Texas Thoughts???

[Arklax]

I was only there the last two days, but in those two days, I was impressed. The city of Plano was nice, the weather was near perfect, and RCP and the stadium were excellent sites.

However, I thought the the championships (especially Div. B) were lacking in attendance a bit. Perhaps some more advertisement around the DFW area could be done. Did the local news even come out to run any kind of story? Surely that could be arranged.

Also, once Thursday morning rolls around, you have 12 teams/coaches with nothing to do but play consolation games. I won't attempt to say whether or not those games are important, and they are probably more important to some teams than others, but, with that many quality coaches/players around (not to mention a few empty fields), why not host some kind of free clinic for youth lacrosse players in the area? It would help with the growth of the sport locally, and possibly bring out more people to the games. Not sure how many teams would be interested in doing that, but I think it's feasible.

[Sonny]

Also, once Thursday morning rolls around, you have 12 teams/coaches with nothing to do but play consolation games. I won't attempt to say whether or not those games are important, and they are probably more important to some teams than others, but, with that many quality coaches/players around (not to mention a few empty fields), why not host some kind of free clinic for youth lacrosse players in the area? It would help with the growth of the sport locally, and possibly bring out more people to the games. Not sure how many teams would be interested in doing that, but I think it's feasible.

I doubt a clinic on a Thursday will work with all the local schools still in session midweek. USL did host a free lacrosse clinic on Saturday at Kimbrough Stadium with two former college player of the years: Kyle Harrison and Jen Adams. About 12 boys showed up for Kyle and exactly ZERO girls lacrosse players showed up for Jen Adams.

Kyle was there on Thursday and Friday at Russell Creek and gave several improtu lessons including one I saw with the entire Harding team.

[onetime]

Not sure why i cant locate Sonnys famous blog...when i accessed it there was just one the first day and then the next one jumped to blaine, '05

[Rave]

The fields were far by the worse part of the tournament. I feel a lot needs to be done to improve most of those fields. They must improve.

The weather is something that will always be questioned regardless of how good or bad it is. I believe in Blaine, MN it was about 50-60 degrees (maybe hit 70 one day) that week with some snow, I think? I thought the weather was great and you could have not asked for a better night for the championship.

The coverage was great by CSTV and others but I felt like not enough was done to bring in people from the Plano and surrounding cities to watch the games. I thought it was moved partially to Texas to help more people support the game? I know most of the people watching were players and coaches. Around town there appeared to be no advertising of the national championship. However, I did see some youth leagues kids.

As for the music, I understand that you have to appeal to all types of crowds.

Other than that, I felt that tournament was a success. The stadium was very impressive, and the water boys/girls were awesome.

[Sonny]

The coverage was great by CSTV and others but I felt like not enough was done to bring in people from the Plano and surrounding cities to watch the games. I thought it was moved partially to Texas to help more people support the game? I know most of the people watching were players and coaches. Around town there appeared to be no advertising of the national championship. However, I did see some youth leagues kids.

The crowd support in Texas was the best we have ever had for the Men's (Division A) IA Final in our 10 years.

[sullivkd]

I thought the whole tournament was great. As a first timer, the Eckerd team didn't have much to match it against, but I do have one thought...

The tournament schedule was a little troubling for us. Playing three or four games consecutively is difficult for any team, but I thought it may have hit Eckerd harder because of our roster size. Granted, the size of the roster has nothing to do with the tourney.

We did, however, end our Utah Valley game at around 7pm only to turn around and play Saint John's at 9am the next day! It would've benefited all teams involved with the semi-finals to get a day off or at least an afternoon game instead of 9am.

We definitely got beat fair and square by SJU, but I assume most of the teams in the semi-final games would agree that an extra few hours would've helped the recovery.

This schedule also made it very difficult for any team not ranked in the top four to make it through the whole tournament injury-free as they had to play an extra game.

Otherwise, it was a great tournament with an awesome staff and I can't wait to see how next year turns out!

[Pinball]

This schedule also made it very difficult for any team not ranked in the top four to make it through the whole tournament injury-free as they had to play an extra game.

But somehow SJU pulled it off....................... Just kidding. espically with the heat and extra rest day would be nice, but that means a lot more money for hotel cost, the school getting more angry at us, and everything else. I know it would of been nice to play the semifinal game later but it just worked out that the lower bracket had to play early the next morning. It is not like they are going to put the Div B games during "primetime" at night. The B Div tourney is in its infancy, we need to remember that. Something to think about is-if you get the momentum rolling maybe a rest day would hurt that?? I dunno, maybe i am just looking for a positive spin on it.....

[Hi-Line Lax]

Playing with a smaller roster is tough...last year when we ended the season with 15 players it was really a challenge, but I think that was our problem. We played two game weekends all season to try and prepare for a run during playoffs, but in the end we just fell short.
I think the format is fine, the best team has won both championships. As for the 1-4 seeds receiving the bye...they earned it (although I wouldn't be against expanding to 16 teams). Overall, I thought this year's tournament was another huge success for the B Division, with the exception of Salem State not making the trip, and hopefully we can keep it up it years to come.

[jessexy]

You buys better be glad that you arent in Texas right now? we've had temps of over 100 degrees for the last week. yesterday, we saw a 107 degree day. today is supposed to be 104. its very interesting watching the people walk the streets from my air-conditioned office building.

[shrekjr]

You buys better be glad that you arent in Texas right now? we've had temps of over 100 degrees for the last week. yesterday, we saw a 107 degree day. today is supposed to be 104. its very interesting watching the people walk the streets from my air-conditioned office building.

And we have games tonight!

[Brent Burns]

You buys better be glad that you arent in Texas right now? we've had temps of over 100 degrees for the last week. yesterday, we saw a 107 degree day. today is supposed to be 104. its very interesting watching the people walk the streets from my air-conditioned office building.

And we have games tonight!

What are the game times tonight in the Big D? The temps will probably be in the low 100s to mid 90s tonight.

[shrekjr]

Youth games from 5:30-8:30. Current forcast, 104 down to a cool of 98 by 8:30.