The spirit of lacrosse will be put to the test on Friday April 24, and Saturday April 25, 2009, when a group of lacrosse players will play in the longest indoor lacrosse game ever at 30 hours. The game will take place in Whitby, Ontario Canada at the Iroquois Park Sports Complex. It will begin at 12:00pm on Friday and will finish at 6:00pm on Saturday.

Presented by members of Lacrosse Inside The Game, the group comprised mainly of citizens of Whitby, Oshawa, and surrounding towns will organize and play in the marathon game, with all of the proceeds benefitting the Children’s Wish Foundation. Game participants and volunteers are welcome from all across Ontario. This game is in response to the challenge put forth in June 2008 by the Aurora Masters Lacrosse Association, with their DOVE (Determined to Oppose Violence Everywhere) effort.

The Children’s Wish Foundation was formed in 1983, on the kitchen table of an inspired and committed volunteer, named Laura Cole, and has blossomed into a national organization with chapters in every province in Canada. From humble beginnings granting fewer than 20 wishes a year The Foundation has established the capacity to fulfill upwards of 800 wishes annually.

The Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada grant wishes to children with high-risk life-threatening illnesses, and have never denied an eligible child a wish, having fulfilled some of the most complex wishes imaginable.

“We are delighted to be the recipients of the generosity of this spectacular event”, said Sandra Hancox; Director of the Children’s Wish Ontario Chapter. “We look forward to working with these great volunteers to make as many wishes come true as possible”.

Lacrosse Inside The Game (LITG) is an organization, founded in 2006 aimed at promoting Canada’s National Sport. LITG runs a Co-Ed Masters Adult Lacrosse League each year in Whitby. Proceeds from the league are used to sponsor children to play lacrosse in the Durham Region area.

“I have always truly believed in helping our youth and young children”, said Gary Mark, LITG Founder. “But to be able to assist the Children’s Wish, in all of the incredible work that they do for children, I know will be something very special for all of the great lacrosse people in this area.”

The game will also feature a Legends Lacrosse Game featuring players from the Brooklin Redmen and the Peterborough Lakers. There are even plans to include members of the National Lacrosse League playing in the event.

Information on the event will be constantly updated at www.lacrosseinsidethegame.com,as well as http://tlclax.wordpress.com. Player registrations, sponsorship forms, and more are available on this site under the Forms link at the top of this page.

Gary Mark - gmark@lacrosseinsidethegame.com
Sandra Hancox – Sandra.Hancox@childrenswish.ca

Roughly three years ago, Stuart Brown began what today is a well known company called Edge Lacrosse.  The Edge program was designed to give Ontario lacrosse players the ability to showcase their talents in front of U.S. and Canadian Universities and Colleges. This is in the hopes that the athletes can gain a partial or full scholarship to play, while getting a high level education at the same time.

I was asked by Stuart to join the Junior Elite Team over the weekend of October 3-5 / 2008 on their three day trip to Rhode Island.  The team was to play in Providence against the Friars on Friday night, at Bryant University in Smithfield on Saturday (vs. the Bulldogs), and at Brown University back in Providence on Sunday (vs. the Bears).

This group from various parts of Ontario are comprised of young men 15-18 years of age. In travelling to Rhode Island, they would be facing teams that had players up to 23 years of age.

Day 1

We started our trip from Oakville, Ontario at 6:30 am (it was 5:00am for me leaving Whitby), and made the trek to Providence arriving just after 4:00 pm.  The boys had a chance to get into their rooms and rest up for only an hour or so, before heading over to Providence University.

The team had the opportunity to do a walkthrough and had a brief presentation while touring the athletic complex. Providence is in the midst of some major expansion of their athletics programs. A new turf field is being built that Lacrosse will share with Soccer. We were also informed that the building we were in was recently built, which included a state of the art training center.

In addition, the team saw firsthand all of the enhanced facilities available to the sports players at Providence should they require any medical assistance or support for many types of injury. From there the players went back to their change room and proceeded to get ready to enter the field.

After roughly 9 hours on a bus it took the Edge squad until almost half time to show that they could play with Providence. Although the final score ended quite lopsided for the Friars, the Edge team actually won the second half of the game. Unfortunately, Providence was a strong team and they outlasted the Edge boys.

However, it was a great opportunity for the team to play under the lights on a Friday night in beautiful Rhode Island. They competed hard and showed well given the length of their day.

I was lucky enough to have the chance to speak after the game with Providence Head Coach Chris Burdick, who was very complimentary of the Edge team. That interview is below:

Day 2

After a much needed nights rest for all of the players, Coaches, and parents we were back up and at it early on Saturday morning. It was an absolutely beautiful day out, and there was a real electricity in the air. Many of the players on the Edge team know Zack Greer and were quite excited that they would playing against him in their game on this day. Greer is from Ontario and is the All-Time Division 1 leading scorer in lacrosse. In addition, many knew that Bryant Head Coach Mike Pressler, was recently named Head Coach of the US National Men’s Field Lacrosse team for 2010, so this was a great opportunity to make an impression.

The Edge team came out looking much more alert and ready to play, scoring the first goal of the game, and playing well in the first half of the first quarter. But similar to Friday nights game, age and experience took over, and the Bryant team went on to win the game handily. The Edge players learned about consistency and turnovers in the game being very important to the teams success.

After the game was over I took the opportunity to speak to Bryant Coach Mike Pressler who was highly receptive to the Team and liked what he saw from the Canadian boys. That interview is below:

I also spoke to Greer about his thoughts on the Edge program, having helped them this past summer. Zack also was complimentary of his fellow Canadians and very supportive of their game on the day:

The players and parents then had the chance to have some lunch and were given a guided tour around the Bryant campus. Shortly after, the team along with their parents met back in a lecture theatre where Coach Pressler addressed the group. In one word….wow!

I have to say that for me personally and I think many in attendance this was the highlight of our weekend. Coach Pressler went into great detail of the entire recruitment process, step by step. He stated what the players needed to do academically, the averages they needed to maintain just to even be considered for entry at Bryant. The fact that we were getting such valuable detailed information from the Head Coach himself was such a statement for the school.

The passion with which Coach Pressler spoke was remarkable. Much of his discussion was about loyalty, and commitment to his players, to their families, and to the School at Bryant. I know that there was not a person in that lecture room that doubted his dedication and passion for one moment. This man is real and he cares. The Coach made it easy for the kids and parents to understand by using Zack Greer as an example of what needed to be done. For me, I know Zack and his family, so I had heard all of these great things about Mike Pressler long ago. But when I met Mike and spoke with him, and listened to him, I was amazed at his charisma and his genuine way of dealing with people.

Many of us have only read what Coach Pressler and his family went through in 2006 while at Duke University. To see the school at Bryant give him the chance to Coach again when no others were stepping up to, shows a sign of dedication and commitment from the school that I also believe I would want my child to be a part of. In the Coaches own words, “Bryant gave me and my family our lives back.” I cannot even begin to try to understand what this man has been through. But I will say that he is now back, and he is taking steps to make the lacrosse program at Bryant a force. To further stress his point about loyalty and commitment to those in attendance, the Coach summed up by informing us that the doubters who thought he would leave Bryant when a better offer came along, were silenced when he signed an agreement that will keep him at Bryant until at least 2015.

Day 3

On Day three, the gang finished their road trip with a ride back to Providence, this time visiting Brown University, home of the Bears. It was a rainy, cool day, but that didn’t stop everyone from taking a tour of the housing in and around the University covering about a 5-6 block radius around the school. It was really great to see the fabulous heritage that this school holds having been founded in 1764, with all of the older buildings, and the downtown area filled with shops, restaurants and such.

The group was also treated to a video of the lacrosse team at Brown that was ranked 13th in the Nation in 2007.

With not a lot of time, of course needing to be on the road for the long trek home, the families did not get a lot of time to tour the actual school. It was right to the field and right into the game. Brown showed very early why they are such a highly ranked team scoring often and playing the entire game with an extremely high level of energy. The weather did not seem to affect their spirit and these players were ready to go.

To Team Edge’s defense, playing their third game in three days, with a few little nagging injuries, and playing against players a few years older than they were, they showed a lot of character. There were a number of turnovers and errors throughout for Edge, but that is understandable given the circumstances.

After the game the boys had a chance to shower up and board the bus for the long trip home. Unfortunately, given the time restraints, I did not get the chance to speak with Brown Head Coach Lars Tiffany on his thoughts of the game and Team Edge.

As an aside, our bus, shortly after crossing back into Canada broke down, causing a delay of roughly an hour (waiting for another to come pick us up). But in the end, it was a great trip and one that I know will lead to some very positive results for some young men.

My Thoughts On Edge

When I first started LITG in 2006 I had a great number of people compliment me on what I was doing, how it was great for the game. But I also had a few detractors, that for some reason or another were critical of a number of things I did.

I see that happening to Edge as well.

This is a program that is allowing our Canadian Youth an opportunity to be showcased in front of US Colleges and Universities. It is an opportunity that may also lead to partial or full coverage of $40,000 per year or more of schooling as well.

So I would ask you; if your child was athletically and academically able to take this chance to do this would you do it for them? Well a great number have, and I believe more will follow.

You see, Edge is not only a chance to go and compete and be seen. They have player profiles of every player in their system on their Web Site (www.edgelacrosse.com) so that Coaches can access and see the players before and after seeing them on a field. Just as if not more importantly, they also give the families the information necessary on grade requirements, access to SAT exams, and more information than any other program that is currently out there.

Are there others out there? Yes. Are they as thorough as what Edge is doing? Not that I know of.

I spoke with a number of parents of the young men that were in Rhode Island. Make no bones about it, many of them said, it is not inexpensive. But if you compare the costs now to the savings if / when your child attends a College or University and the potential savings, it is money well spent. And for almost all of these young men, they have made the decision that Hockey is not going to be in the cards for them. One parent said they love the fact that this was actually cheaper than what they paid for Hockey with the chance of possibly a much better ending.

I`m sure there will be more of these services going forward, but for now, Edge has the market covered and a very loyal following that is growing all the time. They treat their players and their families like family of their own. While I do not know all of the Edge Coaches, I will say that I know most, and it is an impressive line-up. Coach Rick Webster (Brampton) of this Junior Elite team has a real passion and knowledge of lacrosse. But more importantly, he has the respect and admiration of his players and their families.

By their web site statistics no less than 33 lacrosse players have attained scholarships of varying amounts through the Edge program.

Edge has also recently launched a Girls program and I am sure it will be as successful as the boys program is.

The 2008 LITG Fall Fun Day takes place this Saturday October 18, with games starting at 9:00 am at Peel Street Lacrosse Box in Whitby. Below is the schedule for the day. Come on out and see Masters Co-Ed Lacrosse at its best.

Rankings from 1st - 8th will be done after two games using the tie breaking formula (GF/GF+GA - highest % = highest ranking).

It isn’t very often we all get a chance to support those that really support us every day. Please consider this opportunity to do so below.

Marksy

The Toronto Police Tinmen Lacrosse Club is a lacrosse team made up of police officers and firefighters from the Greater Toronto Area.

The Tinmen will be participating in the World Police and Fire Games in B.C. next year. Participants travel from around the world to compete in this massive sporting event.

We have scheduled a fund-raising evening at The Wing Shack in Whitby on Friday October 3rd, 2008. Please go to www.thewingshack.ca and click on “fund-raisers” for further info.

The tickets are $10 each and are good for 1 lb of wings on the evening of the event only. Tickets must be purchased in advance; there are no ticket sales at the door. There will also be a silent auction and raffles for some great gifts.

The site for the games can e foind at www.2009wpfg.ca

Thank you for supporting the Toronto Tinmen Lacrosse Club.

PC David Sawyer #8361
Toronto Police Service
43 Division CRU
(416) 808-4323 (work)

By now, everyone has to have heard the horrific events that have unfolded, possibly taking one of our games brightest stars off the lacrosse floor.  I’m referrring to an infection in John Grant Junior’s elbow, that ultimately spread to his knee, and then began to take over his body, leaving him in excruciating pain.  This was a pain that the night before game 7 of the Ontario Major Series Lacrosse Final landed him in the Hospital.  Junior never made it to game 7, and to the best of my knowledge as of this day, is still in Hospital.  

The sad reality is that we know for sure John Grant Jr. will not play in 2009. What is even more hard to grasp for us all is that he may be done for good.  But this is the selfish side of us being sports fans, and wanting to see our favorite players always playing.  I really do not think that everyone understands that this young man had a serious health concern.  John has had a number of operations since entering the Hospital, and at this point we should feel somewhat better about his well being.

I did not want to write anything here on LITG until I had the chance to get as many facts as I could. Well I have not been able to speak with John myself, but I was able to speak with his parents John (Sr.) and Louise via email messages. With their permission, I have shared with you some thoughts from Juniors parents:

Hi Gary

We are finally just getting around to answering some of the many e-mails we received with well-wishes for John Jr. Thanks!

We spoke to him today and were pleasantly surprised to hear that his frame of mind is very good. He is now looking ahead to exploring what other contributions he can make to the sport he loves besides playing. The Knighthawks/Rattlers organization is treating him with great respect and as parents, we really appreciate that. They have assured him that he still has a job. Also, Adidas has been very helpful to his peace of mind by assuring him that his position with them is still secure.

This has been a very serious and frightful situation for our family and we are very lucky that our son is such a strong individual both in body and in spirit. You learn a lot from something like this and as it is said, there is always a little silver lining to every cloud. John has a great many detractors, but even most of them seemed to rally for him over the past few weeks. The ones that didn’t aren’t worth worrying about. The many, many friends and fans that supported John, and even the rest of his family, will not be forgotten. The many players that came to visit him at his bedside in the hospital were a Godsend, especially the 3 that kept vigil with him the night he was taken down to surgery to have the acl removed. We thank God for them as they kept his spirits up for those awful hours pre-surgery and stayed and wept with the rest of us after he was wheeled away. For an athlete, the body is the tool of his trade. He understands it and knows exactly what it will do for him. To lose this control is devastating and nobody understood this better than these 3 men who were buddies, fellow players and opponents of Johns–most of all dear friends.

As one of those people, Gary, those who wished him well, we thank you very much. Keep up the good work you are doing for our sport.

Sincerely

John and Louise Grant

 As a parent of two sons that play this wonderful game, I cannot imagine watching either one of them go through an ordeal like this.

John and Louise, I thank you for sharing the current news with all of us, and as I’ve stated publicly and on forums; I only hope one day we can see Junior’s magic on the floor once again.  But if we cannot, I am confident we will see him in many other areas of the game.

You know I hate being asked to take surveys just as much as anyone else. But in trying to figure out how to take LITG to new levels I need to get feedback from you the reader on what is working and what needs work.

So please take a few minutes (it’s only 10 questions) and let me know your thoughts. I will be randomly selecting complete responses and giving them a T-Shirt for their time. You could be a winner.

Thanks for your time and as always, if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email me at gmark@lacrosseinsidethegame.com.

To take the survey, just follow the link at the top of the page.

A friend of mine and an all round great guy needs a little bit of our help. For those that have heard, “Hockey Night In Canada” is holding a competition for a new intro to their Saturday night games.

Dan Clancy (http://danclancy.com/) is the lead singer of the Canadian Super group Lighthouse. Dan also has played and supported the game of lacrosse for many, many years. Many Toronto Rock fans might remember Dan as the voice of the National anthem at Rock games in the glory years.

But for Dan, the microphone has proven to be a much better tool than the lacrosse stick was (maybe just a little). Dan has sent in two entries to the contest and is looking for our support to help him win. I’ve pasted below two links to the two different entries that Dan sent in.

I’ve listened to both and will comment that I think both are very cool. The first is a rocky number while the second is strictly instrumental. I have to say that while I was listening to the instrumental I had visions of me blazing down the ice, with the long hair flowing, and scoring a goal (it is very up tempo, almost inspirational if you will). Hey, I guy can dream can’t he (about the ability and the hair)?

In any case, please check these two entries out and support Dan.

Dan Clancy Entry One

Dan Clancy Entry Two

Best of luck Dan.

Marksy

The New Westminster Salmonbellies are selling their 2008 Game worn Mann Cup jerseys on their web site. To get yours, follow this link http://www.salmonbellies.com/mannjersey.htm which will take you to the New West site and you can see who is still available.

This is a great chance for you to get a game worn jersey from quite possibly the most storied lacrosse franchise in the history of our game. 

Wamper’s and mine are on their way!

The message below was received from Tom Moxam, who runs a great organization that helps kids play lacrosse and hockey.

We are pleased to announce that perennial all-star lacrosse player & long-time captain of the Toronto Rock, Jim Veltman, will be the special guest speaker at the ‘08 Jordan Moxam Memorial golf classic.

The Jordan Moxam Memorial golf classic raises funds to provide underprivileged children with the opportunity to play hockey and lacrosse. This year’s tournament will be held Saturday, September 27 at Deerfield golf club in Oakville. This is a great opportunity to help “Get a Kid in the Game”, and hear Jim Veltmans remarkable story.

How can you help?

There are still openings for a limited number of foursomes and individual golfers. We are in need of silent auction items such as sporting event tickets, hockey or lacrosse equipment, electronic items, restaurant certificates. There also limited number of all sponsorships available.

If you would like to golf or help us out with the sponsorship or silent auction item, please call 905-689-3064, email dmoxam@cogeco.ca or go to www.moxam.org for additional information.

Thanks for your support, let’s all work together to get a kid in the game.

About Jim Veltman

Jim played for the Toronto Rock, the Ontario Raiders, and the Buffalo Bandits in the National Lacrosse League. During his career he won 8 NLL championships, three with the Buffalo Bandits and then five more with the Rock, where he was captain for ten seasons.

Jim also won the Mann cup 4 times and was captain of the 2003 Canadian team that won the World Championships.

Jim led the National Lacrosse League in loose balls in 14 out of the 16 seasons he played, earning him the nickname “Scoop”. He was the first recipient of the National Lacrosse League Sportsmanship
Award in 2002, and was named league MVP in 2004

About Jordan Moxam Memorial Programs

The Jordan Moxam Memorial programs were started in 2004 after our 12 year old son Jordan passed away after a 20 month battle with cancer. Besides being a caring and giving person Jordan was a hockey and lacrosse enthusiast. In honor of his memory and help those less fortunate the Jordan Moxam Memorial programs were started.

Well here I sit, the day after the “official” end of the 2008 Summer Lacrosse Season and wonder what to do with myself. Over the month of August, along with the first nine days of September, I filled my addiction and was absolutely out of my mind with all of the lacrosse I was able to witness. What a spoiled brat I was….

But for LITG, the fun has only just begun. I want to officially announce our best Contest to date. With the approaching 2009 National Lacrosse League Season, I will be seeking NLL correspondents to assist Lacrosse - Inside The Game in reporting on all of the weekly games. What I mean is, we need a lacrossed crazed fan, that is willing to go to all home games, and report back, in an unbiased manner all the of the happenings, all of the big plays, all of the big hits, on a weekly basis.

You see the problem for me, is that I do not have the resources or the physical ability, and really never will, to attend every game, every week, in every city across Canada and the United States. And that is where you come in.

I am in the process of trying to attain Media Passes for every city in the NLL. Of course, this will take a while and I am really hoping that all teams will allow LITG to be at their games. To date, I have had two responses (cities that you will have to wait to hear, but that will happen in the next couple paragraphs…..keep reading).

So here is the deal; I want you to do up your own video, with you doing a mocked up report for your team, and I want you to post it on Youtube www.youtube.com or Live Video www.livevideo.com or somewhere else that I can see it.

Here is what we want in your video:

• Video must be at least 5 but not more than 10 minutes in length
• Show that you know lacrosse in your commentary / interview
• Be professional, but be fun
• Male and Female reporters are all welcome to enter
• Entrants must be 18 or older
• Creativity will be considered when judging
• We are more interested in your lacrosse knowledge, people skills and professionalism than most anything else

Here is what we want from you through the season:

• Be able to attend every home game of your team
• Demonstrate that you are a knowledgeable lacrosse enthusiast, and that you have the ability to capture that in a written / video form
• Act in a Profesisonal manner 100% of the time
• Prepare a post game report on the game possibly with a few pictures
• Ideally, do a 3-5 minute post game video interview with a player from either team (meaning you will need a camcorder)

Here is what we will do for you:

• Get you the required Media privileges to gain entrance to each home game for your team
• Deck you out in some official LITG Gear to wear at the game so folks know who you are
• Give you an opportunity to become a well known name in the NLL community of players, coaches, etc.
• Give you a number of contacts and support you each step of the way

At this time, LITG is not in a position to pay these positions. However, we do expect that to change and if / when it does, those who have put forth the effort and remained with us will be rewarded.

I want you to email me gmark@lacrosseinsidethegame.com with a link to your video. I will look at all of the entries along with a select few others. I will then narrow down to anywhere from 3-5 entries, and will ask for more information (i.e. a resume type bit of information), and will announce a winner. We may or may not post them, and ask for viewer input (still to be determined).

Each winner will then be granted a 2009 Media Pass to the city in question and will report back for LITG at every weekly home game.

As stated we are in the process of getting Media Privileges and will announce each city as they become available. Our first two cities / teams are……

Portland Lumberjax	Chicago Shamrox

So, any of you in the Portland and Chicago areas, get your camcorders out, work on your broadcasting skills, make a tape up and fire me off an email.

Because this is our first requests for tapes the deadline will be a little extended.  Everyone else that might be interested in other cities, please be proactive as the next requests will not get as much time. 

The deadline for the Portland and Chicago entries is September 30 / 2008, which is just 20 days away. Get going!