8th Grade Chiefs off to great start

The 2013 8th grade Chiefs Lacrosse team has sped to a fast 4-0 record through its second week of the lacrosse season.

After our initial win over Bridgewater in week 1, the team defeated Millburn on Saturday April 6 and then won both games on Sunday April 7 soundly defeating Hillsborough and then East Brunswick.

Great job fellas.  Keep up the great work!

– Coach B

Chiefs 2013 – Back at it again!

Here we go again – Chiefs season has commenced yet again.  This year will be my final year as a coach as I’m now with the 8th grade team.  Its been a long time and hoping this is the most successful season yet.  Got a great group this season.

We opened up last Saturday with a big 10-1 win over Bridgewater.   Scoring game from numerous Chiefs including some longpoles!  Full weekend ahead with a home game on Saturday 4/6 vs. Millburn and then two games on Sunday (Hillsborough and East Brunswick).  Hoping for great weather and great lax from my team!

 

Big Lacrosse Weekend – End of Winter and Start of Spring

Its that time of the year – the BEST TIME!

The Full Force Lacrosse winter team will play for its second Championship on Saturday night at ISP.  Exciting stuff!

Chiefs Lacrosse is also set to begin on Saturday with the first practice of the Spring season set for 2pm on the New Providence H.S. turf.

Time to get serious!!

NJ RIOT 2017

Big news on the horizon…..

NJ RIOT 2017 – check back here frequently for developing information and check the NJ RIOT page on Facebook

Coach B’s 27 hours at LaxCon 2013

Yet ANOTHER great time in Philadelphia at the annual US Lacrosse Convention.  I got into Philly mid-afternoon on Friday.  Last year my first task was to head directly to Pats for the obligatory cheese steak but having busted my butt this past year to drop over 50 pounds, I took a pass this year on the cheese steak and went for a huge salad in the Reading Terminal.  Not nearly the same but a surprisingly good salad!!

After satisfying my hunger and checking into my hotel I entered the Philadelphia Convention Center.

Since the coaching clinics were not slated to start for a few hours I immediately hit the convention floor to check out all the hot new gear, say hello to old friends and make some ones.  One of my first stops was to say hello to my buddies Joe and James at HeadWrapz. Their stuff ROCKS.  Best in in the business.  If your club or team is still sporting plain helmets, check out www.headwrapz.com and put in an order for your team.  I also appreciate all the introductions that Joe facilitates for me.  I got to say hello to Paul Rabil and Max Seibald at the HeadWrapz booth.   After admiring all the wicked HeadWrapz I headed over to say Hi to Michael Colleluori at the HEADstrong Foundation booth.  Mike is a great guy and the HEADstrong Foundation (headstrong foundation) is such a powerful force of fundraising for blood cancer research.

I then continued on and stopped by to see my boy Vinnie of The Art of Lax (www.theartoflax.com).  Hands down the best lacrosse artist there is.  Vinnie is also now doing artwork in other sports as well.  Years ago my town Rec team used one of Vinnie’s drawings on t-shirts for a very successful fundraiser. Vinnie has branched out in a big way and now has one of his iconic drawings on an iPhone case.  Get it while its hot!!  Moving on I went to meet with Dustin Dohm of Stylin’ Strings (www.stylinstrings.com).  Dustin and I had spoken previously and had been e-mailing for months so it was great to finally be able to meet him in person.  Dustin and his partners do some of the finest stringing and head dyeing I have ever seen.  They are true master stringers!  Dustin also gave me a sneak peek at a WICKED new lacrosse game for phones and tablets coming from Crosse Studios.  I was ready to head back to my hotel and immediately download it but it was only at that point that he told me it will be out in about 2 weeks. You can view the Crosse Studios press release here: Lacrosse Dodge Press Release

Visited some other booths where I was shown some pretty neat technology.  There is a really nice app for your lacrosse roster and stats at www.intangiblesoftware.com and available from the Apple App Store.  I spent some time with Brain Sentry (www.brainsentry.com) learning about their innovative helmet-mounted sensor that provides alerts when an athlete suffers a potentially dangerous impact.  Shouldn’t be too long before those things are on every player’s helmet!  I also loved the concept being promoted now by ReQRuitme (www.reqruitme.com).  ReQRuitme is a simple, fast, and affordable way for student-athletes to deliver their academic and athletic profiles to college coaches/recruiters using personal scannable QR codes!  Awesome stuff!  Another wicked cool app is from Rip Net Lacrosse (www.rip.net) which is player development app and social network for lacrosse players and which allows lax players to enter their stats and scoring,  and see how the compare with others.  Very cool stuff with tons of potential for assist in visualizing a player’s strengths, weaknesses and improvement opportunities.

I hit up the IMG Academy (IMG Lacrosse Academy) to chat with Ben about IMG’s lacrosse camps and programs and then spoke with Dave Jenkins of 3d Lacrosse (www.3dlacrosse.com) to get the low down on the variety of camps and programs offered by 3d Lacrosse.  Great stuff.  As the coach of 8th graders (and the father of one as well), I enjoyed speaking with the guys at the Lacrosse Recruits (“The Official Recruiting Tool of US Lacrosse”) booth and learning about their services (www.lacrosserecruits.com).  You guys will surely hear from me next year!!

I stopped at the OdorBalance (www.odorbalance.com) to say hello to Drew but we kept missing each other.  Any lacrosse player, coach or parent knows that sweaty lacrosse equipment reeks!!  Drew’s Odor Balance products work!  Trust me – my son’s pads, jerseys, and pinneys have gone from fetid, putrid, rancid, rank, malodorous to smelling almost new again.  The best part is that the OdorBalance line of products are long-lasting, hypoallergenic, eco-friendly and fragrance-free.  Highly recommended!

I was fortunate to be able to meet and chat with one of my favorite defenseman – Brett Hughes.  I always enjoyed watch Brett play when he was at UVA and as a pro.  Hardcore!  Brett also the co-founder of Lacrosse The Nations (www.lacrossethenations.com) which uses lacrosse as the conduit to achieve the mission of improving the lives of children in need across the globe.  The LTN program uses the lacrosse field as a platform to teach students valuable life skills and health education, while ultimately bringing joy to their lives.

Other cool things I saw included the Cradlebaby cradle practicing aid.  Hit them up at www.laxcb.com.  I also stopped at the Youth1.com booth to learn more about their Super Series National Lacrosse Combine events.  That promises to be an awesome opportunity for lacrosse players.  More info at: www.superseriesevents.com.

The first educational clinic I attended was a great one led by Chris Snyder entitled “How to Make Proper Contact”.  I then grabbed some dinner, relaxed a bit and headed to the Major League Lacrosse draft.  What lax fan wouldn’t think it incredibly exciting to stand in a room of lacrosse greats – current and former  – and watch as the MLL Commissioner announces the selections by each of the MLL teams.  Can’t imagine such a dream come true for the players selected. Wow!

Saturday for me was all about learning.  After first saying good morning to my friend Ryan Boyle, lacrosse great and one of the National Directors of Trilogy Lacrosse (www.trilogylacrosse.com) I headed to listen to Coach Petrone of the Haverford School speak about running the 1-4-1 offense. Top-level stuff!!  Next I moved on to watching Joe Spallina run his incredibly impressive Team 91 Lacrosse U11 players through some great drills that any youth coach would want to implement into upcoming practices.  Late morning I attended a great session run by Coach Danowski Sr and Coach Danowski Jir (that is John and Matt).  That session was fantastic as son and dad bantered with each other while offering a tremendous amount of very valuable information.  After a quick lunch it was off to watch the great Paul Cantabene teach face-offs.  He’s a legend!  My last session of the day was watching a Kyle Harrison, Sam Bradman and Max Ritz STX/LXM demonstration on the Live Field.  I was fortunate again to have a moment to chat with Kyle.  Great guy!!As a coach attending the Convention and seeking to learn as much as possible, hear from the great coaches, etc. its simply impossible to attend every educational clinic and seminar.  Every hour I had to debate attending one of 3 or 4 possible sessions that I wanted to attend.  Fortunately, US Lacrosse uploads all the sessions/clinics and makes them available online for all registered attendees to view.

So that was my 27 hours in Philadelphia!!  I go to the convention because I love this sport.  I love to continue learning so I can coach more effectively and learn how I can help my players improve – especially now that many of them are moving on to high school.  Any lacrosse coach or any business operating in the lacrosse industry is missing out by not attending the annual convention.  The 2014 convention returns to Philadelphia on January 10-12.

Grow The Game!

– Coach B

A New Year dawns…. and its time for US LaxCon!!

When you are a “blogger” (or try to be a “blogger”), posts should be frequent.  Its hoped that past posts have generated a following so that readers return to see what you have posted.  I’d love to have the freedom to post daily and even weekly but life just completely interferes.  I cannot count the number of times I have sat down at the computer to pump out a post and have then been distracted by some other matter or pulled away to something more pressing.  My apologies.

All that aside, its now 2013!  Happy New Year everyone!! Its cold outside and in many areas there is snow on the ground.  And yet lacrosse season is just around the corner. In fact, on the collegiate level some teams are gearing up for their first game in just about a month!!  For me personally, lacrosse is a year-round endeavor.  I now coach youth teams in Spring, Fall and Winter.  The spring season is my town’s Rec team.  In the Fall and Winter I coach an “elite” team (which won the winter championship last year!!).  Additionally I c0-coach my local high school team in a winter league.

As the calendar starts a new year, that also means another major lacrosse event is on the horizon – the annual US Lacrosse Convention.  This year the convention is back in Philadelphia.  I will again be heading to Philly on Friday to attend numerous coaching clinics and to conduct some business as well.  See my post about last year’s convention here: Coach B at 2012 LaxCon

I love attending the annual US Lacrosse convention.  Almost nowhere else do coaches at all levels, from youth all the way to professional come together in one place, along with top collegiate players and professional lacrosse players.  Everyone is approachable and friendly.  Its a “brotherhood”.  Any laxer understands what I’m talking about.  I plan to tweet updates over the weekend (@laxpatlawman) and update on my Facebook page.  And I promise a full summary report after the weekend.

When Monday roles around, I’ll compile all the info I gathered from the clinics and start planning for the start of the Spring Rec season!!  For my town’s Rec team there is just another couple of weeks left before registration closes. Hopefully all Spring players are shaking off the rust and getting in shape.  For the 8th grade team that I coach this is their final season before moving on to High School!

One last thing, check out this video:  

Very impressive skills!!

2012 in review for Coach B’s Lax Blog

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 8,300 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 14 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Trilogy Lacrosse Benefit for Hurricane Sandy Relief – December 8th

For many of us in the NY/NJ area Hurricane Sandy is now a thing of the past.  We all know though that the storm caused tremendous and devastating damage in the NY and NJ area leaving many with substantial losses and damage to their homes.  Many in these areas are still suffering the results from this storm.

My friends at Trilogy Lacrosse will be hosting the STICK IT TO SANDY HURRICANE RELIEF CLINIC AND EXHIBITION on December 8th at the Atlantic Club in Manasquan, NJ.  Join Trilogy Lacrosse and a host of other top lacrosse professionals and coaches for a day full of instructional clinics led by top MLL players at EVERY POSITION, a raffle including prizes such as professional players personal equipment/gear, Under Armour equipment/apparel and incredible donations from the Boston Cannons and the MLL and finally a 7-on-7 exhibition tournament featuring top MLL players facing off right at the Jersey Shore. 

The schedule for the day is as follows:
8:00am – 9:30am – Youth Player Clinic, Boys Grades 1-5 (MUST REGISTER ONLINE)
9:30am – 11:00am – High School Player Clinic, Boys Grades 6-12 (MUST REGISTER ONLINE)
11:00am – 11:45am – Hurricane Sandy Relief Raffle
11:45am – 1:00pm –  Exhibition 7-on-7 Game ft. MLL Stars

Confirmed Coaches/Exhibition Players (more to be added as they confirm participation!)
Goalies – Tyler Fiorito (Chesapeake Bayhawks), Bruce Bickford (Boston Cannons)
Faceoff – Greg Guerenlian (Long Island Lizards), Jerry Ragonese (Charlotte Hounds)
Midfield – Matt Striebel, (Rochester Rattlers), Matt Smalley (Cannons), Dan Groot (Ohio Machine), Stephen Duffy (Cannons Head Coach)
Defense – Brian Farrell (Cannons), Andrew Sellers (Rattlers), Sam DeVore (Bayhawks), Michael Manley (Rattlers)
Attack – Chris Boland (Cannons), Ari Sussman (Cannons)

Youth and H.S. players must register in order to participate in the clinics.  You can get more information and register for the event by clicking the following link: http://www.trilogylacrosse.com/Stick-it-to-Sandy

It would be great to see as many of my Chiefs and Full Force players at this event as possible!  We in in the lacrosse world have always been a giving bunch.  Lets all spread the word and get down to Manasquan on December 8th for what promises to be an awesome event for a great cause!

Hitting the big time!!

After a lot of hard work I have finally gotten some lacrosse industry recognition!  As frequent readers of this blog know, I have been reporting on legal matters in the lacrosse industry for Lacrosse AllStars (www.laxallstars.com) for a number of years. 

Yesterday, I was quoted in a Sporting Goods Business Update on the SportsOneSource.com website in connection with a patent infringement lawsuit between Warrior and Under Armour.  The original link to the article is no longer active and now requires a subscription to the service to read it so I uploaded a link to a permanent hard copy of the Sports One Source article.  You can access it from the page bar at the top of this blog. 

It’s nice to be referred to as “a recognized leader in the lacrosse industry”.  It’s especially nice since I truly enjoy doing this for a living and doing it in connection with the sport I love.

– Coach B

Get Up And Just Grow the Game!!

If you are on this blog reading right now, it’s because you love the game of lacrosse.  As popular as the game seems these days, we are still not mainstream.  I coach lacrosse (both youth and sometimes H.S. in the off-season), I write about the sport in this blog and some other websites, and I have made part of my living representing some lacrosse players and some businesses in the lacrosse world.  There are so many others like me out there doing so many things to GROW THE GAME. 

The shirt on the right is one my favorites.  I have a bunch of them and wear them as often as I can.  It shows my commitment to doing whatever I can to contribute to the growth of this great game.  My good friends at http://www.laxallstars.com are currently deep into their Grow The Game Movement.  Info here: GTG Movement  Visit Lacrosse Allstars (Lacrosse Allstars)  and grab a GTG shirt of your own!

But it doesn’t end there.  Last year one of my son, Zander’s, summer team coaches – the great Princeton (and current Hamilton National) defenseman, Chad Weidmaier spent time in Uganda teaching kids how to play lacrosse.  UGANDA!!.  Brett Hughes has turned Lacrosse The Nations (Lacrosse The Nations) into an enormously powerful organization that unifies the lacrosse community to sustainably improve education and health while creating hope and opportunity for children in need.

Josh Chewy Acut has been Growing the Game in Texas for quite some time now and I personally have seen some top-notch lacrosse talent from Texas over the past two Summers so its become abundantly clear to me that there is a great deal lax talent out there in Southwest (and just about everywhere else!).  Payu Nerngchamnong, whom I read about quite a bit on the lax blogs, is doing a ton to Grow the Game in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore.

The above is just a few of the great things that the lacrosse world is doing to bring this great game to the masses AND to use the game to help improve the lives of others.  Lacrosse is so much more than just a game.  Its a life.  If you love this game, try to be more than just a passive player, coach or fan – do something to promote it and help it grow!

See you on the field!

– Coach B