Lacrosse

by Mary Ellen Hare, newarkadvocate.com

When Dean Stambules came from Leesburg, Va., to Denison University four years ago, he was ready to play lacrosse for a leading Division III team and major in economics. Now he is graduating and headed to New York for an interview with a real estate investment firm.

He will take with him the memory of four teams of middle school recreation lacrosse players who credit him with changing their lives and a community grateful for his efforts.

The Denison senior received the 2012 Louis Kussmaul Friendship Award on April 18 at a luncheon co-sponsored by Denison and the Granville Area Chamber of Commerce. Seth Patton, DU's vice president for finance and management, and Maggie Barno, GACC executive director, presented Stambules with a certificate and a $300 check.

Read more at newarkadvocate.com

by Candace Hopkins, ynn.com

Lacrosse is popular in Central New York, but in some areas of the country the sport remains relatively unknown. For teams in those areas, it can be a struggle to find funding. But as our Candace Hopkins reports, local students are doing their part to help get other teams off the ground.

by Curtis Eichelberger, bloomberg.com

Men's lacrosse players were the biggest illicit drug users among athletes competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's 23 sanctioned sports, according to a survey by the governing body.

They led all other sports in the use of amphetamines, anabolic steroids, cocaine, marijuana and narcotics, according to the NCAA's quadrennial survey, which included 20,474 responses from athletes for the 2009 school year.

The athletes were asked to voluntarily fill out forms anonymously, then mail them in postage-paid envelopes to a company that scanned them and put the answers into a database. The report offered no comparison with drug use in either the general population or college population as a whole.

Read more at bloomberg.com

The sport is violent, with few rules, and defiantly true to its Native American roots. And each summer, a tournament is held to decide the champion of the game known in Choctaw as tolih.


By Baxter Holmes, Los Angeles Times

Bum, bum, bum, bum ...

As the Choctaw drummer settles into his cadence, nearly 100 men in blood-red shirts, shorts and bandannas huddle around their leader in a darkening high school parking lot beneath the golden glow of a floodlight.

Read more at latimes.com

By Dr. Richard D. Ginsburg, U.S. Lacrosse

Practice makes perfect. Much of our culture has been driven by this proverb for centuries. And to no surprise, this message courses strongly through the veins of youth sports and in the game of lacrosse. If our children practice the sport of lacrosse every day, they will likely improve their skills and become better players. Such a belief seems entirely logical. But, where do we draw the line? When does more practice make less sense? When does specializing exclusively in one sport from an early age become a risky investment? From another perspective, why shouldn't we simply commit our children to playing lacrosse exclusively on a year-round basis at a very early age so they can become experts by the time they need a college scholarship or at least a competitive advantage in the college admissions' process?

The former Army lacrosse captain, wounded in Iraq, asks us to remember the veterans

by Corey McLaughlin, LaxMagazine.com

Who is your favorite athlete?

The hardest worker on the team.

What's one thing you can't live without?
My family. I luckily get to spend a good deal of time at home and truly cannot live without my family.

Where did you go on your last vacation?
Vacation? What's that? With four young kids, sleep is a vacation and even that is rare.

What's one thing lacrosse really needs?
I really do not think that lacrosse needs anything. It is already an awesome sport, with great people playing it. What more do you need? As far a popularity of the sport goes...it's growing faster than any other. It really is the best sport out there, and people are really starting to recognize that.

Read more at laxmagazine.com

By Ed Pierce, Florida Today

Viera Suntree Lacrosse Club is bringing back its popular free off-season clinics for children.

From 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Viera Regional Park, students of all ages will receive hands-on instruction about how to play and basic lacrosse fundamentals at no cost.

Roger Welton, Viera Suntree Lacrosse Club president, said the growing popularity of the sport with children and parents in the area prompted the club to offer the free clinics.

"Teaching the game to children will leave them wanting to play it in high school and the parents love it as well," he said. "They find it fascinating and exciting and are taking more interest as it grows."
 

By Mark Weiner / The Post-Standard

In his 81 years, Onondaga Nation Faith keeper Oren Lyons has visited the White House in times of peace and crisis, meeting with both Republican and Democratic presidents dating to the 1970s.

But as a crowd gathered around him this morning on the South Lawn of the White House, Lyons was able to reflect on a history-making day for himself and the Onondaga Nation.

"I've been here many times with many presidents," Lyons said. "But it's the first time with a lacrosse stick."

By Greg Sleter, West Islip Patch
 


The future stars of West Islip lacrosse can be found running the fields of the Manetuck Elementary School/Udall Road Middle School complex over the next two weeks.

For the 25th consecutive year, the West Islip Boys Lacrosse Camp is being held under the watchful eye of Scott Craig, head coach of the high school's boys lacrosse team, his assistant coaches and players from the Suffolk County Class A Championship team.

By Donnie Webb, The Post Standard

Sean Boland made a mad dash to the Sunoco A-Plus market in the Village of Manlius to grab a 44-ounce Pepsi. Players were about to get a water break and Boland figured this was his best window to slip out before the scrimmage. He's the kind of lacrosse father that never misses a game. Up until this past season, he'd never missed a practice. So leaving the practice field at Fayetteville-Manlius High School almost seemed risky.

In the 10 minutes he went to quench his thirst, Boland's oldest son, sophomore Dan Cochran of Jamesville-DeWitt High School, dropped to the ground and died. Boland missed the miracle that followed, too.

A Manlius police car blocked the village's main intersection at Seneca and Fayette to allow a convoy of emergency vehicles to roll up the street toward the high school. Boland, who is a dispatcher for Rural Metro ambulance service, was snagged in the blockade coming out of the convenience store lot. He managed to say to himself, "I hope that's not Daniel."

By The Post Standard

The Corcoran varsity softball team and varsity and JV boys lacrosse teams that raised over $,1500 for the "More Than a Game Foundation". 

The foundation, run by Anthony Richmond, allows coaches, athletic directors and schools to choose where the money they raise is distributed: American Cancer Society, Upstate Golisano's Children's Hospital (both in Syracuse and Rochester) and Upstate Cancer Center.

Read more at syracuse.com

By Pat Spadafore, The Post Standard

The Section III Girls Lacrosse Exceptional Senior Game., held on Monday, June 13th at Marcellus Senior High School, raided $900 to benfit Joy Zimmerman. Joy was diagnosed in August 2010 with Metaplastic Carsinoma.

The Green team won 21-14 over the Blue team.

Scoring

Green: Perry 1-0, Barry 3-2, Algie 1-0, Nolan 2-0, Kenney 2-0, Reynolds 1-1, Jaquith 4-4, Bullock 0-2, Keegins 1-0, Farrugia 2-0, Caputo 3-1, Kiggins 1-0. Saves: Richardson - 9, Tess - 7.

Read more at syracuse.com

Donnie Webb, The Post Standard

A Jamesville-DeWitt High School lacrosse player was revived with CPR and a defibrillator after he was struck in the chest by a shot from another player on Wednesday.

The incident occurred at Fayetteville-Manlius High School during tryouts for a Section III team that will participate in a July event called the Upstate Risings.

Sophomore Dan Cochran, a member of the J-D junior varsity this past season, was in stable condition Wednesday night at University Hospital, according to a nursing supervisor.

Red Rams head coach Jamie Archer, whose team just won the Class B state lacrosse championship, said Cochran was joking around "like it never happened" when he called the hospital to check on his player.

"A big sigh of relief," Archer said. "He'll probably never know how close it came to a different outcome."

By Suzanne P. Cole, Star Magazine 

By Todd Jorgenson, Denton Record-Chronicle

By J.B. Cozens, Lewisboro Ledger 

When the John Jay boys lacrosse season kicks off on Saturday night at home against archrival Yorktown, the Huskers won't be the only opponent the John Jay community will be trying to defeat.

The other, more formidable, foe is ALS -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

By holding multiple events under the banner Lacrosse for A Cause, the John Jay lacrosse community hopes to build awareness about ALS and raise funds for Outreach ALS Foundation of Westchester, a local organization that provides financial and moral support to families suffering from the disease.

Read more at Lewisboroledger.com

By Adam Warner, laxpower.com

Jesse Wood easily recalls the days when his brother Nate would dominate their youth league lacrosse games. Of course, with Nate being the older, outgoing brother that he was, it doesn't surprise Jesse all that much when he looks back on those games they played in together.

"He was always the hot shot when we were younger," said Jesse, now a freshman at Mercy College. "He was definitely the bigger guy, and whenever a goal was needed, he would just win the face-off, bull his way down the field, and score."

 

Read more at laxpower.com

Families, neighbors, friends, acquaintances, local business owners and others in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley will come together the first weekend in April to generate awareness about ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) while raising money with the hope of finding treatments and a cure for this devastating and debilitating illness.

There will be two days of activities. A fund-raiser, Party for A Cause, will be held on Friday, April 1, at the Salem Golf Club in North Salem. On Saturday, April 2, there will be Lacrosse for A Cause, which will include a specialized lacrosse clinic followed by the highly anticipated kickoff game of the regular season between the John Jay and Yorktown boys lacrosse teams.