WDIO.com - Duluth Summer Lacrosse

Nice news report from the WDIO Up North segment on August 10, 2011 about lacrosse in Duluth featuring the YMCA youth league and Tuesday night pick-up games for middle school, high school, college and adult players.

Highlights from Duluth YMCA Youth League

The Duluth YMCA Youth Lacrosse League is in full swing and the kids are improving by leaps and bounds with each practice and game.  The passing and catching is improving, the kids are understanding what to do and more goals are being scored.  The parents are having fun watching the games and the kids are having more fun playing!  Here are some scenes from league play.

Duluth YMCA Youth lacrosse Cancelled Today

Note from the YMCA:

Due to poor field conditions practice/games for today have been cancelled.  We hope the weather clears up for next week so we can get back on track!  Note: We will plan a make-up day for this weeks cancellations.

Check the Duluth YMCA Youth Lacrosse Facebook page for practice updates.  Also, you can call the YMCA front desk at 722.4745 ext 100 by 4:00 to hear whether or not practice will be held

Duluth Drop-In Lacrosse League Starts Tuesday!

The Duluth Drop-In Lacrosse League (DDLL) is slated to begin next Tuesday night June 14.  The league is pick-up game format and welcome to all adults and high school players interested in playing lacrosse.  Experienced middle school players are also welcome to attend.  Attempts will be made to match players of similar age in games.  It is the hope of the league that enough younger players show up that separate games for younger players can be played.  There is also the possibility of having younger players play on a different night, possibly Thursday night after the YMCA youth league games. 

The goal will be to try to provide lacrosse opportunities in Duluth for middle school and high school players during their off-season, college players looking to play some fun, relaxed lacrosse, and adults who love the game and just want to play.  The game format will be "no checking" with stick checking allowed.  This will help accommodate varying age groups and ensure that the games remain more relaxed and fun with players working on their fundamental skills.  Participants may see college players from UMD, Chargers varsity players, former high school and college players and bald "old men" trying to rekindle long lost lacrosse skills and passion.  If you love to play lacrosse or you played at one time and you really want to dust off your old stick, come on out and join the DDLL on Tuesday nights this summer!

Dates:   Every Tuesday night starting June 14 until August 2

Time:   7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. (or dark)

Location:   Lowell Elementary School soccer field (located up the hill from Lowell Elementary School)

Open to:   People who love lacrosse – adult and high school Level. Middle school players welcome (may play on a Thursday night if enough interest)

Format:   Pick-up game format

Rules:     No checking, only stick checking allowed, NFHS Rules apply, “call your own foul” format (only person being penalized may make the call, no arguing calls), players agree on other rules, two goalies required or use goal stops or tip goals on end

Equipment:   Full equipment recommended, helmet and gloves required (all players must wear helmet and gloves, no exceptions), wear a reversible pinnie if possible

Questions?   Contact Andy at trailrunners@gmail.com or 218-340-6170

First Night of YMCA Youth Lacrosse Has Good Turnout

The Duluth YMCA Youth lacrosse league held its first practice last night and had an enthusiastic bunch of kids playing lacrosse, most for the first time. Coach Sam Litman, the Defensive Coordinator for the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs lacrosse team, led the practice with three of his Bulldog players to assist him.  The level of instruction for the youth in the Duluth YMCA league is top notch.

The Duluth YMCA Youth Lacrosse League, in its third season, is open to kids in grades 3 through 6. The league runs every Tuesday and Thursday night from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. until August 2.  The first two weeks will be instruction with games starting on the third week. All practices and  games are held on the soccer field above Lowell Elementary School.

Kids interested in playing can still sign up.  Contact the YMCA or register online on the YMCA REGISTRATION PAGE  It's not too late!  Come on out and join the fun of youth lacrosse!

Duluth Area YMCA Youth Lacrosse League - Youth Lacrosse in the North

The Duluth YMCA is going into its third year of youth lacrosse instruction this summer.  The partnership with the UMD Bulldogs lacrosse program, offers this league high level instruction for youth in grades 3 through 6.  UMD players and coaches have been partnering with the YMCA the last two years and provide all of the coaching and instruction.

The league hopes to offer even more in 2011.  With the anticipation of an increase in numbers, the league is planning to offer teams and league competition in addition to the quality instruction.

Open to any kids in grade 3 through 6 in the Duluth area and beyond, growth in the YMCA youth lacrosse league will create a fun and dynamic summer of lacrosse.  Greater numbers will allow for the creation of more teams and more fun games for the kids.  Learning the game at a young age will give kids a head start if they decide they want to keep playing lacrosse in middle school, high school or beyond.

The league runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays from June 7 to August 2.  You can go to the YMCA Website for more information and to register online.  You may also register at the downtown Duluth YMCA.

If you'd like to see what lacrosse is all about, the Duluth YMCA and UMD Bulldogs lacrosse team are also offering a free lacrosse clinic this Saturday April 16 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. at the downtown Duluth YMCA.  The UMD lacrosse team will be providing the instruction and it will be a great introductory opportunity for new players and refresher for returning players.  The clinic is open to boys and girls in grades 2 through 6.

Reflection on Homegrown Lacrosse's Week in Duluth

I was fortunate to be able to meet Jesse and Chaun from Homegrown Lacrosse at a couple of the afterschool clinics they put on in Duluth.  The second clinic had over 40 kids running all over the gym with lacrosse sticks in hand!  Jesse and Chaun did a great job working with the kids.  It was also nice to see several of the Duluth-Superior Chargers high school players come out one night to help work with the kids.  Judging from all of this, the future of lacrosse in Duluth and Northern Minnesota appears to be bright.

Many good things were also said about Homegrown Lacrosse and the work they did with the in-school P.E. program at several Duluth grade schools.  Homegrown was able to put a lacrosse stick in the hands of just under 1,000 kids during their time in Duluth.  As we've said before, we're very fortunate in Minnesota to have an organization like Homegrown Lacrosse here to help grow the sport of lacrosse in the state.  Without a group like Homegrown, it's not hard to believe that lacrosse would not be growing as fast as it is in Minnesota outside of a few select areas.  One needs only look to the south to the state of Iowa.  There is a small group of very dedicated individuals, led by the Central Iowa Lacrosse Association, who love the sport and want to see it grow.  However, without resources or a group like Homegrown, lacrosse is still languishing in the state with only two high school teams playing lacrosse and a couple of newly formed youth lacrosse associations.  They're working hard in Iowa, but without the organization of a group like Homegrown, it's difficult.

So, what really is the future of lacrosse in Duluth?  Hopefully a lot of those kids who had a lacrosse stick in their hand will play in the Duluth YMCA summer youth league.  If they do, it will be a really fun summer for youth lacrosse in Duluth and a great start for developing lacrosse at a young age and providing a pipeline of players for the high school programs.  The 3rd and 4th graders picking up sticks this summer will be pioneers of the sport in Duluth.  They'll be some of the first lacrosse players in Duluth that started at a young age and worked their way up to high school and perhaps beyond.  It will allow Duluth and other Northland Schools to start catching up to the Twin Cities programs to an extent.

I heard from a lot of kids who plan to play in the YMCA youth league this summer.  However, I also heard from several kids who said they might be playing summer hockey or baseball and might not play in the youth lacrosse league.  I've also heard from several kids at the middle school level who have chosen to play spring and summer hockey or spring soccer as opposed to trying a new sport like lacrosse.  In a hockey-mad town like Duluth, how do the lacrosse programs entice those hockey players who might really have fun and make an impact on the lacrosse team to give it a try?  Lacrosse is a great crossover sport for soccer, hockey, football and basketball.  The fitness level the kids will get from lacrosse is tremendous.  And, once a kid plays lacrosse, he/she's usually hooked.  It's that much fun.

Perhaps transitioning to an MSHSL team would help entice some kids.  Making it a varsity sport on par with hockey and soccer would perhaps make it more attractive to students looking for a sport to play.  And, despite all of the great work Homegrown has done in Duluth, lacrosse still needs to be more visible.  We have a quality college program at UMD and good high school programs with the Chargers and Grand Rapids teams, even a professional team in St. Paul, but you still never see anything about lacrosse in the newspaper - not even box scores.  Lacrosse has to become more visible.  Even more kids have to try it and see how fun it is.

Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player ever, loved lacrosse and understood its benefits.  He said, "When I was growing up, I used to love this time of year(spring). It was when I put my hockey equipment away and I was absolutely ecstatic to see the end of the hockey season. One of the worst things to happen to the game, in my opinion, has been year-round hockey and, in particular, summer hockey. All it does for kids, as far as I can tell, is keep them out of sports they should be doing in warmer weather. I could hardly wait to get my lacrosse stick out and start throwing the ball around. It didn't matter how cold or rainy it would be, we'd be out firing the ball against walls and working on our moves as we played the lacrosse equivalent to road hockey. All the good hockey players seemed to play lacrosse in those days and every one of them learned something from the game to carry over to the other - things athletes can only learn by mixing up games they play when they are young."  If it worked for Wayne, it seems like it might work for some of the other hockey, soccer and basketball kids in town.  Perhaps having some support for lacrosse from the hockey programs would help as well.

Hopefully we'll see the sport of lacrosse begin to flourish in Duluth and Northern Minnesota.  There's still work to do, but with the help of Homegrown, we're definitely on the right path.

See Homegrown Lacrosse's blog for more about their time in Duluth. 

Photos courtesy of Homegrown Lacrosse