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.

Written by Steve Brooks

Posted by Senior Editor Ronnie Flores

Day one ran smooth as butter.  It started off with our staff, as we had MLL all stars, college All-Americans, professional football players and six coaches from 2008 NCAA national champion Syracuse. Participants came in from all over the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest, including some from Michigan and Ohio. 

During the first session, the participants went through skills training, which they responded quite well to.  One standout I observed was Christian Albertson. He dominated every skill station and is a great athlete.

In the second session, the participants played in live games. A standout during the scrimmages was an Onadaga native coming off the U19 World Games representing the Iroquois nation.  James Cathers and Dalton Powless have great stick skills and made others around them better players. Cathers ended up as one of the MVP's of the camp.  

Kudos to the kids who traveled a great distance to participate and make a name for themselves.  Ben McDougal drove all the way from Port Huron, Michigan to attend. I spoke with him after and he had some positive things to say.  McDougal couldn't believe how the first training session helped him with ideas to apply back home about foot work and player development. Coming from Michigan and making a name for himself, he couldn't believe how well everyone played together.

"Great chemistry, and the game play was intense," McDougal said.

His comments go to show how mcuh the the sport is growing nationwide and how badly kids want to improve their game by competing against the nation's best at the NIKE Elite Lacrosse Camp.

Overall, the NELC is going to help Lacrosse grow, since there are four areas we are hitting. The feedback we are receiving from the camp's participants is unreal.  With the staff at the NELC and the variety of skills we have to teach the campers there is no doubt in my mind the NELC tour will become the premier Lacrosse camps in the country.