By Brett Hughes

In my experience, the best way to grow a sport is to show a community what it "should" look like. San Francisco has jumped on that idea and is set to bring a top tier college lacrosse game right to the heart of the Northern California Lacrosse scene.

Braden Edwards is responsible for bringing two top Division I teams, University of North Carolina and Brown University, to Nor Cal for the first ever match-up in the San Francisco area. There will also be free youth clinics for 4th-8th graders lead by top college players around the event. 

In my humble opinion, the best learning experience for high school athletes will be during the game. The best way to learn is to watch and mimic the best players in the game. So watch Billy Bitters (UNC), Thomas Muldoon (Brown), and others to improve your game!

For more information on the game and events surrounding it check out this article.  

Posted By ESPN RISE Staff

	Kirstin Olsen/ESPN RISE
	NELC Denver action

The 2009 Nike Elite Lacrosse Camp kicked off the first event on June 15th at the Dick's Sporting Goods Complex in Denver, Colorado. Over 65 kids were registered for the camp from four states, Colorado, Arizona, Minnesota, and New Jersey. The facility was top notch and provided a great setting for the elite camp.

The NELC Denver coaching staff boasts some of the top players in the game today. Johns Hopkins All-American and Tewaaraton winner Kyle Harrison returns this year. Newcomers to the NELC Denver Staff were Johns Hopkins alum Lou Braun, Hofstra All-American Sean McCarthy, Maryland alum Jimmy Borell and Cornell's 2009 Tewaaraton winner Maxwell Seibald.  Coaches interacted and instructed athletes and also spoke to the athletes about the importance of training.

The talent of the camp was very diverse, with All-State, All-American players and several eager athletes equipped with work ethic but not as skilled as the others. The format of the camp provided something for both while not taking away from the authentic camp experience. Feedback from athletes was great and many had said that the performance training and elite competition format was the first they had experienced at a lacrosse camp.

The top players at the camp were evenly distributed so we had a chance to see the square off head to head. An up and coming goalie named Rhody Heller will be a show stopper for Regis Jesuit in Aurora, CO next year. We may have been the first to see Heller's skill because he was behind a senior this year. Kyle Harrison thinks he is "the best goalie I have seen all year.”

Some of the other standout players were middy Michael Rea from Fairview High school in Longmont, CO, who received All-Conference and All-State honors as a sophomore. Another soon to be Division I recruit, incoming junior defender Tanner Ottenbreit from Regis Jesuit has the potential to play anywhere in the country. Lastly, middy Ehret Faircloth competed in three varsity sports his sophomore year for The Lawrenceville School in Princeton, NJ and was recommended by a Princeton lacrosse player as an up and coming talent.

Next Stops:

NELC San Francisco, CA Redwood HS July 6th
NELC Los Angeles, CA Home Depot Center July 7th

NELC Syracuse, NY Syracuse University July 9th

Posted By Brett Hughes

Duxbury Mass. has more than talent to fall back on, they have tradition. Five state titles, and a crazy win streak that had to see it's end sooner or later. Duxbury high school looks at the tradition, the past, for the motivation to make sure the future is what they map out.

Posted by Brett Hughes

Our partners over at Inside Lacrosse dug to find out some of the key elements to growing a successful high school program. As our sport grows certain fringe communities are home to very strong programs and it begs the question, "what are those guys doing?" IL too the first stab at finding out what a few of the reasons could be.

Posted by Brett Hughes

David Lawson of Middlesex in MASS. is set to be a Blue Devil, he brings rare athleticism that our sport is just now seeing more and more of, and probably more important si that he puts it on display daily with his non stop energy bank.

ESPN RISE Magazine has him on the cover, and this will just be the start of the accolades a talent like this will see if he just keeps his energy tank full. I'd count on that being a non-issue!

By Brett Hughes

Kyle and I are back to debate all sorts of topics leading up to the Final Four. Check it out, let me know your thoughts and what you would like to see Kyle and I debate next week. Thanks to ESPNU for reaching out to RISE for this.

I am going to have a few MLL guys who also coach at the High School level start debating topics for the high school lacrosse player over the summer, so start sending in questions for them, and even who you would like to hear from!

Posted by Brett Hughes

Just in time for the NCAA Final Four, an article from an unlikely outlet, explaining how even though our nation is in a recession... lacrosse is in a boom. The wall Street Journal discusses the westward migration and the boom is not stopping anytime soon. My own roommate Kyle Harrison even gets a quote in the article, so everyone tune in this weekend and lets set some more big numbers as  we watch this sport take off.

The games this weekend are on ESPN2 and something for everyone to watch. Attackmen, learn from the UVA boys on how to work together as those three (Glading, Stanwick, and Billings) put up crazy numbers on just about everyone in the league. Or If you want to see a Midfielder check out Cornell and watch Max Seibold and John Glynn both do everything they can, defense, face-off, and bring the noise on offense. If Defense is your cup of tea check out Duke, they play so well as a total unit, and goalie Rob Schroeder's leadership between the pipes is always impressive. Or maybe you want to  take in the team side where Syracuse is always known to take the "'eash off" in the final four and just move from one end to the other as fast as anyone.

Point is that whatever you are looking for as a lacrosse fan, or player, even just a sports fan in general this weekends final four has something for you... andnow it's a national attraction!

Posted By Brett Hughes

Our own ESPN RISE Magazine published a story about the nations best girls lacrosse player. Kelly Austin of St. Stephans St. Agnes has had a target on her back all season, she is not letting the other teams plans of stopping her get in the way of her last few stops of her high school carrer before heading down to the University of Virginia to make an immediate impact on the Cavaliers.

Posted By Brett Hughes

Emily Garrity, one of the nations top girls lacrosse players, battled to prove herself in backyard wars with her brother and even her parents. Now Garrity is set to prove herself to the NCAA world. Committing to UNC, humble beginnings with an older athletic brother sets Garrity's competitive spirit a notch above the rest. ESPN RISE Magazine brings the full story.

By Brett Hughes

Luke Armour has been a frequent on the blog these days, so i asked if he would take time to write about the playoffs with the other RISE UP BOYS. Armour is headed to Princeton so I am sure he had his eyes on that game against UMASS. As we have mentioned he has been around the highest level of lacrosse for some time, and has picked up on so much of the game. Here he talks about the most simple, but important part of any college game. Something that most kids get blindsided with as they step on a college practice field for the first time.

I've noticed that the level of intensity of the college game is much higher than that of the HS game. I'm excited to feel that energy next year. The speed and intensity of everyone on every play is amazing. I'm really looking forward to experiencing that and matching that energy level from start to finish of every single game.
Also, another obvious difference that I've noticed is the speed of the game. Everyone's thinking 3 plays in advance; a ball goes on the ground, it's anticipated and met at the ground, rather than kicked around and missed by players. The most determined to get it will get it, and the best teams, it seems, are the ones that can dominate the ground balls. 

By Brett Hughes

John Muti from the New Jersey powerhouse Mountain Lakes took a look at the NCAA playoffs first round from a goalies perspective.The change for everyone at every position high school to college is speed, but Muti brings up a different type of speed that most positions do not have to worry about. 

While I was watching the first rounds of the NCAA D1 tournament the two things that I noticed were the total number of goals scored in a game were much higher then in high school games. It is probably the biggest adjustment a goalie has to make, knowing that he will get scored on a lot more and being able to cope with it. Also the speed of the game is unreal. Watching the Navy vs. Duke game showed how fast a team can score goals. These are what I noticed the most when watching the games.

By Brett Hughes

Another one of the future attackmen for the Virginia Cavaliers, Connor English, sent a simple and to the point answer about what he saw this past weekend. English is coming off a 5 goal effort against Chaminade to set Manhasset up for a 9-7 win over their Long Island rivals.

After watching all the lax games this week I learned that to excel at the next level I have to learn to be a little more patient while also never letting stuff get to my head.  The guys that played well did all of these things plus more when the ball or flow wasnt directly going through their sticks... I cant wait for next week!

Connor has also recently been invited to play in the Under Armour All American Game, check in later as Connor and the Rise Up Boys give thier last piece of the year and say goodbye the RISE... unless we have them check in from their new NCAA lives.

By Brett Hughes

Senior Midfielder Austin Wright dropped a line after the first round of the playoffs, touching on what he learned from the weekend, and even more... started to pick up a couple things he can do prior to arriving at Hofstra next fall. Wright, is set to help the Pride to another playoff run. Austin and the Worthington Kilbourne Wolves have enjoyed a great season taking down Upper Arlington and earning a top 3 seed in the Mid West Tournament. Read how Austin saw week one. 

After watching the first round of the playoffs over the weekend there were a few things that stood out to me.

I think the biggest transition from high school to division one college lacrosse would be the speed of the game. This was made clear after watching the first half of the UVA game. There ability to run and gun makes them a very dangerous team.

I think that there are two things that I am going to have to work on, on an individual basis. The first is the ability to change directions in a split second. Billy Bitter is a great example of this he can run at his defenseman full speed and stop on a dime, side step him and get a shot off. The second is to be able to shoot and pass at the same level with the stick in either hand.

Those are a few of the things that make Division one lacrosse so great.

Plays who start to pick up on the parts of the game they can work on to make precived weakness into strengths always have the best shot to blow up on the next level.

By Brett Hughes

Prior to the weekends games, I had reached out to certian RISE UP BOYS and asked them to write me a letter about what they had learned over the weekend as students of the firstround of the NCAA tournament. It could be about a player, a team, or a common trend they picked up on througout the weekend. These boys will always view the game as entertainment, but I wanted them to actively take a moment and view the game as if they were getting ready for a test... A four year test of lacrosse I.Q. and ability to learn the college game.  All the boys had a great time with it and I was so impressed with what they came back with.

One of the future Quarterbacks of the NCAA Matt White and I had talked prior to the games and I just knew this kid was going to come up with something right on the money. To be the conductor of Ridgefield High School in Conn. and a future leader of the Virginia Cavaliers high powered offense, I expected Matt to "get it" this weekend. He did, picking up on things that do not pertain to his position, but he is right on the money with his observations about the total game.

Brett,

From watching the games this weekend, i think the thing that really stuck out the most to to me was the importance of goalie play in the NCAA tournament.  It's obvious that nobody is a dud in the net playing for these teams, but for instance in the UVA vs. Nova game the nova goalie wasn't really in a good groove facing those shooters from Virginia.  Same thing wth the Duke v. Navy game.  Another key thing that i payed attention to was faceoffs.  Carolina, UVA, and Hopkins all looked like they had a great advantage in that spot with Walterhoefer, Gaudet and Dolente winning lots of draws for their respective teams.
 

Two things you will see consistently are coaches and analysts talking about  the importance of exactly that in the playoffs. when everyone is on an even playing field, the X-Factors come up huge.

By Brett Hughes

It must be hard to pick all-star teams, especially national ones with high school kids who get such little time to separate themselves as the elite of the elite. Add that to the simple fact these young men don't play each other in most cases, or even play similar teams to compare performances.

However, the Under Armour All Americans have been picked a many of our RISE UP BOYS have been selected to play in the All-American Game. Congrats to our boys and we look forward to hearing from them and many more throughout the end of the season and their summer as they end one chapter of their lacrosse carrier and prepare for another.

Name, Position, Hometown/High School, College 

North Team

Connor English: A Manhasset, NY/Manhasset Virginia

John Greeley: M Lafayette, NY/Lafayette Hopkins

Tyler Knarr: D Eagleville, PA/LA Salle Georgetown

Matt White: A  Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield Virginia

South Team

Jack Doyle: M Baltimore MD/Gilman Harvard

Marcus Holman: A Baltimore MD/Gilman North Carolina

Chris Lapierre: M Medford, NJ/Shawnee Virginia

Greg McBride: M Towson, MD/Gilman North Carolina 

Howie Long: D Charlottesville, VA/St. Anne's Belfield Virginia

Harry Prevas: D Towson, MD/Gilman Virginia