat next to two ladies who coach lacrosse, and they agreed, if you do it the right way, it's not about the limelight. It's not about the Roman numeral. If you do it right, it's always about the players."
- Matt DaSilva
Friday, Jan. 18, 4:50 p.m.
The US Lacrosse Convention has always been known for its social scene. This year the social scene takes on a feel-good element.
Coaches For Collin, a fundraiser to benefit Collin Zwickert, the son of
Collin was 100 percent healthy up until the time of his delivery, but became stuck and suffered severe brain damage. Now 15 months old, Collin requires constant care and the Coaches For Collin benefit was put together by
Since information about Collin was first distributed, offers of help have come pouring in.
"It's breathtaking to know how the word has spread so fast," said Zwickert. "People from Germany associated with US Lacrosse, California, various Division I, II and III programs, high school, youth, officials...every facet of the sport. It's really hard to talk about it without getting choked up."
More information about the benefit is available here.
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to United Cerebal Palsy of
- Brian Logue
Friday, Jan. 18, 4:26 p.m.
Talk about a long distance commute.
Bob Vlahakis, perhaps best know in lacrosse circles for starting the highly-popular Face-Off Yearbook, will be doing some double duty this spring. Vlahakis, who had two sons that played college lacrosse, began coaching girls' lacrosse about five years ago.
Last season he led the
Vlahakis will head to
Vlahakis will spend a month living in a one-bedroom apartment in
Happy flying.
- Brian Logue
Friday, Jan. 18, 1:55 p.m.
Overheard at the
"This is overwhelming." - Division III coach and first-time convention attendee, upon seeing the Grand Hall, filled with a scant few hundred early morning attendees. More than 5,000 people are expected to attend the USL 2008 National Convention.
"Coach 1: Didn't you give up caffeine for your New Year's Resolution?
Coach 2 [menacingly, clutching a large Dunkin' Donuts cup]: I'm changing my New Year's Resolution to a Martin Luther King Day Resolution, OK?" - two coaches at 8:30am before the Coaches Education Program
"It's a great game and the kids just love it. And the camaraderie between the coaches in our state is like nothing I've ever seen." - a girls' high school coach from
"I go on night work at the plant from the beginning of March to the end of April so I can make practices." - a boys' youth coach from southeastern
- Clare Lochary
Friday, Jan. 18, 1:43 p.m.
There's a cold, grey rain falling in
The convention's first big event was this morning's Coaching Education Program (Level 1). Tickets to this event were harder to come by than ones to the Police Reunion Tour (the top-grossing tour of 2007 -- way to hold off Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus, guys!) and sold out well in advance of the convention. The CEP is the only standardized program for educating lacrosse coaches, and is therefore an essential tool for spreading the game efficiently and effectively. The program has a classroom component and a live field demonstration.
Inside the classroom, the CEP has a first-day-of-kindergarten quality: everyone's wearing nametags and primary colors (team polos and jackets, the de rigueur uniform for USL convention attendees), and is fidgeting a little bit. The clinicians cover everything from the theoretical (your philosophy of coaching) to the concrete (how to give a youth team bathroom breaks without bringing practice to a screeching halt).
Abby
- Clare Lochary
Friday, Jan. 18, 10:33 a.m.
Quick note: the entrance to the Grand Hall fo the Pennsylvania Convention Center features a large spread by adidas, the convention's presenting sponsor, with John Grant Jr. as its centerpiece. The manufacturer, whose lacrosse line debuted in fall 2007, has landed the game's best current player to promote it. In 2007, Grant became the first player to win MVP awards in both the National Lacrosse League (as a member of the Rochester Knighthawks) and Major League Lacrosse (Rochester Rattlers) in the same year.
Not a bad debut for adidas.
- Matt DaSilva
Friday, Jan. 18, 10:15 a.m.
I remember my first US Lacrosse National Convention. I was two weeks into my now three-year tenure (yikes!) with Lacrosse Magazine, the organization's flagship publication, when executive director Steve Stenersen approached me and asked, "So,
Real smooth, rook.
Honestly, there's no other event that brings together all constituents of lacrosse - be they of the men's, women's, high school, pro, youth or international game - in one setting like this.
Last night, I met a guy named Travis from Australia, who played for the U-19 team in 2003, then two seasons at Division III Nazareth ("Naz") and then back in the homeland after, he admitted, he ran out of money. But he's here on a stipend in hopes of beefing up his resume to land a coaching job with
I also spoke with Scott Biron, among others, who has been instrumental in the development of US Lacrosse's Coaches Education Program. Biron was also instrumental in helping special events director Sarah Oglesby secure
For the uninitiated, Eruzione was the captain of the U.S. team that upset the then-communist Soviet Union en route to a gold medal at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. - the inspiration for the movie, "Miracle," that has become an essential component of many a pre-game locker room gathering.
Eruzione will address the lacrosse crowd - over 3,000 people had pre-registered for the event, with as many as 1,000 walk-ups expected - tonight at 7 p.m., followed by an autograph session. One high school coach told me last night that a more than a few co-workers bribed her with coffee and breakfast yesterday in hopes that she would secure some signed artifact, a testament to the buzz that follows Eruzione here.
Prior to Eruzione, former Duke and current Bryant men's lacrosse coach Mike Pressler will be speaking in a session entitled, "Lessons Learned." It leads me to believe that this event will not be devoid of discussion of the injustices of the Duke lacrosse case, a landmark event for the sport, for better or worse.
- Matt DaSilva
Saturday, Jan. 19, 2:39 p.m.
Want to know what it takes to be an elite athlete? Look no further than the
Every ground ball was contested, every shot on goalies Amy Altig and Devon Wills was ripped and on one play, Jess Roguski and Quinn Carney literally ran themselves off of the artificial surface onto the concrete floor of the convention center exhibit hall. The competitive juices were clearly flowing.
Speaking of competition, a constant theme through the convention has been how insane the college recruiting process has become.
"The girls are freaking out," he said. "They don't know what to do."
A former standout Division III attackman is now coaching jayvee lacrosse at the high school level. He said, "I love it. I don't have to deal with any of that recruiting mess. It's more pure."
Saturday, Jan. 19, 1:11 p.m.
Before his presentation on Developing the Complete Attackman, Duke coach John Danowski was buzzing around the Convention Center's main ballroom, high-fiving and hugging people. The man is nothing if not exuberant - even his PowerPoint presentation was liberally peppered with exclamation marks (Teaching all aspects of Attack Play! Demand that they work with both hands every day!).
Danowski vamped through some early technical difficulties with good humor before breaking down what he does to ready the Blue Devils for game day. While he's far from a tough guy, Danowski is still a demanding coach who expects his kids to strive for perfection every day. Not everyone is going to be perfect at everything, but everyone has to try. (For example, Duke's natural lefty Zack Greer hates going right. He still has to do it in every single practice.)
For offense, he recommends setting aside 10 minutes in every practice to focus exclusively on attack, and stresses the fundamentals. The best stick protection is to run as fast as you can, and the second best is to use your footwork to create separation between attacker and defender. One trick to teach a player to keep his free hand up under pressure is to have him keep a spare lacrosse ball clamped in his armpit during cradling and dodging drills. Simple, cheap, effective - something any coach can incorporate into his repertoire.
About 1,000 coaches, mostly from the youth and high school level, attended Danowski's presentation. The big man assured them he's not too far removed from where they are.
"I'm the same schmucky guy who went 8-7 with the East Meadow Middle School JV," said the modest Danowski.
Saturday, Jan. 19, 10:32 p.m.
You can call University of Albany head coach Scott Marr the Steven Spielberg of the US Lacrosse Convention. His presentation on fast-break offense had the higest production values of any I've seen at the convention. It even had a twist ending, which I'll get to later. Marr opened with a tribute to his coaching mentors (some stills of Petro and Zimmerman with hilariously out-of-date haircuts and a clip of Maryland's Dick Edell flooring a sportscaster with his typical bluntness) before focusing on the topic at hand.
Anyone who has grown weary of the controlled, pass-heavy Princeton offense will love to watch the Great Danes' attack. Marr emphasizes driving towards the goal at all times, from all positions. To wit, Albany's former goaltender Brent Queener was in attendence at the session. Queener made a habit of jumping in midfield drills to stay fast and agile, and it paid off in games. Queener had two goals and five assists last year, in which the Great Danes advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals only to lose, 12-11 in overtime to Cornell.
Marr's presentation included film from practice to illustrate the drills that underpin those seemingly spontaneous fast-break goals. To emphasize north-south movement on the field, Albany regularly runs two- and three-man breakouts and Marr's personal favorite, the Jailbreak (looks sort of like a stack to this women's lacrosse player).
"Where there is a ground ball in your zone, you need to have an outlet on either side," said Marr. "Syracuse has been making a living this way for years. Guys have to be in position."
Besides practice film, Marr's presentation included games from the early 1990s through last year's quarterfinal loss to Cornell, a terrific example of a fast-paced, high-offense lacrosse game. I covered that game, and it was the best lacrosse I'd seen in six years. Still, I was suprised that Marr (and Queener) could watch the game with any sort of professional detachment. Those guys were wrecked after that loss, on John Glynn's goal in the final seconds of overtime. But even though the result wasn't what he'd hoped, you could tell that Marr loved that quarterfinal. It had 23 goals on 80 shots.
"This game was terrific end-to-end action, two teams playing the game the way it's meant to be played," said Marr. "There could have been a shot clock in that game, and it wouldn't have mattered."
So the presentation was set to wind down on the game winner from the Albany-Cornell game. The Big Red's Max Seibald strips the Great Danes' Tyler Endres and Eric Pittard dishes it to Glynn on the crease...and the screen fades to black. Then the words "GOOD LUCK IN 2008" appeared in gold.
"No way I'm showing that one. It hurts too much," said Marr.
Albany's season starts its 2008 season at Johns Hopkins on Saturday Feb. 23. Getting excited yet?
-Clare Lochary
Judging by the enthusiasm of the audience, which included a standing-ovation welcome and long lines of autograph seekers after his presentation, you would think that Mike Eruzione and his Olympic teammates had won the gold medal last week. In truth, many in the audience of approximately 2,000 that gathered for his 40-minute keynote address on Friday evening may not even have been born when he scored the winning goal against the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York.
Eruzione was the only member of that fabled
"People love to relive the moment," said Eruzione. "Everybody has a story to tell me about where they were or what they were doing when we won the gold. I don't mind, especially when you consider the alternative."
When he's not on the road, Eruzione also serves as an athletics development officer for his alma mater,
"You have to be willing to change and adapt," he said. "When you're not successful in what you're doing, you've got to find a new way. Check your ego at the door."
Eruzione also encouraged the audience to always look for the silver lining. "When things don't go well, find a little something good that you can still walk away with to make yourself feel good. Turn a negative into a positive and build off of it."
- Paul Ohanian
It's not often these days that Mike Pressler is the opening act. But as the thirty- and forty-somethings here breathlessly awaited keynote speaker Mike Eruzione of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team (more on that from Paul Ohanian soon), Pressler spoke and held a Q&A session called "Lessons Learned." Hoarse from his first New England Patriots game, the former Duke and current Bryant men's lacrosse coach was as vehement as ever in delivering his story of adversity stemming from the infamous Duke lacrosse scandal.
Pressler was again the recipient of a standing ovation, as he was when he addressed the convention in 2007. Here are some notes and quotes from his presentation.
- On believing Duke's team captains when they said no crime occurred at the infamous March 13, 2006 team party: "When you shake a man's hand, you accept his word."
- On the way his former players responded - and the way Duke University leadership responded - to the events of the last two years: "Clearly, adversity doesn't build character. Adversity reveals it." Added Pressler, "We refused to lash out. We refused to lower ourselves to that level, and we kept our honor...Leadership is when the needs of a few outweigh the needs of many."
- Asked what he wants his Duke legacy to be, Pressler cited the team's 100-percent graduation rate in his tenure and that no player left after 2006. "Despite all the scrutiny, harassment and media pressure, nobody was leaving. They said they would finish what they were starting. As a coach, I've never had a prouder moment."
- On the immediate aftermath of his being forced to resign in 2006: "The summer of 2006 was the worst. I applied to three different universities and I couldn't even get an interview."
- On being in the Duke locker room following the team's loss, under new head coach John Danowski, to Johns Hopkins in the 2007 NCAA Division I championship game: "Unbridled emotion...I told them the roles had been reversed. They had become the teacher."
- On bowling again (Pressler found out about the party and allegations during a bowling outing with his family): "My daughter Maggie said, 'OK, if you promise us one thing. Please, leave your cell phone at home.'"
- On trusting authorities after the revealed abuses of the Duke lacrosse case: "I grew up as a man who trusts the police and trusts public officials. I'm going to be weary before I trust again."
- On developing relationships with his players: "Ya' gotta keep trustin.' You can't get trust without first giving it."
- On racial stereotypes of lacrosse: "I've coached players white, black, pink - a player's a player. I don't see things in color. I never have."
- On the perceived small-time nature of coaching now in Division II (Bryant is in the process of reclassifying to Division I): "On my flight here, I sat next to two ladies who coach lacrosse, and they agreed, if you do it the right way, it's not about the limelight. It's not about the Roman numeral. If you do it right, it's always about the players."
- Matt DaSilva
Friday, Jan. 18, 4:50 p.m.
The US Lacrosse Convention has always been known for its social scene. This year the social scene takes on a feel-good element.
Coaches For Collin, a fundraiser to benefit Collin Zwickert, the son of
Collin was 100 percent healthy up until the time of his delivery, but became stuck and suffered severe brain damage. Now 15 months old, Collin requires constant care and the Coaches For Collin benefit was put together by
Since information about Collin was first distributed, offers of help have come pouring in.
"It's breathtaking to know how the word has spread so fast," said Zwickert. "People from Germany associated with US Lacrosse, California, various Division I, II and III programs, high school, youth, officials...every facet of the sport. It's really hard to talk about it without getting choked up."
More information about the benefit is available here.
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to United Cerebal Palsy of
- Brian Logue
Friday, Jan. 18, 4:26 p.m.
Talk about a long distance commute.
Bob Vlahakis, perhaps best know in lacrosse circles for starting the highly-popular Face-Off Yearbook, will be doing some double duty this spring. Vlahakis, who had two sons that played college lacrosse, began coaching girls' lacrosse about five years ago.
Last season he led the
Vlahakis will head to
Vlahakis will spend a month living in a one-bedroom apartment in
Happy flying.
- Brian Logue
Friday, Jan. 18, 1:55 p.m.
Overheard at the
"This is overwhelming." - Division III coach and first-time convention attendee, upon seeing the Grand Hall, filled with a scant few hundred early morning attendees. More than 5,000 people are expected to attend the USL 2008 National Convention.
"Coach 1: Didn't you give up caffeine for your New Year's Resolution?
Coach 2 [menacingly, clutching a large Dunkin' Donuts cup]: I'm changing my New Year's Resolution to a Martin Luther King Day Resolution, OK?" - two coaches at 8:30am before the Coaches Education Program
"It's a great game and the kids just love it. And the camaraderie between the coaches in our state is like nothing I've ever seen." - a girls' high school coach from
"I go on night work at the plant from the beginning of March to the end of April so I can make practices." - a boys' youth coach from southeastern
- Clare Lochary
Friday, Jan. 18, 1:43 p.m.
There's a cold, grey rain falling in
The convention's first big event was this morning's Coaching Education Program (Level 1). Tickets to this event were harder to come by than ones to the Police Reunion Tour (the top-grossing tour of 2007 -- way to hold off Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus, guys!) and sold out well in advance of the convention. The CEP is the only standardized program for educating lacrosse coaches, and is therefore an essential tool for spreading the game efficiently and effectively. The program has a classroom component and a live field demonstration.
Inside the classroom, the CEP has a first-day-of-kindergarten quality: everyone's wearing nametags and primary colors (team polos and jackets, the de rigueur uniform for USL convention attendees), and is fidgeting a little bit. The clinicians cover everything from the theoretical (your philosophy of coaching) to the concrete (how to give a youth team bathroom breaks without bringing practice to a screeching halt).
Abby
- Clare Lochary
Friday, Jan. 18, 10:33 a.m.
Quick note: the entrance to the Grand Hall fo the Pennsylvania Convention Center features a large spread by adidas, the convention's presenting sponsor, with John Grant Jr. as its centerpiece. The manufacturer, whose lacrosse line debuted in fall 2007, has landed the game's best current player to promote it. In 2007, Grant became the first player to win MVP awards in both the National Lacrosse League (as a member of the Rochester Knighthawks) and Major League Lacrosse (Rochester Rattlers) in the same year.
Not a bad debut for adidas.
- Matt DaSilva
Friday, Jan. 18, 10:15 a.m.
I remember my first US Lacrosse National Convention. I was two weeks into my now three-year tenure (yikes!) with Lacrosse Magazine, the organization's flagship publication, when executive director Steve Stenersen approached me and asked, "So,
Real smooth, rook.
Honestly, there's no other event that brings together all constituents of lacrosse - be they of the men's, women's, high school, pro, youth or international game - in one setting like this.
Last night, I met a guy named Travis from Australia, who played for the U-19 team in 2003, then two seasons at Division III Nazareth ("Naz") and then back in the homeland after, he admitted, he ran out of money. But he's here on a stipend in hopes of beefing up his resume to land a coaching job with
I also spoke with Scott Biron, among others, who has been instrumental in the development of US Lacrosse's Coaches Education Program. Biron was also instrumental in helping special events director Sarah Oglesby secure
For the uninitiated, Eruzione was the captain of the U.S. team that upset the then-communist Soviet Union en route to a gold medal at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. - the inspiration for the movie, "Miracle," that has become an essential component of many a pre-game locker room gathering.
Eruzione will address the lacrosse crowd - over 3,000 people had pre-registered for the event, with as many as 1,000 walk-ups expected - tonight at 7 p.m., followed by an autograph session. One high school coach told me last night that a more than a few co-workers bribed her with coffee and breakfast yesterday in hopes that she would secure some signed artifact, a testament to the buzz that follows Eruzione here.
Prior to Eruzione, former Duke and current Bryant men's lacrosse coach Mike Pressler will be speaking in a session entitled, "Lessons Learned." It leads me to believe that this event will not be devoid of discussion of the injustices of the Duke lacrosse case, a landmark event for the sport, for better or worse.
- Matt DaSilva
Saturday, Jan. 19, 2:39 p.m.
Want to know what it takes to be an elite athlete? Look no further than the
Every ground ball was contested, every shot on goalies Amy Altig and Devon Wills was ripped and on one play, Jess Roguski and Quinn Carney literally ran themselves off of the artificial surface onto the concrete floor of the convention center exhibit hall. The competitive juices were clearly flowing.
Speaking of competition, a constant theme through the convention has been how insane the college recruiting process has become.
"The girls are freaking out," he said. "They don't know what to do."
A former standout Division III attackman is now coaching jayvee lacrosse at the high school level. He said, "I love it. I don't have to deal with any of that recruiting mess. It's more pure."
Saturday, Jan. 19, 1:11 p.m.
Before his presentation on Developing the Complete Attackman, Duke coach John Danowski was buzzing around the Convention Center's main ballroom, high-fiving and hugging people. The man is nothing if not exuberant - even his PowerPoint presentation was liberally peppered with exclamation marks (Teaching all aspects of Attack Play! Demand that they work with both hands every day!).
Danowski vamped through some early technical difficulties with good humor before breaking down what he does to ready the Blue Devils for game day. While he's far from a tough guy, Danowski is still a demanding coach who expects his kids to strive for perfection every day. Not everyone is going to be perfect at everything, but everyone has to try. (For example, Duke's natural lefty Zack Greer hates going right. He still has to do it in every single practice.)
For offense, he recommends setting aside 10 minutes in every practice to focus exclusively on attack, and stresses the fundamentals. The best stick protection is to run as fast as you can, and the second best is to use your footwork to create separation between attacker and defender. One trick to teach a player to keep his free hand up under pressure is to have him keep a spare lacrosse ball clamped in his armpit during cradling and dodging drills. Simple, cheap, effective - something any coach can incorporate into his repertoire.
About 1,000 coaches, mostly from the youth and high school level, attended Danowski's presentation. The big man assured them he's not too far removed from where they are.
"I'm the same schmucky guy who went 8-7 with the East Meadow Middle School JV," said the modest Danowski.
Saturday, Jan. 19, 10:32 p.m.
You can call University of Albany head coach Scott Marr the Steven Spielberg of the US Lacrosse Convention. His presentation on fast-break offense had the higest production values of any I've seen at the convention. It even had a twist ending, which I'll get to later. Marr opened with a tribute to his coaching mentors (some stills of Petro and Zimmerman with hilariously out-of-date haircuts and a clip of Maryland's Dick Edell flooring a sportscaster with his typical bluntness) before focusing on the topic at hand.
Anyone who has grown weary of the controlled, pass-heavy Princeton offense will love to watch the Great Danes' attack. Marr emphasizes driving towards the goal at all times, from all positions. To wit, Albany's former goaltender Brent Queener was in attendence at the session. Queener made a habit of jumping in midfield drills to stay fast and agile, and it paid off in games. Queener had two goals and five assists last year, in which the Great Danes advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals only to lose, 12-11 in overtime to Cornell.
Marr's presentation included film from practice to illustrate the drills that underpin those seemingly spontaneous fast-break goals. To emphasize north-south movement on the field, Albany regularly runs two- and three-man breakouts and Marr's personal favorite, the Jailbreak (looks sort of like a stack to this women's lacrosse player).
"Where there is a ground ball in your zone, you need to have an outlet on either side," said Marr. "Syracuse has been making a living this way for years. Guys have to be in position."
Besides practice film, Marr's presentation included games from the early 1990s through last year's quarterfinal loss to Cornell, a terrific example of a fast-paced, high-offense lacrosse game. I covered that game, and it was the best lacrosse I'd seen in six years. Still, I was suprised that Marr (and Queener) could watch the game with any sort of professional detachment. Those guys were wrecked after that loss, on John Glynn's goal in the final seconds of overtime. But even though the result wasn't what he'd hoped, you could tell that Marr loved that quarterfinal. It had 23 goals on 80 shots.
"This game was terrific end-to-end action, two teams playing the game the way it's meant to be played," said Marr. "There could have been a shot clock in that game, and it wouldn't have mattered."
So the presentation was set to wind down on the game winner from the Albany-Cornell game. The Big Red's Max Seibald strips the Great Danes' Tyler Endres and Eric Pittard dishes it to Glynn on the crease...and the screen fades to black. Then the words "GOOD LUCK IN 2008" appeared in gold.
"No way I'm showing that one. It hurts too much," said Marr.
Albany's season starts its 2008 season at Johns Hopkins on Saturday Feb. 23. Getting excited yet?
-Clare Lochary
Friday, Jan. 18, 10:25 p.m.
Judging by the enthusiasm of the audience, which included a standing-ovation welcome and long lines of autograph seekers after his presentation, you would think that Mike Eruzione and his Olympic teammates had won the gold medal last week. In tr