It’s my 3^rd week back in Connecticut and I’ve already been on the summer grind. The biggest thing I’ve noticed since I’ve been home is that the East Coast is truly on another speed than the rest of the country, a seventh gear you might say. I personally love it. My time in Bloomington from January to June was lovely, but it went by really slow. I’m sure some of it has to do with the slower paced mid west lifestyle.

A quick recap of a summer session in Bloomington

The pro’s are campus isn’t bustling, the school community becomes smaller, and the weather was really nice (this isn’t always a guarantee, barring a tornado warning it was awesome). The cons are the campus isn’t bustling, the school community becomes smaller, and I felt absolutely disconnected from the rest of the world. I would recommend doing one summer session at least once to people while they’re at IU.

This summer I have my second go around coaching the town 5^th and 6^th graders with the high school JV coach. Last summer was a great experience doing that. It’s a great idea to have a town summer team is to continue instruction and competition with the people you’ll be playing with throughout your career in wherever you live. Except it’s hard to get everyone to participate with all of the elite teams in the area. But if everyone did it gives your high school program a leg up on the competition. Manhasset is a traditional national powerhouse from the north shore of Long Island. Every single one of their youth teams I’ve seen at various tournaments has at least 25 kids on their team. Is their success coincidental? I think not.

So we’re trying to teach these kids the values the varsity program instills in its players and try to introduce them to the style of play. It’s obviously a very toned down version so these youngsters can understand it.

The Shootout

Maverik hosts a phenomenal tournament for kids entering 3^rd grade through 6^th grade at the Harbor Links Golf Course in Port Washington, Long Island. Last year on the ride down I learned the fields were once a fairway. The grass turned out to be unbelievable. It was a hybrid; Kentucky Bluegrass and Featherbed Bent. But seriously I am still jealous these kids get to play on it. Don’t get me wrong, turf fields are great and help with bad weather but nothing in the world beats a pristine grass field.

Another thing I am impressed with is the amount of quality compeition Maverik gets to this weekend. Last season we got to play a team all the way from Dallas. It’s a big time event. They have a HD 45 inch monitor that shows the age group brackets, current rankings, and field times/numbers. Really helpful if you ask me. Everything runs on schedule and the past two years have been a great time for the kids and parents alike. There has been huge turnouts of parents and family members creating crowds that are larger than most MCLA games.

Ridiculous grass fields and huge crowd for a youth lax game

Not to mention the Maverik tent that showcases every piece of equipment they make, which inevitably turns into a place where you’ll find a kid who’s missing 5 minutes before game time.

Gear tent and a happy lax dad

I’ll have part two of this tourney later today

Did you know Redbull is hosting a Baggataway tournament during MLL All-star Weekend at Harvard? No pads, full contact, winner brings home 5 grand. Sounds like a good deal to me. Check it out here, there’s still time to show up.

Have you been following LacrosseRoads on twitter? Because you really should be

Be on the lookout for me ranting for the remainder of the summer, I know everyone is sick of Helfrich. Just kidding. No I’m not.