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Lacrosse (W)

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by Kathleen Nelson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
April 28, 2010

Katie Heidinger can get into a batter's head. A pitcher at Webster Groves, Heidinger relies on outthinking as much as overpowering the opposition. But it's spring, and the head games of softball can wait. She's free to run, catch, toss and score on the lacrosse field. 

"I love the intensity of lacrosse," said Heidinger, who leads the Statesmen with 38 goals and 17 assists. "With softball, so much is mental, but with this, there's so much movement and something's always happening." 

Heidinger is one of thousands of girls captivated by lacrosse. Locally and nationally, the sport is on the rise at the youth, high school and college levels, particularly for girls. Lacrosse attracted 9,579 new participants in 2008-09, according to US Lacrosse. Since 2002, total participation at all levels has increased to 568,021 from 288,104.



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by Tom Flanagan
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
April 22, 2010

It was like the power went out in the movie theatre just before the incredible ending. 

For several years, youth lacrosse players from Hudson practiced and played in the Nashoba Youth Lacrosse League, only to see their organized lacrosse days come to an end when high school began.

But thanks to some dedicated parents and the generosity of town residents and businesses, Hudson High is playing its first seasons of boys' and girls' varsity lacrosse. 



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by Bill Utterback 
Beaver County Times
April 17, 2010

The youngster arrived on a bicycle and, for a few moments, chased a basketball around the outdoor courts next to Ambridge Area High School. Quickly, another game -- played with sticks and helmets -- seized his attention.

Curious, he drifted toward boys playing vigorously on an adjacent grass lot. He peered through the fence, but wanted to get closer. He passed through the gate and stood silently on the sideline as the boys -- with their sticks clashing, their bodies colliding -- battled for possession of a small, white ball.

"Excuse me," the youngster asked. "What sport are they playing?"

Lacrosse, thriving in many pockets of western Pennsylvania, is introducing itself to Beaver County and Moon Township.



by Margaret Amalfitano
Fayette county News
April 13, 2010

FAYETTE, GA - "Move the ball . . . Move the ball!" Have you heard this cry? Have you seen boys and girls cradling sticks as they gather with their friends? Have you heard the "thump, thump, thump," of a ball against a neighbor's rebounder? If so, it could only mean one thing - Lacrosse Season!

Spring lacrosse is in full swing here in Peachtree City and around the nation. Don't know much about the sport? Well, you are not alone. What was once a niche sport in New England and the Middle Atlantic is now one of the fastest growing sports in the Southeast and the United States. US Lacrosse chapters have been established in 40 states and more than 560,000 people played on organized teams in 2009 compared to just over 250,000 in 2001.

But what is lacrosse? 




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by Bo McFall
NBC 14
April 11, 2010

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - It's one of the fastest growing sports in the Tri-State.

The Evansville Youth Lacrosse League has doubled in size over the past two years, and isn't showing any signs of slowing down soon.

Just a couple of years ago, the league only held games at the Goebel Soccer Complex, but now they play on six different fields throughout the area, and this year the league's varsity club teams have been accepted into the Indiana High School Lacrosse Association, which means the teams will be able to compete for a state title on Memorial Day weekend up in Indianapolis.



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by Gary Curreri
Sun Sentinel
March 24, 2010

Brian and Don Clinton subscribe to the oft-quoted "Field of Dreams" movie line, saying, "If you build it, they will come."

The Clintons' objective has been to build a solid foundation for youth lacrosse in South Florida. To that end, they started the Florida Youth Lacrosse Foundation in 2001 as a way to raise funds to launch and promote programs. The Clintons also founded the South Florida Youth Lacrosse League and the Boca Jets youth lacrosse program.

"To date, we have contributed more than $100,000 worth of equipment to new start-up programs," said Brian Clinton, 54, who also serves as president of the Boca Jets football program.





Thumbnail image for AED_lax.jpgby Staff
Marblehead Reporter
February 02, 2010

MARBLEHEAD, MA -- DS Designs, Energy Within and HeartStrings Jewelry have teamed up to promote a lifestyle for a healthy heart during the month of February.

Owner of Heartstrings Susan Garofalo designs and creates unique sterling silver jewelry. All of the proceeds from her sales go to purchase automated external defibrillators for the towns where her jewelry is sold.

DS Designs in Marblehead has been carrying Garofalo's jewelry for two years, and as a result of sales, Garofalo has been able to donate two defibrillators to the town, one to the Marblehead High School Athletic Department and one to the Marblehead Community Center. Funds are currently being raised to purchase an AED for Marblehead Youth Lacrosse and other youth sports teams that play at Hopkins Field behind the Village School.

READ MORE...



Thumbnail image for psu_wlax.jpgby Margaret McAvoy
Penn State Collegian Staff Writer
February 10, 2010

Maybe there is something in the water or maybe the state just breeds the talent.

In Maryland, girls start playing lacrosse when they are barely big enough to carry their own sticks, and the boys are so small they have trouble supporting the helmet resting on their shoulders.

And those Maryland-bred players have found their way to Penn State.

Fourteen of the 29 players on the Penn State women's lacrosse team are from the state of Maryland, and coach Suzanne Isidor is, too.

READ MORE...



Thumbnail image for westview_youthlax.jpgby Joe Fitzgibbon
The Oregonian
January 21, 2010

BEAVERTON -- As the registration deadline for youth lacrosse approaches on Jan. 31, dozens of Beaverton families aren't sure where their kids will be playing.

"Right now, we've got two private fields in place, but we'd prefer to use those with Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District," said Andrew Klumpp, president of Westview Youth Lacrosse. "I hope we can get this resolved before the season begins."

For the past eight years, Beaverton Youth Lacrosse has run a single, citywide league, attracting more than 700 elementary and middle school participants within the Beaverton School District boundaries.

READ MORE...



Thumbnail image for MLL_logo.jpgOur Sports Central
Boston, MA
February 9, 2010

Major League Lacrosse announced today that they are joining First Lady, Michelle Obama in her efforts to end childhood obesity.

"We are very excited to be working with the First Lady, the White House, our existing league partners such as New Balance, and other sports leagues on such an important cause" said MLL Commissioner David Gross. "The First Lady is committed to ending childhood obesity over the next 18 years and as a league we are committed to supporting her efforts and working with her team to make this goal a reality.


In the last 30 years, the percentage of children who are obese has doubled and the percentage of obese adults has tripled, increasing the number of years that they are exposed to the health risks of obesity including Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and several major cancers. Today, nearly one third of all children in America are now obese or overweight.

READ MORE...



Thumbnail image for ngwsd_logo.jpgC.W. Post News
February 2, 2010

BROOKVILLE, N.Y - C.W Post in co-sponsorship with C.W Post Student - Activities, the East Coast Conference, and Long Island Women's Institute is proudly celebrating the 24th Annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day on Tuesday Feb. 2 in the Hillwood Commons Lecture Hall from 6-7 PM.

Special guest speakers will include Assistant Commissioner of the Northeast Conference Joyce Bell, Associate Director of Athletics at Columbia University Jacqueline Blackett, Director of Athletics at St. Francis College Irma Garcia, Director of Women's Basketball Ops at Rutgers University Michelle Edwards, along with Lisa White Head Athletic Trainer for The New York Liberty.

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Thumbnail image for resized_knee.jpgby Tina Szybisty
Ann Arbor Health News - Examiner.com
February 2, 2010

ACL stands for Anterior Cruciate Ligament and it links the femur (large bone in upper leg) to the tibia (bones in lower leg) by running crosswise inside the center of the knee joint. The ACL is one of four ligaments that help stabilize knee movement.

As recently reported on WXYZ news, these types of injuries are on the rise in youth girls (as much as eight times more than males). They tend to be caused by pivoting movements and landing from a jump.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), "nearly 30,000 girls age 19 and younger suffered ACL injuries that required surgical repair in 2006." It's felt that girls are not equipped for the vigorous training that is often expected of them at this age because their bodies are building fat while boys are building muscle. This is due to the nature of their hormones; testosterone vs. estrogen. Girls bodies are building fat stores around the crucial, growing reproductive organs and her ligaments become more relaxed and therefore, more susceptible to injury.

It's also felt that a girl's wider pelvic structure causes a steeper angle on the connecting ligaments in this area.

READ MORE...



Thumbnail image for us_lacrosse_logo.jpglaxpower.com
Baltimore, MD
January 24, 2010

US Lacrosse, the national governing body for the sport, announced the addition of the Great Plains Lacrosse Association as US Lacrosse's sixty-third chapter. US Lacrosse has grown to 63 regional chapters in just 12 years since the organization's inception. The Great Plains chapter covers the greater Kansas City area and includes Kansas and Missouri.

READ MORE...



by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg and Kelly Evans 

Wall Street Journal

May 20, 2009

This weekend in Foxboro, Mass., more than 100,000 spectators are expected to pour into Gillette Stadium to see four schools -- Duke, Virginia, Cornell and Syracuse -- square off for the national championship of a sport that, if the numbers are correct, you'll be hearing a lot more about. That sport is lacrosse.

Until recently, lacrosse -- America's other stick and ball sport -- was rarely on TV and only its championship games generated much in the way of media coverage. It was mostly played on the East Coast, and it was often viewed as a game for private-school kids. Some of the game's most electrifying athletes -- Gary and Paul Gait; Casey, Ryan and Michael Powell -- were little known outside core followers. The sole exception may be Jim Brown, the former Cleveland Browns running back who played lacrosse at Syracuse University.

"Lacrosse has taken off because it combines the hitting of football, the speed of basketball, and requires the endurance of soccer," says Kyle Harrison, who led Johns Hopkins to a national championship in 2005 and who won that year's Tewaaraton Trophy as the country's best male player.

These days the sport is showing serious growth. Participation in high school lacrosse has about doubled this decade, to a total of 143,946 boys and girls playing on high school lacrosse teams in the 2007-08 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, which tracks participation by sport. In 2000-01, there were 74,225 high school lacrosse players.

READ MORE...



by Sue Shellenbarger

Wall Street Journal

May 19, 2009

Thumbnail image for baseball_bubble.jpgWe've posted before on injuries in youth sports. As summer teams start up, you'll be hearing more about one kind of injury in particular: Knee damage in girls.

Two professional groups, one of surgeons and the other of athletic trainers, are fielding an educational campaign on the prevalence of knee injuries among girls. Tears to the ACL, or the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee, are eight times more likely in girls than in boys, research shows. Doctors hypothesize that physiological differences between girls and boys, such as weaker hamstring muscles that reduce the stability of the knee joint, or estrogen that leads to weaker ligaments, are factors.

The educational campaign comes amid rising questions about the pressures on young athletes. Mark Hyman, author of a book on the topic, says he regrets having supported his son in pitching so long and hard in high-school baseball that he injured his arm, forcing surgery and a permanent setback. And recent research on 5,000 promising football players shows high-school and college injuries haunt pro players for years.

READ MORE...



by Todd Hambleton

Sun Media

April 20, 2009 

Thumbnail image for lacrosse_players.jpgWhere'd all the baseball home-openers go?

None to the east in Montreal, and none to the west in Ottawa anymore . . . so we'll settle for a spring home-opener on Cornwall Island.

There's something exciting about the start of a new season in the spring, and on Saturday night it wasn't really about "settling'' for lacrosse, but more about enjoying a sport in an excellent facility.

And, the home team, the junior B Celtics, got a win, over expansion Kahnawake, in what was the first of what will be dozens of lacrosse junior and senior, A and B home games this spring and summer.

I'll have to settle for writing about lacrosse this year. The two little guys are taking a year off from lacrosse -- they'll try football and baseball instead. (Lacrosse and soccer are out.)

But it came up in intermission conversation (between Slushies) on Saturday: we're probably going to miss playing and coaching the fastest game on two feet -- perhaps we already do. And we're probably going to get back into it down the road sometime.

Because it's just a great game.

READ MORE...



by Staff Editorial

Media General Communications Holdings

April 9, 2009

With Little League starting and other sports in full swing, we look forward to a full slate of athletic competition in the coming months.

The sound of bats hitting balls can be heard throughout Culpeper and the surrounding area these days, with high school baseball and softball teams enjoying successful seasons and local Little Leaguers making their way to the diamond.

While the Eastern View baseball and softball teams are both off to tremendous starts and battling for district championships, future high school players also have begun their seasons with a fantastic celebration.

Culpeper Little League recently marked its 35th anniversary with opening day festivities for baseball and softball, which proved to be an enjoyable experience despite rain. The Rappahannock Athletic Association also celebrated opening day last weekend. It marked the 30th year of youth baseball in Amissville.

But baseball and softball players aren't the only competitors out and about now that the weather is warming up (at least some days). Lacrosse, tennis track and field hockey are also in full swing.

And don't forget those youth soccer players who populate the fields at the county rec complex. They might learn a thing or two by stopping to watch the EVHS girls soccer team. The Cyclones are off to a 5-1 start and have won three of their four district contests.

READ MORE...



by Mike English

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TC Palm

February 20, 2008

Palm Beach County schools took Monday off to celebrate President's Day, but dozens of young lacrosse players turned up at Jupiter High School for lessons anyway.

The Jupiter High boys and girls lacrosse teams sponsored a one-day clinic at the idle campus for players from first through eighth grades.

The camp drew 18 girls and 38 boys, and on the boy's side most of them currently are enrolled in the JTAA or Palm Beach Gardens youth lacrosse programs.

"This was a great turnout for our first time," JHS boys coach Don Blumenthal said. "I would say three quarters of them have played in the JTAA. Only about seven or eight of them have never played before."

On the girls side, 18 young campers turned out, said JHS girls coach Sarah Burlingame.

"Only about half of the girls are involved in the JTAA program," Burlingame said.

For some, it was the first time they have touched a stick.

READ MORE... 



By Kelly Lyell

February 4th, 2008

lacrosse2.jpgThe Coloradoan

 Sarah Rudeen tried soccer, basketball and track and field growing up.

The Fossil Ridge High School senior was into volleyball the most, she said.  Until she discovered lacrosse in junior high school.

"I think we just saw an ad in the paper, and we just signed up and started playing," Rudeen, now a captain on the Fort Collins Havoc girls lacrosse team, said after an indoor practice Thursday night at Edge Sports Center. "We didn't know anything. We had to learn everything, because really it was a brand-new sport. No one had any experience."

Lacrosse actually is touted as the oldest sport in North America, having originated with Native Americans. But it's still relatively new in the West, and Rudeen and classmate Kate Gohari, the Havoc's other captain and also a Fossil Ridge High senior, said they routinely have to explain the sport. And not just in school but wherever they might be.

Read on...



"Your lacrosse stick should become part of your body!"

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Youth Lacrosse USA

To become proficient in passing and shooting, the player must be able to propel the ball from the stick with the wrist "snap." Many beginning players pass and shoot with an arm motion, or "push" the ball, which causes the ball to leave the stick on a low trajectory resulting in a low pass or shot. An excellent way to develop the wrist snap is to utilize the wall. Go to a cinderblock or brick wall and stand approximately 3 to 5 yards away. Any wall will work (no windows), but a smooth concrete surface at least 10 feet tall is the best.

You can and will observe daily improvement if proper technique is maintained. Increase the reps as wrists become stronger. Aim for as many reps as possible with desired form, however. This is a lefty-righty work out. Attempt to do as many reps as possible. Remember, your goal is to strengthen the wrists, to become proficient in releasing the ball with the snap of the wrists, to gain hand speed, and to develop a quick release.

Read on...


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