New Poll: Camps

Camps are an essential part of off-season (mostly summer) lacrosse. They help you keep your skills sharp, and you also usually learn a lot of new and useful tips to help you in the next season. Some camps are for recruiting, some are for skill development. Some are inclusive, some are very exclusive and are only accessible through coach recommendation and/or tryout.

Some highly exclusive camps include Jake Reed's Blue Chip camp, and the California Gold Invitational. These two camps allow for incredible college exposure and great competition.

Individual college camps are great too. They allow for the campgoers to be taught by the players and coaches from the college that they are attending the camp at, and also let them talk to the coaches about what it takes to get into their school. I personally will be attending the lacrosse camp at Johns Hopkins this year because I love the program, and I attended the Denver University camp last year. These kinds of camps are a huge opportunity to allow for a camper to check out the campus of a college they might want to attend, and check out their competition as well.

Showcase tournaments such as the Adrenaline High Rollers and the All West Showcase are sometimes by invitation or recommendation only, and can be for individual players or whole teams. These showcases allow for college exposure, team bonding, and great competition as well.

Well, I hope this post contained some useful info to all those aspiring to become better lacrosse players this summer.

HAPPY LAXIN!

The "Lax Bro"

When my girlfriend told one of her friends that she was dating a lacrosse player, the first thing her friend asked was, "Is he a lax bro??" When faced with this question, my girlfriend called me, and asked me if I was a lax bro. Proudly, I answered that I was indeed what you might call a lax bro.

A lax bro is somebody who plays lacrosse, DOES NOT PLAY BASEBALL, carries around his lacrosse stick wherever he can, and wears shorts, sandals (or long white socks with vans), a lax pennie, sunglasses, and sometimes a flat-billed hat (backwards or forwards depending on preference). A lax bro also ideally has some measure of "flow". "Flow" is a reference to a certain players hair and the way that it "flows" out the back of his helmet when he is playing. If a player's flow is pretty much perfect, then that player has a "flow bucket".

A lax bro must not only look the part; he must act like a lax bro as well. Activities that a lax bro engages in should not be overly taxing in nature, such as going for long runs. A lax bro should spend most of his time just chilling out and laxing with his friends. Lifting weights is important (just don't exert too much energy!) for completing your lax bro look so you look cut for the ladies. Curls, bench press, squat, leg press, and maybe some abs and shoulder workouts are all you need to be a true lax bro.

LAXBROS UNITE!! LAX ALL DAY!

East vs West

It seems that at this point in the development of the game of lacrosse, and its maturity into a national phenomenon, one of the big questions is this: is lacrosse West of the Mississippi catching up to the level of lacrosse East of the river? My personal bias (living in California) says that lacrosse on the West Coast is just as good as lacrosse on the East Coast. However, the numbers say something slightly different. According to national computer rankings on LaxPower show that most of the top 50 teams in the nation are all East of the river. However, there are more and more teams from the West showing up on that list.

La Costa Canyon High School, which is located in Encinitas, California, recorded a 23-0 record this year, and played against teams from the DC area and Colorado as well as top teams from California. My lacrosse team played La Costa Canyon this past year, and I tell you, LCC is the real deal. They were like a machine. St. Ignatius Prep, located in San Francisco, California, is another California powerhouse that produces Division 1 recruits like Rob Emery, who is going to Virginia and is rated as the number one recruit in the West by West Side Lax on the WSL Elite 25 list. The dominant team in California, and in the West, this year was definitely LCC, who trounced St. Ignatius 7-1 in a NorCal/SoCal showdown. Some other dominant teams in the West include De La Salle (Concord, CA), Foothill Santa-Ana (Santa Ana, Calif.), San Ramon Valley (Danville, Calif.), Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village, Colorado), Brophy Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.), and Mercer Island (Mercer Island, Wash.).

Now, the East.

You can look at the rankings mentioned earlier, and find all kinds of teams that just dominate their opponents, and each other. The MIAA league in Maryland is probably one of the toughest lacrosse conferences in the entire nation. I read an article in US Lacrosse magazine that followed a week in the life of the Boy's Latin (MD) lacrosse team, and how they prepare for each team. What is different about their preparation is that they have to prepare each week like it's the biggest game of their season, which it is. Every team in the MIAA is capable of competing and beating every other team in the league, so all the players have to play their absolute HARDEST every second of every game. West Islip (NY) is a constant contender for the number one spot in the national rankings, as well as many other programs.

All in all, I believe the East still has the advantage in this debate, but there is no doubt that the West is catching up fast, which means very good things for the game of lacrosse.

CPX-R

Ok, let's get down and dirty with the subject of the latest poll.

The CPX-R: Yes or No?

Lacrosse Playground article: http://www.lacrosseplayground.com/post/a-closer-look-at-cascades-new-cpx-r/10373

I don't particularly like the look of this helmet. The little protrusion coming out of the back doesn't really please the eye...

I watched part of the Under Armour All-American Classic on ESPNU, and both teams were outfitted with the new CPX-R. The helmet didn't look too bad on the screen, but up close, especially if you're trying to look good, I would imagine that you should stick with a regular CPX or Pro 7 from Cascade, and possibly a Warrior Trojan (which to me looks almost exactly like a CPX).

Anyway, there is a pretty big upside to the new CPX-R. A lot of people that I've talked to like the CPX design a lot better than the Pro 7. I personally like the Pro 7 more, but who cares about my opinion right? The upside to the new helmet is that it brings the CPX's design (more or less), and combines it with the Pro 7 technology which makes the helmet a lot more comfortable and helps protect your head a lot more. The CPX-R is not officially on sale yet, but here's a link to some helmets on Lax.com.

http://www.lax.com/shop/lacrosse-helmets.html

First Post!

Welcome all LAXERS! In the future, this blog will contain relevant and up-to-date information on all different aspects of the game of lacrosse. for my first post, I would like to attach a linked video containing the essential elements of the lax bro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqg01Nk3SYI

Enjoy!

btw...vote in the poll!